Our Living Room And My Goals

I am ashamed that I have not shown as much as my house as I probably should have by now. The reason being that it is always a mess. Especially now with switching bedrooms around and painting. Actually, come to think of it, you have seen a good part of this house.

I've done posts on the guest room, the current nursery, the kitchen, the future nursery, the upstairs bathroom, and my favorite, the master bedroom. All but the master bedroom are works in progress. I am just redoing everything slowly because of the whole lack of money trees around here.

It's the downstairs you haven't seen. Except the kitchen of course. And a small glimpse of the living room and office/library in this post. I suppose I need to face the reality of what the downstairs is right now instead of magically hoping it gets better.

This is sort of how our living room started out. When we moved in, it was a large white room. This was in the middle of putting the gray-brown on the wall. It's hard to tell with the lighting going on in here, but the wall behind the couch is white.

This is an old shot of the other side of the room. And how this room normally looks on any given day.

Then we graduated to this. Please ignore my threadbare red chair. It was free from some friends who were moving and it totally clashes in this room. It's on my to-do list. Which we'll get to in a bit.

This is where we are right now. I've moved furniture around a few times and I'm still not exactly sure of the best layout. I've thought of moving the piano from the office into this room, but it wouldn't really work since this is the hangout room when everyone is over. Comfy, movable seating is a big necessity here.

I've thought of moving the armoire to the opposite corner to reduce glare from the window but I think that would throw the balance of the room off since the doorway into the office is on that wall too. I'd have to move the couch asymmetrical to the window

I have a list of what I would like to do in here. Most of it is looking long term because of budget. And what is feasible for me to accomplish at the moment.

I've realized that I have to set goals so I know what I'm aiming for. That way, the budget is satisfied and everything works together. It's easy to lose sight of what style you are wanting when the redecorating stretches out over a few years.

Here's the quick rundown:

1. A rug. It would totally help give this huge, long room some definition. I think the furniture just feels like it's floating. It needs to be grounded.
2. Repaint. I know we just painted it last year, but I'm already tired of the odd gray-brown. I want something lighter. Maybe all out white? Hubby isn't quite ready for this project yet.
3. Do SOMETHING with that huge space on the wall opposite the couch! I'm fresh out of ideas at the moment.
4. Paint the old end table underneath that huge space on the wall.
5. Finish painting the trim. It's only half done.
6. Replace the leather storage ottoman with a round coffee table. I think it would be a better scale for the room and keeping it round will soften all the right angles in this room.
7. Make that crazy white slipcover for that red chair!
8. More pillows!

I'd love to hear your ideas too!