A long time ago I posted some pieces that I was going to use in my undecorated living room but I realized I never showed the room after it was done. Well, done meaning done for a while because who knows when we’ll get to the rest of it. We actually had finished it right before a Christmas party we held here last year.

I made Rob stand high atop a ladder to hang these portraits. He actually hates standing on ladders. Maybe hate is too strong a word, but it makes him nervous. He’s a nervous ladderer. After these were all hung I thought it would be done but almost instantly declared that I think I want the entire wall filled. It’ll take some time to acquire more large frames, though.

 

The coat tree is something I had looked for for a long time, but all the ones in the stores were over $100 and, honestly, kinda cheaply made for that price. I found this one posted on KSL by an antiques store for $20. The kicker, the store was in Riverdale. So, I took an afternoon and trekked up there to get it because, even with the price of fuel, it was still way below what I could get anywhere else and the quality is much higher. I love that the top spins! I’m thinking of painting it a color other than white but I can’t make up my mind on that and white works so it’ll remain that way for now.

 

This bag I got while I was in Paris when I was 19. It’s one of those things where it is completely functional, but I don’t want to use it out of fear of it looking used. It’s a cheap bag, but it has a lot of sentimentality for me so instead of keeping it packed away in the basement, I put it on display. I do actually use it every once in a while.

 

I looked for a long time to find drapery fabric. I didn’t know exactly what I wanted. Everything that matched seemed to…match too much. I needed something to contrast with the wall color but didn’t necessarily want green to match the sofa and chair. I ended up falling for a heavy velvet with a sheen. It was sort of a super deep blackish green but when moved had some gold. I bought it and brought it home and low-and-behold, in the house light it was brown. Serious brown. I wasn’t happy since you can’t return cut fabric. But, after living with it I have decided I really like it. It goes with the nail heads on the sofa and coordinates with everything, but isn’t too matchy-matchy. I do wish the sheen showed through more, though. I decided to make these puddle just slightly. I got the rod on clearance from Restoration Hardware. It’s a really heavy duty rod and was only $26, normally $80 I think.

The stools underneath the window came from Rob’s grandparents. They are from somewhere but I don’t remember. Indonesia? Bangladesh?

One day as we were finishing up the decor a surprise $50 showed up in the mailbox and with it I bought this mirror. I had originally been thinking “starburst” but after bringing a few home I liked this better. The round is perfect next to all the boxy. It is substantial and can hold its own in a room with very high walls.

 

I like to redecorate the top of my piano each month. I call it my “pianoscape”. This set up is for back-to-school. I really don’t have any holiday decor, etc so I just use whatever I have around, usually books, which is perfect for back-to-school anyway! The globe was mine from way back when I bought it to go on my desk at Church Travel. The math book and two spiral notebooks were Rob’s grandpa’s who is also an engineer. The two middle notebooks are from Rob’s French studying while on his mission.

It would be nice to have a pair of chairs on each side of the couch, a coffee table, and a rug. Okay, and a tripod lamp. And I need to figure out what to do with the huge void that is my walls that go from 10’ up to 20’ at the ceiling. But, you know, in time. You’ve got to move on to another room sometime, right?

So there you go. Most of you have already seen all this already since it was done almost a year ago, but I thought I should document. In the meantime I have also done the master bath and the porch is almost done! So those pictures will come some time.