Refreshing the living room

Hello there! I hope you had a fantastic weekend! It was a good one here – I got SO much done. And had some fun. Just the right mix. ;)

I’ve been making some changes to the living room over the past year or so and I am really loving how it’s coming along. I know living rooms are typically more “fancy,” but I don’t really want fancy in our house. It’s a big, open room so we spend quite a bit of time out there. The Bub plays in the living room more than he does any other room downstairs, so it needs to be comfy. Even though I don’t want fancy, I do like this space to have a little flair.

As some of you know, we got new hardwoods last fall, courtesy of a fridge leak and great insurance. (It so would not have happened otherwise.)

The floors made a HUGE difference in that space, but I’ve really wanted a rug all this time. I’ve been looking for MONTHS and I finally found the right one. I started with a cream rug back in January from World Market, and I loved it – but once I put it down I knew it was too small (6.9 by 9.6 I think). And the day I got it, a visitor came in with shoes on and I had some major sweats. I didn’t want to live worrying about the dirt that would show.

So it went back, and the floor has been bare again. :) I decided I wanted to go with a natural material like a jute, because it would hold up well and I love the look of them. But it was the feel I was worried about, so I researched a TON, read a lot of reviews and tested a few out in the stores.

And then I waited for a sale. ;)

Last week I got the ONE:

I went with the 8 by 10 size and it was on sale for just over $400 – one of the best deals I’ve found!

I loved that it was the natural look, but had two different colors and had just a slight design to it:

I was afraid a full jute rug would be the exact same color as our sofa and wash everything out, so when I got home with this one I realized it was a good call:

I have a very confusing relationship with that couch – I love that it’s nice and deep and the cushions are oh-so-comfy. I struggle big time with the color and the fabric. I would have had it recovered by now, the the back cushions are sewed on. NICE. I may still do it, I just need to check out my options.

AnyHOO…lately, I’ve decided to just work with the color, not against it. And that’s another reason I really, really like this rug. It pulls in the color of the couch and makes it not stand out as much.

It’s way softer than sisal, and softer than most jute rugs I’ve looked at. It’s not baby butt soft or anything, but it’s not bad at all to sit on (which is good for the kiddo):

And it’s like a little foot massage when you walk on it. :)

I love that keeps this room from getting too serious – the fringe on the ends helps with that:

The 8 by 10 size is perfect for this space – at first I had it running the opposite way, and it wasn’t right. It’s amazing how switching the direction of your rug can make a HUGE difference in a room! Try it. ;)

I like that it goes under the sofa just a bit:

You can see I don’t accessorize our coffee tables. (This one is from Garden Ridge.) Around here, a flat surface is a Lego surface, so really, there’s no point. :)

I put it under the sofa a bit because I didn’t want the rug to go under the desk chair on the other side of the room:

I don’t think I’ve shown you this desk yet! I got it about a year ago at HomeGoods and luuuuurve it. It’s such a pretty little piece. I have a plan to change it up a bit, but I’ve had that plan for almost a year now and it hasn’t happened yet soooooo, I’m showing you the desk. ;)

For years, a chair that went with the sofa sat in that corner. Lately I’ve wanted to try and create more “vignettes” in this space – it’s a big room with soaring ceilings and it didn’t feel cozy to me before. Now it feels so much warmer – I adore this desk and how different it makes the space look!:

I did a tiny bit of rearranging by moving the round table over in the corner:

For no other reason than I just wanted to move something around. ;) I never move furniture in our house, so even a little table feels like I did something BIG.     

So this space is one of my favorite before and afters. Early on it looked like this:

We really loved it at the time, just like everything in this house. I love (most) changes every step of the way, but it sure is fun to see how different the same room looks years later:

A couple of winters ago I started the process by adding new window treatments (that I made myself) and adding a dresser (that was in the Bub’s nursery) to brighten it up a bit:

And now it’s really come together:

It’s taken a few years of waiting for the right pieces and I’m SO glad I've been patient. Sometimes it’s a good thing it takes me forever and a day to do anything.

There’s still a BIG project I want to work on next, and it involves the walls. And ladders. OH MY.

I think picking out a rug is one of the hardest decorating choices, hands down. Do you? Part of it is the cost issue, but it’s also because they make a HUGE statement in a room!

**You can see how I made the terrariums on the desk here.
**Check out the DIY Pottery Barn pillows on the cheap here.
**And more about the bookcase here!