Wednesday, September 14, 2011

The multi-purpose-work-in-progress living room

I'm absolutely loving the Roomspiration link party, and it's only the second day!! Today's feature is living rooms, hosted by Kelly at View Along the Way. (although I'm kinda sad 'cause a lot of the living rooms I'm seeing have a fireplace. and are bigger than mine. sigh. maybe someday...)
 

Yes that's a kitty sleeping on the loveseat. I didn't dare move her for the photo shoot. :) We have an open floor plan in our house, so the kitchen, dining area, and living room are all one big room. And you can see from these pictures that our living room also serves as a playroom and a music room... Someday we'll finish the basement and be able to move Abby's toys down there. But in the meantime, the living room is where we spend ALL of our time!

I love rich colors. FALL colors. I made the window valance when we were still in our other house, and they fit and matched perfectly here too! The green recliner was in our previous house when we arrived, and our landlords said we could take it with us when we moved. Score! A coworker of mine was moving out of his apartment about the time we moved into this house, and was selling his green couch and loveseat. For $50. For both. Score! (the couch is currently downstairs, covered in a blanket to protect it from drywall dust...)

Eventually the infamous "pink chair" will either retire or move downstairs as well. For now it provides an extra seat in the room...

Our family loves to play games, and so the one bookshelf we have upstairs is chock-full of board games and card games (although I did cram them together to make space on the bottom two shelves for some of Abby's toys...). We really don't have much wall space, by the time one "wall" of the room is the ledge by the stairs, and another is taken up by the window...

Eventually (there's that word again...) we'd love to decorate this room with more music-related items. Like these big metal music notes? Or something like this?


(that b&w picture of us was one of our engagement pictures, and we used the matte as our guestbook at the wedding! hopefully soon it'll be moved to the master bedroom -- more on that another day)

I went to Shipshewana with some friends this summer,  and we stopped in a little shop full of paintings created by local Amish artists. I fell in love with this painting/mixed media item:


It's made from an actual piece of music, and the colors are PERFECT for this room! Plus the artist was the one running the store that day, so she gave me a 10% discount. ;) Score!

We really don't have the funds to do much any decorating, so all of these ideas rattling in my head will have to wait...  or get put on my Christmas list...


16 comments:

  1. Thanks so much for commenting and being a new follower!! I hope you'll keep your thoughts and comments coming. I enjoy hearing them!
    I love how your living room is the center of your home. It sounds like it really is where your family LIVES...as it should be. I also like how it's so personalized to what you all love and enjoy doing together. And those floors...as a carpet hater who doesn't yet have the budget to redo the floors I understand your fireplace envy. But it sounds like your house is full of love and togetherness and that brings far more warmth than any fireplace. :)

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  2. So jealous of your wood floors! They're beautiful! And I can't believe you made that valance - gorgeous!

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  3. I'm so impressed that you made that valance! And I'm LOVING those floors. I also feel like "eventually" is the main word in my home vocabulary. :) Oh to be able to go out and get everything finished at once like a half-hour episode of HGTV!

    Thanks so much for linking up to the party today! :)

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  4. Thank you for your kind words! It really IS where we live (shouldn't that be the idea of a "living" room? :) The floors were there when we moved in - I love them!

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  5. They are just laminate wood... but I do love my Swiffer for cat hair and Abby-mess :)

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  6. Honestly the valance was SO easy... just a few yards of home decor fabric from JoAnn's, fold the top over and stitch two straight lines for the bar to go through. SUPER easy! If you can sew a straight line you can do it too! :)

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  7. Hey Carrie! Thanks so much for your nice comment and for becoming a follower! I wouldn't dare move my kitties for a photo shoot, either. I think they bring more life to the photo, you know? :)

    And "Jesus loves me"--what a perfect reminder to hang on the wall! :)

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  8. I hear ya on the 'someday' and eventually! They are frequently used words in our household! I love your engagement pic, with the wedding guests signatures! Great idea, and so beautiful!

    Your newest follower,
    Carrie

    *Oh, and I just LOVE your name! ;) I know, I know - it's just not often I meet another with the same spelling!

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  9. Beautiful home!
    SO happy to be your newest follower from this weekend's blog hop; hope you will follow back:

    http://scrapbookluv.blogspot.com
    -Ashley :-)

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  10. This is a very comfortable and homey living room. When my kids were young ours looked pretty much the same. I love the picture of you and your husband. The music artwork is perfect there too! Thank you for following Family Brings Joy! I have so enjoyed your comments! ;)

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  11. The living room is definitely the heart of the home! It looks great. Following from the FNF Blog Hop!

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  12. Your living-room has a very homey feeling and I love that. And those floors are cute:)hi hi I am now following you thanks to Finding New Friends Friday, and it would be so nice if you could share the love back on my blog;)
    Also today we have the coolest blog hop there is... no rules just fun and would love you to join in with us at Boost My Blog Friday, where you can meet lots of friends and have a great time:) See you there!
    Happy Friday!

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  13. I just found your site from the Friday blog hop. Thanks for sharing those wonderful pics of your home. Can't wait to read more.

    I'm at http://beatnikki.blogspot.com.

    Have a good weekend!

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  14. Hi Carrie, Love your blog. You amaze me with all your talents, from understanding the computer SOOO well and designing a beautiful blog. Congrats.

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  15. Hi,

    I am a new follower from the blog hop. Please come follow me back http://lifewithtwinsandadramaqueen.blogspot.com/

    Have a WONDERFUL day!

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