Saturday, July 23, 2011

A Lived-In Living Room

I want to share with you a couple of updates we've made to our apartment over the past three months. For some before-before pictures, check out this old post.

This week, I accomplished something I'd been thinking about since before we even moved. Residing in our living room is my couch from college. It's actually a couch I inherited from an older roommate, and I'm pretty sure she had inherited it as well. I'm really not sure of this couch's origins, but let's just say that it is showing it's scars. As a matter of fact, I just looked through all of my pictures, and could not find a single picture of this couch in its original state. This means that never once did I find it at all suitable, even for a post-AYCD night picture in college.

However, it's a couch. And we need a couch. And would prefer not to buy one (yet). So, I gave it a makeover.

The first thing I did was buy this super-cute slipcover from Target's Simply Shabby Chic line. However, when I tried to stuff the back cushions under the slip cover, it looked like... well, I can't think of a PC description, so we'll just say I was not a fan. I knew I needed new cushions, and decided I could easily make them myself. You see, back in the day, I had a business. Yes, the year was 1995, and I spent the summer selling homemade Beanie Baby beds on the corner. Every afternoon, I would wheel my red wagon filled with little pillows and sleeping bags down the neighborhood street, and do business with the community Beanie Baby fans. And, because I know you were wondering, yes, they did come in sizes (regular and teenie).

Due to all of this pillow-stitching and -stuffing experience, I felt confident in my ability to make new couch cushions. All summer I've been planning this in my mind--looking at fabric, pricing European pillows, and playing with color combinations. Through the planning, it seemed as though the pillows themselves would run about $20 a piece (and I needed five of them), then it would take about 2 yards of fabric per pillow, not to mention the fact that I'd need to coerce my mom into helping me set up and thread her serger (which is a pain in the *&@). Plus, in all honesty, I had to admit that the likelihood of my actually creating five pillow shams successfully was slim-to-none, meaning I'd need to splurge on at least four extra yards of back-up fabric.

However, I was determined. Until I went to Bed Bath & Beyond, found the pillows on sale for $10, and shams on clearance for $5. I bought three of those, and splurged on two fancier accent pillows, thereby transforming our couch.

P.S. In the 1.5 months that I was out of the blogging world, Blogger changed their picture-uploader and i do not like it. I apologize for the super-blurry pictures that I worked really hard to create in Photoshop. I need to figure out this new system.

I am so excited about our "new couch" because it has really transformed our living room. Check out the difference between our living room in April, and our current room.


You will also notice the addition of the shelves and picture frame above the couch, and the new curtains. This isn't the greatest picture of the curtains, but I love that they tie the green and creamy-white of the couch with the blue of the arm chair. Oh, and then there are the candles in the fireplace, which I love. They're just there for the summertime; with these 100+ degree heat indices, we really have not been wanting any fires.

I need some advice on another aspect of this room, and this is where you come in.

We have this huge empty space above the fireplace. And while I fully intend to paint soon, which will diminish slightly the glaring-white effect, I need to put something there. I originally pictured a big, round, ornate mirror. Maybe with some rustic-looking swirly-ness around the outside. But, at the same time, that seems a little overdone. Anyone have a more creative idea?

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