Two Years Later (Then & Now: The Living Room)

Two years ago today, Greg and I closed on our house on Kingston Road. It's hard to believe it's been two years already, but it also seems like we can't remember it any other way. The day after we closed, we headed off to Martha's Vineyard to spend some time relaxing while we got the floors refinished before moving in. It seems fitting that we are again on the island for a last getaway before Luigi arrives this fall. 

In honor of the two years we've been in the house, I thought it would be fun to do a series of posts looking back on all the progress that we've made in the last two years. It seems that we don't often stop, and when we look back at all we've accomplished, it's easy to see why. 

I know I have a lot of catching up to so with the deck project and the baby's room. I will work on weaving those in as well. But for now, please enjoy the first installment of "Then & Now." I decided this was a better title than "Before & After," because our house still is, and probably always will be, a work in progress. So, without further ado, here's a look back at the living room before and since we moved in, and how it was looking this year on the fourth of July, when the house was a close to staged as it gets (aside from Christmas). 

The Big Window:

The Fireplace Wall: 

View from the Stairs:

View toward the Stairs:

It's hard to believe it's that same pale yellow room we walked into two years ago. Here's a run down of of some of the things we did:

• refinished floors
• paint 
• window treatments
• hung TV and speakers on wall
• added shelves and entertainment until to right of TV
• new lamp shades
• replaced recliner with double reclining love seat
• replaced white slipcovers on side chairs with purple ones
• replaced coffee table with freshly painted green table from Gram's house
• started (but not nearly finished) accessorizing (work in progress...right?!)

Things still on the to do list:

• expand the purple carpet by at least one row of tiles
• find better lighting for reading in the love seat
• cable management for the TV and entertainment unit
• hang art going up the stairs
• accessorize the shelves on either side of TV in a more thoughtful way
• update/add photos to frames
• find a permanent solution for the covering the glass door of the tall cabinet for hidden storage
• paint the trim and fireplace white
• paint the top "back splash" of the mantel the same color as the wall
• paint or tile over the brick of the fireplace
• add the back speakers of the surround sound system

Yeah, so there's still a few things on the list. We not succeed in hitting my mom's suggested 3 year decorating plan, since this next year is destined to be more baby than house focused. But that's ok. I think we've accomplished quite a bit already. And it definitely feels like home!

The Hallway

I promised a few shots of the finished hallway/landing after our day of painting last weekend. We love it so much, we keep asking ourselves why we didn't just do it when we painted the living room on the first place. 

Above, a view from the landing, looking down to the living room, and up to a glimpse of purple in the master bedroom. 

Another shot looking into the bedroom. 

Now, standing at the door to the bedroom, looking down into the green office. I'm really loving seeing all the colors in the house framed by each other. 

Lastly, there is one spot in the office where you can look out the door, see the teal in the hallway, and a little sliver of the purple in the bedroom beyond. Yup, I'm happy. 

Love is in the air.

It is February after all.

But more important, love is in a seat, that will soon be in my living room.

Ever since we moved into Kingston Road, we have been wanting another piece of furniture for the living room. First, because the green recliner we have is not only the entirely wrong shade of green, it is also the wrong style for the room with it's slightly rolled arms, and the fabric has taken a beating over the last several years living with the cats. It's a great recliner, and has served me well since my Mom and I scoured dozens of furniture stores from Boston to Albany trying to find a deal many years ago. But, I'm ready to retire it to another room. 

Secondly, since the recliner has been positioned dead center across from the tv, unlike in our last house, where it was in a corner with an awkward side view, Greg loves to sit in the recliner. So, I sit on the couch. And we never sit together anymore. 

After some deliberation, we decided that if we could find a reclining love seat that didn't actually look like a spawn of the stay puft marshmallow man, that might a good way to go. (I mean seriously, you've all seen the square lines of our sofa, right? Do you think anything close to that monstrosity would be allowed anywhere near my living room?) We could sit together, with a good view of the TV, and still put our feet up. 

Let me just say, this has not been an easy task. We've been investigating on and off for over year now, and this weekend, we finally bit the bullet and purchased a lazy boy love seat we actually spotted for the first time this fall. 

We were actually on our way to another furniture store to look at one last model we'd found online. I pulled up a photo of it on my phone, and then looked up the lazy boy (sofa version above.) I realized that they were almost identical. And then I realized, that unless I wanted to spend a small fortune, this was the best I was going to get. The back is a little puffier than I would have hoped, but the arms are nice a square, at least when you look at it straight on. The decision was made. 

The color we selected is the same as seen in the showroom, just a different texture. The standard fabric has a woven texture to it. I was concerned out the boys nails snagging it and causing damage. Instead, we found this super soft velvety fabric with a great sheen. It was on another piece in the store in a different color, and looks so amazing. Yes, it might attract hair, but there is no texture to catch those little nails. As far as the color, I decided that a darker shade of gray would be a nice compliment to the light gray sofa. There will of course be lots of colorful pillow. It comes with two pillows that we're getting in the same dark gray. I can never find accent fabrics in stores that actually fit my colors. My plan is to put the two dark pillow on the light gray sofa to help tie them together. 

We will not be getting the version with the cup holders though. But, I think Greg won't miss them while he's busy fully reclining in front of the TV in another 6 - 8 weeks!

We haven't been up to too much else since we took down all the holiday decor. I've been fighting a cold since the year began. But, with finally ticking the love seat off of our list, we're finding some energy to get moving again. We'll be painting the office and the hallway this weekend. Then, we'll only have one more room of yellow paint to banish from the house. I can't wait!

Christmas Re-capping

As promised, here's a little look at how the rest of December panned out here on Kingston Road.

I kicked the season off by designing a card and getting it printed on Zazzle. (I have a new store in the works which is a bit more anonymous than my first...feel free to check it out sometime) I had hoped that my design would set the tone for my holiday, and I think it did.

Then of course, I had to bake my famous sugar cookies.

They are a lot of work, and every year I think I won't make so many next year, but I love hearing all the reactions to them, so I can't seem to stop myself! It actually turns into a two day event (sometimes spread over two Saturdays). I cut and bake all the cookies one day, and because I'm usually so tired when that's finished, I save the frosting for the next day. 

 

I watched some of my favorite Christmas movies...any guesess?

We wrapped a ton of gifts with all of the too-perfect-for-my-living-room-color-scheme-wrapping papers I found this year at Target. 

 I mean, seriously, these papers were meant for this coffee table, don't you agree?

We did a little Boxing Day shopping and added to our holiday lights collection with these cool color changing LED snowflake lights at 50% off. 6-pointed, and 5 unique patterns of course. I was also able to pick up some of my coveted snowflakes on clearance in time to use them for our party! I guess it pays to show restraint sometimes. 

And, we enjoyed the glow of our beautiful tree for an entire month! You might also notice that the bow is gone from the top. We picked up a snowflake candle holder from Pottery Barn that we turned into a tree topped. In case you haven't realized, snowflakes are kind of our thing.

I will miss this beautiful tree and the soft glow it provides, but I am looking forward to all the new projects we plan to take on in the coming months.

The Halls are Decked

Over Thanksgiving, I purchased a new pre-lit tree, which we of course had to set up immediately upon getting home on that Sunday. But, since I had to head back to Buffalo during the week, the real decorating had to wait until this past weekend. Bright and early Saturday morning, Greg headed into the attic to pull out my our many boxes of Christmas decor. I am so excited with the way the house came together this year. Take a look...


Here's the living room.

I bought this purple frame awhile ago thinking it was perfect for this room. But, I haven't yet found the time time fill it with an actual photo. So, as a place holder, I cut a piece of this wrapping paper I found, which is so perfect for our house, I can hardly stand it!

I also used the wrapping paper in the glass door to our cabinet. I've been experimenting with a way to make the glass translucent so we can have some hidden storage, but I haven't found something that I'm happy with yet. This is a great place holder which picks up the green from the coffee table and the teal from the walls. Last year, I bought the green picture frame below, and a can of green spray paint which I used on the mitten frame above, and the tree on the shelf below. I thought, why not try to repurpose some of our more traditionally colored accessories to match my color scheme. I happen to love when a Christmas color scheme complements the colors that are already happening in a room.

Here's the dining room.

I went a little snowflake crazy in here. All 6 pointed of course!

Every year, I love to fill a vase with bulbs. This year, I added some other items like the crystals and ribbons to bring in my green accent. 

One of the last things I did was to take more of my favorite wrapping paper (I need to get back to Target and buy another roll!) and create some place mats by laminating the paper between two layers of contact paper (on hand from the glass door experiment)

Don't they look look so fun with my new bowl and tray? (also from Target, they have a whole set of plates which I am restraining myself against...)

Just a little behind the scenes, here's how it all looked when it came out of the attic. I wonder how long it will take us to get it back into this state come January??