One of my big goals for 2012 was to restyle the living room. (I’m going with restyle because I HATE the word tweak. HATE.) To make my big goals more accomplishable (that’s a word right? update – spell checker said no.), I made a list of small steps that will get me to my big goal. Items #1 and #2 were paint living room accent wall and clean out fireplace. Check and Check. Although after I cleaned the fireplace we had a celebratory fire so that one will have to be redone. Oh well.
Here’s a quick before of a corner of the accent wall (color=Ecru from Sherwin Williams). While it’s an awesome color in the can, on the wall it was a little too blah and dirty looking for my liking. Plus, my previous color palette had more of a green/brown/tan thing going on and now I’m switching over to more blue/black/white/gray/natural kind of thing.
Then I tore the house apart, taped the bejesus out of the living room and banished all my decorative items to the music room.
The color now is Sherwin Williams Shoji White which is a few shades lighter than the Amazing Gray that is the rest of the walls. I love Amazing Gray. It is a color chameleon and adapts to whatever color you put in with it.
I’m loving my new camera and its wide-angle lens.
I kept the fireplace mantel simple when I loaded things back into the room. I also pulled my big log holder/old lobster pot out of the mud room to have our firewood close at hand for the upcoming months. Another thing on my list has to do with getting rid of the standard issue black plastic pot on the ZZ plant. It definitely kills this picture for me a little. But it’s a work in progress (like everything in our house.)
We really needed some light in the corner next to our new Eames rocker for reading and general illumination. I had browsed around Home Goods on the prowl for something thanks to a gift card from my father-in-law and his wife but to no avail. So I borrowed a trick from my sister-in-law and used a $7 utility light that hooks onto the easel we already had. Instant lamp.
Some more items on my list involve fixing that god-awful stain around the fireplace from removing the brass-n-glass surround that was there when we moved in and also fixing some boo-boos we did to the wood floor thanks to Christmas tree stands and dog water bowls. Water+metal+wood floor = not good. But I’m loving how much lighter/brighter/happier the living room feels as we head into the bone-chilling months ahead. Cheers!
PS – My bestest helper, Shenanigan, snoozed on the sofa the whole time I was taking 200 pictures. Thanks buddy.
Living Analog 