The Living Area

Our next chapter is the living room. As I mentioned before, the walls were changed from a drab but neutral brown to lovely shade of lavender. Upon numerous attempts to space plan and figure out a furniture layout for two awkward rooms that make one living room, we had initially started with two modern white leather couches and a slate grey simple and comfortable chaise lounge, both of which were given by Elise's parents. We added a light grey shag carpet to the first rooms and a black and white cowhide rug in the second room that was paired with two antique medallion-back chairs and two white marble side tables.  The windows were dressed in heavy turquoise drapery which brought out the blue tint of the walls. The palette of the accessories in the house is constantly changing with seasons and Elise's moods, but she always keeps some sort of blue pigment to tie everything together. To also give the illusion of more space and to reflect natural light, we added a simple large white mirror above the fireplace, which I must say looks lovely in the candlelight. 

After testing out the furniture placement I just described for a few weeks, we soon realized it was much too cluttered and looked too busy. My roommate agreed with my suggestion to maybe get rid of a few items to make it more comfortable for everyday living and not focus on just a showroom setting.  Hesitantly, Elise agreed to put the chairs back into storage as well as one of the leather couches in order to make room for a large and beautifully carved armoire in the first room that would be used for coats and boot storage. The deceptively comfortable chaise remained for seating (and sleeping should the vino kick in) by the fireplace.  Above the chaise hangs a vintage shabby-chic over sized clock. The shag rug under foot provides a cozy feel for wine nights huddled around the fire.  There's a beautiful archway between the two rooms which gives the house it's farm house, so to accentuate this detail, we hung two mosaic class fluted sconces that give a nice ambience when lit and provide some separation between the two spaces. We decided to make the second room our tv den, so we hung a top-of-the-line tv and wireless sound bar (which was my contribution/requirement, being the tech geek I kind of am). On one of the unused walls we hung another candle holder which has a nice reflective foil-backed glass in the motif of vines and leaves,  and added a rolling white club  chair for TV time. We have some more plans to add a custom (Thanks to Elise's willing boyfriend) built in bookshelf for more storage and organization, which will help elongate the space and draw the sightlines from the front door to the kitchen, making the space feel larger.  I finally managed to unknowingly also rid the house of the cowhide rug (which I have hated since day one and have been trying to convince Elise to get rid of but she had a "vision" that I was not allowed to spoil), as it seems like our little hound Bailey was also not a fan because he ate a big chunk of it.  After this she had no choice but to get rid of it, it so it was goodbye moo moo :)...victory at last!

 Now if only we could sort out our shoe storage situation, we'd be in a good place. Girls will be girls though, I worked at a shoe store so I may or may not have a little problem and there's no way I'm letting Bailey help me sort this one out!