OUR HOME // living room update

Mid-summer I got the idea stuck in my head that we were gonna split once Dan got home from Alaska, move out of our house into the Winne and sell all our stuff.  After my trip up to Alaska to visit him I came home and started selling our furniture.  I sold and donated quite a bit of stuff, including our couch, but then after Dan came home he got a new job, I got invited to join the Gritty City Sirens and staying in Tacoma started to sound appealing again.  Our house was still in a bit of a jumble from my purge fest and our living room always felt like it was in a state of being unfinished.  

We're still thinking of moving, but that won't be happening until at least after I return from the Wildbride Retreat west coast tour.  So for now, it made sense to make our home feel homey again.  We got a couch again, and I set up the living room into an arrangement that I've never had it in before!  I've always liked the idea of the couch being on the black wall, but I wasn't sure how that'd work with the front door being right there.  I figured I'd try it out anyway and I really love how it feels!  Plus, there's a perfect spot for our Christmas Tree!

See the other ways I've arranged our living room here.

Almost everything is Ikea, thrifted, or Target.

diy home office

So, based on my hair color you can guess that these photos were taken a while ago.  June, I think? I hinted at these photos on instagram, but never got around to posting them here because blog hiatus.  My office looks a little different now,  I put my big desk where the chair/sidetable is and I finally have an actual sewing station for the first time in, well, forever.  Which is good because I have two burlesque shows coming up and that means costuming!  The rest of the room is the same, save for a bit more clutter because for whatever reason I'm incapable of keeping a room tidy for any sustained period of time.  

This room is a bit awkward. Technically it can be considered a bedroom because it has a closet, but it's right off the living room and has been through quite a few iterations before ending up as my home office.  the little nook where my standing desk is now has always been an awkward area because it's behind the door when it opens into the room, so it felt hard to utilize.  I figured it looked just deep enough to be the perfect size for a big long standing desk, so a sheet of OSB ripped in half, and some 1x4s later: standing desk.  It's a pretty long span, so I put a bracket in the center to make it more sturdy, but it doesn't really support a ton of weight.  It's basically a real long, deeper than normal shelf.  Super minimal and one of the most functional DIY's ever.  I'm not going to do a DIY post for it because it's so basic.  Cut OSB to fit your space.  Screw 1x4s into wall.  Set OSB on top of 1x4s.  Screw top down.  Done.

This guy was a thrift find when I was searching for a bar cart.  It was brown faux wood and brass, so I spray painted it green.

I wanted to raise my computer screen a bit higher than where it was when it sat on the desk so I stacked some of my vintage library books and now it's perfect.

I loathe screwing things into my walls because they are lath and plaster, so I wanted to make a shelf that had the most minimal screwing possible.  And also cheap.  Plain wood shelves from Ikea, eye screws and hooks, and some white rope were the perfect solution.  I love how minimal and clean it looks, and it was one of the cheapest DIY's I've ever done.

rug + ottoman + sidetable + cart + dressform + barstool + globes/thrifted

chair + frames/ikea :: flag/urban outfitters :: tiny hanging airplant holders + 

wire metal diamond + phrenology bust + morroccan lanterns/modcloth :: peony print/vol 25

adventure print/ABM happy mail :: block party print/year round co. 

stay humble print/jenny highsmith :: standing desk + hanging shelf/DIY

OUR HOME // living room progress

Back in July I painted half the living room white.  I was tired of the beige and wanted something fresh and crisp.  At the time, though I knew I wanted to paint my big wall something fun, so instead of taking the time to paint it white, I left it beige and proceeded to ruminate on what color I should paint it for months... and months.  I knew that I wanted something that would compliment the chartreuse in the kitchen because you see that wall through the doorway, so I didn't want a clashy color.  After some thought I ended up just going for another chalkboard wall.  After I painted that wall I realized that the majority of the walls in our house are black.  The exterior is black, living room wall, kitchen wall, most of the bedroom, and the wall in the bathroom is off-black.  I guess I just really like black walls.  I'm really in love with it though.  We also rearranged the living room a smidge.  I think I like

the other layout better

, but it's nice to switch things around and this is the layout we picked when we moved things around to fit our Christmas tree in the corner (where the black cabinet is now).  I'll probably move things around again in a couple months.

I took down the bunting that had been up for about a year.  I'd put it up for our housewarming party and just never took it down.  I loved it but I wanted to see what it looked like without it and I like it just fine.  It was fun, but I think it makes the room feel a bit taller without it.

One of my other favorite changes is the turquoise door.  When I painted the wall white, the door kind of just disappeared and it felt very stark and plain.  The other side of the door is orange, so I figured it needed an alter ego equally as bold.  We have quite a few turquoise elements in the room, and I love the color in general, so it was the perfect choice.  The nice thing about painting a door is that it's a super minimal investment (all you need is one or two coats, and you'll only need one of those tiny sample sizes from home depot, which is like 3 bucks I think), and it gives you a big impact.  

The wall next to the door always felt really empty to me, but it was an awkward place to hang any art, and when I found

these little diamond wall hangings

at Modcloth I knew they'd be just the thing to fill the space and add interest, while still keeping things light.  The cool thing about them is that you can snap them together to make them into full diamonds that you can hang or put on a table as a little sculpture piece.  I put up three halves on the wall and snapped one together to put on the table by the hanging plants.

Another favorite improvement is the plant life.  We used to have a palm in the corner where the hanging plants are now and I killed it.  I killed it dead.  When I found the macrame hangers at the thrift store I knew exactly where I wanted them to go, but I also knew it would involve keeping living plants alive.  So far so good!  I love how they fill up that corner and add height and dimension.  

I'm currently in the process of building a rolling island for our kitchen and it's going where this black cabinet used to be.  I figured moving the bar to the living room made plenty of sense and I love it against the black wall (though it was against a chalkboard wall in the kitchen too).

I tried to link to most everything, especially new elements, below, but I probably missed some stuff, so let me know if I didn't mention something and you want to know where it's from.  A lot of stuff is old or thrifted or handmade.

couch + pillows + side tables/ikea :: lamps + bar cabinet/target ::

phrenology container

+

diamond sculpture

-wall hangings/courtesy of

modcloth

:: coffee table/

diy

:: macrame plant hangers + chairs + globes + booze caddy/thrifted

OUR HOME // bedroom tour

Let's get 2014 started, shall we?  

I've finally finished up decorating our bedroom, and it's probably my favorite room in the house now.  I wanted something rustic and masculine, super cozy and warm.  When I found the wood panel removable wallpaper on

WallsNeedLove.com

I knew it'd be the perfect base for a warm and rustic room, and also would be easy to change if I ever wanted to go in a different direction in the future.  As with the entire house, this room was painted beige, so adding the wall paper added a ton of drama and warmth.  I wasn't really worried with the room being too dark, since we don't spend a lot of time in our bedroom during the day, so I decided to paint the other walls dark charcoal, actually the exact same color as the exterior.  I wanted to keep a bit of texture and variation in there, though, so I only painted one coat and brushed it on freestyle with a large, coarse paintbrush.  I

really

love the effect this created.

One of my favorite things in the room is the rug on the stairs.  I have a similar rug that I got a few years ago, and I went back to the same roadside shop and got this one over Thanksgiving weekend.  The stairs look like the used to be carpeted and are just plywood with paint, so they're pretty boring and basic.  I took some small nails and carefully nailed the rug down so it wouldn't move.  In retrospect I think I might've glued it down first as well, but we'll see how well it holds up and if it ends up moving or the nails rip out.  It was a fun way to quickly and easily transform a boring set of stairs, though!

The green leafy wall decor is actually something that has been in our family for a while.  There are family photos of my mom as a little kid with it hanging over the couch behind them.  It's a set of two, and I have one and my mom has the other, I think it's hanging over her bed.  It's one of my favorite family heirlooms.  

Dan and I were kind of appalled at how expensive bedside tables were, even at Ikea!  We needed something, though, to put our phones and books on, so we found these TV trays at Target, I think they were like 9 bucks, and have been using them.  Since they don't have any storage I put a box and a basket under mine to hold books and other things.

The "sconces" sitting on top our headboard are actually just little table lamps that used to sit on our bedside tables, but they took up a lot of room.  Once I put the pallets up as our headboard I realized that they could easily sit right on top of the pallets!  I love their warm glow and they're just right for laying in bed and reading a book.

I liked the pallets on their own, but they felt a little plain, so I dug out some of our old wedding decor and put up this little tassel garland I made a couple years ago.  It's a little bit feminine, but not so much that it throws off the vibe of the room.  There are a lot of geometric shapes in the room, so the tassels soften it up a bit.

For a while I couldn't decide what to put on the "wood" wall, but after thinking about it I figured a collage would work perfectly.  I didn't have a place for our hand painted portraits and a lot of other more rustic art that we have, since the rest of the house had a bit more of a modern and graphic feel.  Everything on the wall is either hand made, thrifted, or is something handed down from family.  The 3D topographic map is a kitschy little frame we snagged from Dan's parents' house when they were moving.  It's a map of Mt. Rainier, and since we went up there for our honeymoon I put photos from our honeymoon, engagement, and wedding in the four little photo frames.  

Dusty decided she wanted to be in photos and snuggled on the rug almost the whole time I took photos.  She's a fan of fuzzy things and has claimed this rug as her personal bed.

I've tried to itemize as many things in the room as I could at the bottom of this post!

quilt

/

urban outfitters

:: 

metal basket

/fred meyer

nightstand (tv tray) + wood cake stand + wood tray on nightstand/

target

sheepskin rug + curtains + pillowcase + woven box under nightstand /ikea 

iphone charger stand + wood sconces/modcloth :: 

sketched pillow

/

karli ingersoll

diamond terrarium

 +

black/bronze vase

 +

feather vessel

/moorea seal

leaf wall hanging/vintage family heirloom :: chair/found on side of road

rug on stairs + dream catcher/roadside shop near Sequim

all other wall hangings/handmade, thrifted, or family heirloom

removable wood wallpaper

/courtesy of

wallsneedlove.com

OUR HOME // living room

Our living room is one of my

favorite

rooms in the house.  It took a while to finish because we needed some different furniture than what was in our old home's teeny tiny living room.  Living room furniture can be big and expensive, so we took a while finding some deals and slowly put things together.  We found our couch on Craigslist, and it was a like-new Ikea couch that was used as a staging couch, so it had basically never been used!  The other chairs in the room are all thrifted and the coffee table is a DIY, which I shared

here

.

I put up the bunting for our housewarming party almost a year ago and I've never taken it down, though I've been thinking about painting the ceiling a fun color, so it may come down.  I'm so used to it now, I don't even notice it!  And I've already basically killed my houseplant, so it might be a better idea to get a faux plant for that corner.  Dan is trying to nurse it back to health in his study for the time being.  I'm not sure why I thought I could keep a houseplant alive.  Ain't nobody got time for that.  It's my fault for putting it in a hard-to-water corner.  Don't let these photos fool you.  These days almost all but two or three fronds are completely crunchy, brown, and dead.

A few more globes from my collection live in the living room and the stacks of vintage books are from my mom.  She works in a school library and whenever they give away old versions of books, she picks the ones with cool vintage patterns on the cover and sends them to me.  

I knew that if I had a big wall available, I wanted to do a gallery wall.  It's not too big yet, and half of the prints are my own, but eventually I'd love to have a bigger and better gallery wall!  I've been wanting to put a huge shelving unit on that wall, so I may even move the gallery wall into the corner and include the Back to the Future print!  

I haven't been able to spend a lot of time in this room since we got Dusty because she didn't quite grasp that the rug was not an acceptable place for her to pee.  I think she's finally figured it out (crossing fingers) and recently I've been enjoying reading on the couch with her curled up next to me.

couch/ikea (via craigslist) :: pillows + rug + side tables + sheepskin + curtains/ikea 

lamps + woven tray/target :: chairs + globes+ chevron throw/thrifted

glass diamond

/

moorea seal

 :: coffee table + bunting/diy