Living room working with what we have

 
The first thing we did when we bought our new house was refinish all of the hardwood floors and paint all of the rooms except for our home office and half bath.  After we finished all of that then we started moving all of our furniture and stuff in to our new home. The first living space we wanted to put together was the living room.  We wanted to able to come home in the evening and relax with our family in a space that felt familiar and cozy just like home.  We wanted to make work the things from our previous home to save money and because we love the pieces we have collected over time.

To make the living room feel light and fresh we went with Glidden's smooth stone in eggshell. It is a medium, creamy grey shade that's a nice contrast to the new stain color we chose for the floors.  We then brought in the big pieces of furniture we were going to use in the room.  I knew I wanted to use the green cabinets to flank the fire place and they fit perfectly.

We chose to mount the TV over the fireplace because the living room is small.  First we tried bringing in our TV console and played around with furniture arrangements but it just didn't fit because we wanted to add extra seating.  After moving everything around we decided this was the best furniture arrangement for the pieces that we have.  We put our big, grey love seat chaise combination from Ikea in front of the big window and used our end tables side by side to use as a coffee table in front of the couch.

We recently bought the leather wing back chair through Craigslist and the Greek key chair next to it I thrifted and painted distressed black and reupholstered with fabric from an old curtain.

There was a big empty wall I wanted to build a console table for so I checked my scrap wood inventory, drew up some plans. made up some measurements and my hubby and I got to building.  I then sanded  and painted it to look a bit weathered. I accessorized the console table with some books, my rhino from West Elm, a metal fan to keep us cool, a picture of our princesses and an old pineapple shaped lamp I spray painted white and bought a fabric lamp shade for.  It is a pair, I have the other one on one of the green cabinets.  I hung a faux bamboo mirror over the console that I spray painted glossy white.  More details and pictures of the console table here.

 All of the accessorize were from our old home.  We didn't spend any money accessorizing this room or in furniture aside from the leather wing back chair. The rug is a Moroccan shag rug from Home Goods.  It was from our old master bedroom it fit in here perfectly.  The curtains are the white vivan curtains from Ikea we used them in almost every room in our old house.  I added a few plants around the living room for fresh air and because I love having plants in every room.  The hourglass stool we bought through Craigslist.

The wooden hand on the mantle was a gift from my aunt, it's my favorite piece.  The Buddha was a birthday gift from my husband a few years ago.  The large wall panel over the set of chairs we also bought through Craigslist.

As you can see most of our furniture pieces are second hand either from craigslist or thrift stores and I paint them myself to fit in with our home.  The green cabinets next to the fireplace are originally from Pier 1 but of course i bought them second hand and painted them in different shades of green, glazed them and distressed them.

The side tables that are now our coffee table are also second hand and I painted, glazed and distressed them.  Buying used pieces allows us to save money, have unique, good quality pieces that we love and at the same time we are being green by reusing these pieces that could otherwise end up in a dumpster.

There are a lot of things I want to do to this room, it isn't yet finished.  I want to finish painting all the trim, windows, and the doors.  The fire place needs a make over, I don't know what to do with it yet. I want to add more texture with window shades and in other forms.  We want to add overhead, recess lights.  There will always be tweaking here and there but our living room is now a comfortable, livable and beautiful room that feels just like home to us.  That's all that matters!!!