Living Room...So Far

Way back here I told you I was planning on changing the design of our living room. Well here it is...so far. It is completely different from when we bought the house in 2007. Everything was white, every inch of every room was completely white. Even the carpet was off white, albiet new, still something in the white family. Being our first house I wanted color and quick! In my haste I picked some awful paint colors numerous times. You will hear more about that when I post about our bedroom.

So here is our humble abode in 2007 shortly after we moved in. This main wall looks into the kitchen and closed off the living room & dining room.

 

Enter yellow green! In the past I have mistakingly designed a room around a paint color. Never again! We were working with a lot of "college" furniture at this time. The bookcase against the wall my dad made me for my first apartment. This view shows you the dining room looking into the kitchen.

 

First we opened the wall from the kitchen to dining room and expanded the kitchen counters/cabinets immensely. I'll go more into the kitchen project later. As you can see, just opening that wall made a huge difference in "feel" of the three rooms.

Here you see that wall opened. Then we added a bar and tiled counters. We mistakenly made this counter/bar too shallow and it haunts us every day. We also still have the yellow green walls and look to the right, dark olive green starting down the hallways.

 Here is our living room 2010. It still needs a lot of work but I am loving the color scheme and the pieces we currently have. 

Feburary 2009 we had a pipe burst (again) and since we had to gut and replace everything, we saw this as opportunity to make some much needed changes. We replaced the carpet with engineered hardwood purchased at Lumber Liquidators on clearance, removed all the wood paneling, replaced drywall in spots, and repainted the walls. We also removed the whole popcorn/textured ceiling and replaced with drywall for a smoother appearance. I love this paint color much more! Something in the blue gray family by Porter.
It is more me. Whatever that means.

I had these wing back chairs from my first apartment so we decided to cover them with slip-covers from Overstock, and yes they are hard to keep wrinkle free, but much better than the chairs looked on their own. As you know, we already had the curtain panels (Target) and purchased the blinds from IKEA. 

My beautiful rug purchased from Meijer for $100!! It fits perfectly with our colors. The coffee table I got off Craigslist for $85 and repainted; it was originally black. I love glass coffee tables. They really open a space. The dog is real and not a statue. Its our bully Wrigs!

 We also got this couch off Craigslist for $90, although I love the style and structure it provides, it was an impulse purchase and I will never own microfiber suede ever again. It also is dirty so I cover it with this soft luxurious blanket we got as a wedding gift. Yes, I was deflecting from the fact that I bought a dirty couch. It's a long story. The pillows are also from overstock and I love them! Another not-so-sneaky pup lingering about. Hey, Maggie!

Originally I wanted a new TV Stand, as this is a desk, and I thought it was too high, but I really love the structure and color of it too much to move it. So I've since decided I need to figure out a solution to hide the cords. I've considered fabric along the back and a small piece for the top part that is a different color; we removed a piece and behind it wasn't stained to match.

This is our "mud room"/entry closet. This was originally a closet with an accordian door YUCK. We removed that, sand and painted, then added some hooks for coats. I want to get a leather storage piece and a different mirror or something else on the wall. Maybe a floor length mirror?

Our $100 door found at a home thirft store! We simply painted it white and we love it!!! 

Here are our main walls. I plan to repaint the painting on the left with similar colors and possibly place on the left side of the TV.

 

So, here is where I stand in this room. I would like to get some more pillows for the couch. Just one or two for some pops of color. We need something on those walls, mainly the wall to the left of the TV, and the wall opposite of the TV. To the right are some shelves with set-ups that I'm still playing with. More pillows, wall decor, and something to hide the cords on our TV stand.

Any suggestions would much appreciated!!