The Living Room Reveal- Finally!!!!!!!!!

Well, we've been in the house 10 weeks, so for 10 weeks I've kept you waiting on the living room.  I'm sure you were all glued to your screens just waiting for this right?  :)

Actually, the reason I've refused to share photos of the living room until now is because we didn't have our chairs.  They were finally delivered, though not without a grand finale fiasco, on Friday.  I've already griped publicly about the ridiculousness of the furniture department manager at the Lewisville, TX Dillards so I'll spare you the re-telling of that story.  Just know that the delivery department dispatchers and drivers almost entirely made up for it.  They showed up on Friday to pick up our loaner chair and to deliver our 2 new chairs.  So they took the loaner chair out to the truck and brought in chair number 1 which was structurally good, but had an ink pen mark on the cushion.  They came back empty handed without chair number 2 and explained the leg was cracked nearly off the chair.  Oh boy.  Just like the first time, except the leg instead of the arm.  When they asked if I wanted to refuse them both and get new ones I flew off the handle and explained to them that we ordered these the first week in February.  I told them my tale of woe with the furniture department forgetting to re-order for about a month after telling me they had reordered and I watched them exchange a knowing glance.

The kicker is I could have gotten an identical style chair from Ballard for the same price, but chose the Jonathan Louis chairs because they were a few inches deeper and wider and I was looking for something substantial to cozy up this room!  Plus, I got to choose my own fabric for the chair and the pillows.  :)

Anyway, together we got crafty.
 They brought back the loaner chair and the fabrics were a perfect match.  So we took that chair back, and we took the cushion from the chair with a broken leg, and as far as Dillards is concerned we received 2 perfect chairs.  O. M. G.  Only took 20 weeks from the time we ordered.  Painful, but they're lovely, and the delivery guys were lovely, and these two guys gave me back some hope for humanity!

Here's a reminder of the living room space before we moved our stuff in.

Since then there have been a number of projects!!  I gave a teaser of the 120" of linen gloriousness early on, accessorized with my DIY rope tie-backs inspired by Restoration Hardware.

Speaking of Restoration Hardware, we were living here for several weeks when we decided we wanted to try a large coffee table.  We've NEVER had a coffee table in any of our living rooms.  In all fairness, we didn't have a game/rec room before so the living room was home to a lot of toys, a baby or two, and two dogs for a while.  So we needed more open space.  In this living room, it's mostly just the adults that use it and it's strictly a no-toy zone!!!  It felt a little barren so we decided to give the coffee table thing a shot.  I found one I loved at Restoration Hardware.  It's the Balustrade Salvaged Wood table in the square configuration and a whopping 60"x60"!

So what's a girl to do when she falls for a $2500 coffee table from a store she's trying to shun for their snooty ways?  You all expect me to say I'd build it myself don't you!  HA!  Well the joke's on you!  Those turned legs cost a fortune, and we don't have the tools like a kreg jig to build this guy right. And I've been a tad busy.  So we hired a local wood worker to make one for us.  :)  They're a husband and wife team who started as hobbyists and are about to open a store and give it a go.  So for 67% LESS than RH and including delivery, we got virtually the same table, though I asked them to leave it unstained so I could stain, paint, and abuse it to my own liking.  I don't have good photos of that process, sorry!  I will tell you, it's this very project that made me wish I had designed my workshop to be a foot or two longer in either direction!  Here's what it looked like crammed in there while I worked on it.  :)

Here's a funny one.  This little side table is one of my first house purchases.  It was on sale at World Market and I loved the color and powdery metal texture.

Then, we realized we forgot how much we like this color, because we also ordered two large distressed leather sofas in an almost identical color.  Oops!  The table is bluer than it looks in the photo, and the sofas are gray, but they were close enough to sort of look like the same color in the grand scheme of things.  So the table had to be painted.  I gave Brent two options and he chose WRONG a galvanized tin look.  Ha!  I was fully on board because I'm also dense and failed to realize that galvanized tin would also be a near identical match to the sofas.  LOL!!!  This is why, though I appreciate all your kind comments about me someday decorating professionally, I have to laugh because you usually don't see all the oopsies along the way.  Most of you didn't get to see the basement where good turned bad ideas went to rest and collect dust in our last house.  :)

So blah blah blah, here's what the table looked like after a hammered tin paint treatment.  This is actually a terrible photo, but it's all I've got.  It was still wet, hence the shine.

So, yeah that finish lasted about 24 hours before I moved on to the CORRECT other option, which was quite obviously mint green.  Then one thing led to another and this table got some nautical rope bracelets to match the earrings on the curtains.  :)

Ta-Da!

This table needed a lamp!  I bought a lamp that was an ugly, dated color and a large drum lamp shade fit for a hunting lodge with that masculine black and gold trim!  A coat of chalk paint and some natural edging with a glue gun and this lamp was whipped right into shape!  Granted, not the biggest transformation but it went from unusable to daily use!

Before:

And then the formal elements in the room were dominating the casual elements, so I whipped up a couple (4) pillows using a super casual seersucker in charcoal and green.  Remember, I'm no seamstress.  These are old accent pillows I had that I just permanently covered.  No zippers here folks!  No ties, no fancy pockets!  You may remember these fabrics from the prayer bunting on the nugget's headboard.  I wish I could say I used leftover fabric but I needed to go buy more to get 4 full pillows out of it.  :)  Then the spirits moved me to embellish.  So one got a ruffly stripe and one got a ruffly flower.

You all remember the last big project I finished before we moved in, right?

This guy?

So those are all the elements, and here is the room all put together.  I suppose I (and Dillards) have kept you waiting long enough!!!

the tv wall needs something on either side of the tv, but i haven't figured out what yet.  for once, i'm not going to try to force it, and instead just wait until i stumble on the perfect final touches!

this rug was a black friday purchase.  and after i bought it and waited for delivery i had buyer's remorse, which promptly disappeared as soon as i rolled it out on the floor.  this is the softest rug i've ever felt!!

and a closer look at some of the deets!

i don't think i mentioned the steps earlier, but i think i stained it special walnut, then painted it a creamy off white chalky paint, then sanded it.  and it looked like a piece of furniture that had freshly sanded paint.  boo!  so i stained over the top of the paint with weathered oak and now it's more subdued.  it adds some lightness next to all the gray sofas, and blends with the rug nicely.  the rattan tray just holds coasters and the remote for now, and a box of tissues when i have one open.  we'll see if it gets more "dressed" as time goes by.

one of the blessed chairs we've been waiting for.  the lamp is from Kirkland's and i got a great deal - they were handing out $25 coupons in store that day!

how cute is this tin?!  and appropriate for a home by the fireplace!  random home goods find that i definitely wasn't out looking for.  those are the best finds!

So there you have it!  The living room and the open living space all finished for now, though I'm sure it will evolve.  I've got to get some pictures of mom's new guest bedroom to share that with you.  It got a makeover for mother's day!  And I haven't really shared my workshop with you because I haven't really done anything to it yet, but I will.  I will!  And there are still lots of projects I'll be doing around the house, so I hope you continue to enjoy the minutia of my projects, and if so, I'll keep telling you about them.

Thanks for reading!!