Formal Living Rooms: What to do with them?

When I sold my old house and moved into an apartment for a year, I knew I wanted to have a formal living room and a formal dining room in my new house.  A year later, my new house was ready.  Way before moving in, I fell in love with this gorgeous brown couch.  After looking at the price tag, I knew I couldn't afford it; however, Star Furniture was having a huge sale one month before I closed on my house and the price was right.  I {had} to have that couch...we were meant to be together.  You know how loan officers ask that you not make any major purchases before closing on a house?  Well, I felt like I was stuck.  The lady helping me at Star Furniture was great.  I jokingly asked if I could put the couch on "hold."  She mentioned that the couch would have to come from the warehouse and it would take a week.  I explained my situation to her and she asked if I had any cash with me...I had $5.  She gladly took my $5 as down payment, put the couch on hold for an entire month and even offered me free delivery as a housewarming gift.  I was so happy that I was getting the couch I REALLY fell in love with.

The couch came with 6 pillows plus the ones on the side.  Here's my couch...

The close up picture shows the beautiful detailing on top.  It has wood, nailhead, leather, more nailhead and then the fabric.

I then found this coffee table and a matching end table...

For a couple of years, my living room looked like this...

I really liked my living room, but it felt way too formal.  Fast forward a few years and what do I discover?  Blogosphere!  Oh! Oh!  This is where it all started.  After reading many blogs and looking at beautiful pictures, I knew this living room wasn't working for me so I started changing things throughout my home.  I decided to make a few changes here and there...I started by adding crown moulding to the formal living. 

Here's a messy picture with the crown installed. 

Notice that ugly builder light?  Yeah, I don't like it either!  I changed that too...

I am making progress...slowly but surely.  Although the LR still feels very formal to me, I'm still not done with the changes!  I have a lot of work ahead of me.

• The rust fabric on the chairs will be replaced with a linen upholstery fabric;
• I plan on painting the wood...I am tired of the stain - looks too dark;
• I sold my coffee table and end table; {I kinda regret it now}
• I sold the chandie b/c it just wasn't working for the room...The room is a little big for this chandie.

I want to:

• Add a slipcover to the sofa - what do you think?
• Add nesting tables on each side of the sofa;
• Add a brass, mirrored coffee table;
• Paint a different color; and
• Add wall-to-wall seagrass (I'll have to wait for this one).

linking to:

No Minimalist Here: Open House Party

Centsational Girl

Savvy Southern Style: Wow Us Wednesdays

From My Front Porch To Yours: Treasure Hunt Thursdays

French Country Cottage: Feathered Nest Friday

Til next time...

A Free Couch

Since everyone's getting ready for Spring and people in my neighborhood - and I'm sure all over the country - are on "Spring cleaning" mode, getting rid of things, I came across this sofa.  I was on my way to Sonic and saw a neighbor dragging this heavy piece out of her garage.  I stopped and asked if she was getting rid of it and asked if I could have it.  She was glad to get it out of her hands.  This is what I got...for free!

I will be visiting my dad this weekend and am planning on taking this heavy couch to Mexico to get it reupholstered.  Here are two inspiration pictures...I am not sure what I am doing with it yet, but I love these two!

source 

source



A Chair Named Lola

Seven months ago, the boyfriend and I were thrifting at some of our favorite stores.  You all know how that goes - sometimes you find amazing things and other times you don't really find anything.  That was the case that time around, but decided to make one last stop at a thrift store on the way home.  I ran across this ugly chair.  As you can see in the pictures below, the fabric was filthy dirty.  I didn't even want to touch it with my bare hands.  The chair was $10 so I had to buy it.  It sat in my garage for the longest time looking like so:

{Before}

I went to visit my dad a few months ago and took Lola (I named the chair Lola) along with this wingback chair across the border to get it reupholstered.  I know I should have given Lola a coat of paint before reupholstering her, but I tend to work backwards. LOL

After bringing it home Lola sat in my garage for another couple of months.  Below is Lola with a coat of primer.  I used gray primer from Home Depot and you can see the new upholstery or maybe not b/c it's not really a good picture. 

{Lola Primed}



I then gave Lola two coats of paint.  I used Farrow and Ball Mouse's Back.  I used the real deal because I knew I wasn't going to need lots of paint, I bought a sample and that was more than enough.  Here she is with her two coats of Farrow and Ball Mouse's Back and you can also see the upholstery:

{Painted}



I then gave Lola a subtle dry brush technique with acrylic paint like so...and added some Rub-N-Buff in antique gold....

...and this is what Lola looks like all finished:

{Finished}



She's tucked in a corner in my family room.  I tried two different looks on her.

{First look}

{Second look}

I don't know which look she's keeping, but I really like them both.  I also like her alot without the pillows so she can display her beautiful tufting.

I just started another project and hopefully it won't take me seven months to finish it!  

Linking to:

From My Front Porch To Yours: Treasure Hunt No. 47

Coastal Charm: Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

DIY By Design: Winter Blues Wednesday

Savvy Southern Style: Wow Us Wednesdays

French Country Cottage: Feathered Nest Friday

At the Picket Fence: Inspiration Friday

My Romantic Home: Show and Tell Friday

Miss Mustard Seed: Furniture Feature Friday

Common Ground: Inspiration Friday

Til next time...



GIVEAWAY WINNER!!!

Thanks for participating in the giveaway! 

The winner of The Joy of Decorating by Mrs. Phoebe Howard is:

....................................................................................................................................................

MARTY!!

Congrats, Marty! 

Please email me your address so I can ship the book to you! 

P.S.  My brain is fried (I just left work a few hours ago)...I could NOT post the info from the random.org website so I took a picture instead. 

Thanks for participating!  I'll have another giveaway soon!

What's In the Box...and a Giveaway!

Hello again!

Two days ago, I received this package.

I was a little surprised because I don't recall ordering anything.  When I opened the package I found this note:

Yes, a sweet little note from the boyfriend...turns out this was a Valentine's Day gift.

One of my favorite interior decorators is Phoebe Howard and this book does NOT disappoint!  Beautiful rooms and lots of inspiration.

Thank you, J!

Because this book does not disappoint, I decided to have my very first giveaway and give a lucky reader/follower their very own copy of this AMAZING book The Joy of Decorating by Phoebe Howard.

How to Win:  Follow my blog {via Linky Followers} and let me know that you do by leaving a comment.

This giveaway will be open until midnight on Thursday, March 8th and a lucky winner will be selected next Friday, March 9th. 

Good luck!

This giveaway is now closed.