decorating details

before

Now, this before shot is from the first weeks after moving into our house almost 3 years ago, but it was one of the few I could find that showed the whole room and the dramatic effect of before will be even better.

The walls in the living room were a mocha brown. As new homeowners we liked it and were impressed that each room had color and style from the get-go, but there were little details that bothered us. Like the diagonal line they painted to divide the living room and kitchen to the left. The kitchen was a pinkish tan, which was alright, but again, bothered us a tad because pink in a kitchen is not our favorite choice.

This was also pre-mantle project.

The couch was from Costco and was also a light mocha brown. We loved it, it was a great price, and the microfiber cleaned so well with two young kids in the house. But we decided that it was barely big enough for the 4 of us, and it definitely didn't seat many guests in addition to our family. The chaise-end lacking a back really made for lost seating. But it got us by for 2 and a half years and supported our butts while we thought about the couch we really wanted.

so, after much thinking, shopping, bargain hunting and painting, here is the...

AFTER!

The couch is our splurge item. It's from The Sofa Company and we selected every single element of it (color, fabric, layout, feet, pillow stuffing, etc). We even got the warrantied scotch guarding from the recommendation of a friend, since we have kids and a dog. If you can be in love with a couch, we are. 

The general color for the kitchen, fireplace wall, front entryway and dining room is Shaker Beige (below on left) and the accent living room walls are Ashley Gray (below on right), both from Benjamin Moore. We loved Ashley Gray from the moment we tested it on the wall, but it took us several attempts at a good neutral beige before we found Shaker Beige and fell in love. All of the other beiges we tried looked too green under the evening lights. We were were happy we waited and tested several colors before making a decision. Usually waiting is not my strong suit. When I want to paint, I want to paint now!

The bookcases, both this one and the other side of the fireplace which has a desk built in (see first After picture above), are from Crate and Barrel and were very reasonably priced considering they were from C&B. Rick wanted to bring his computer into the living room but we didn't want it to look like an office, so we liked that the leaning desk/bookcase was a good compromise.  

The coffee table is one huge hunk of furniture, which is the look we were going for, and is also from Crate and Barrel. Although, we found it on Craigslist for 1/2 the price and it was in mint condition, so score!

The rug is from Overstock and it took Rick and I about 3 months to decide on one we both liked, was the right size, was the right color, was the right price. I couldn't even tell you how many we looked at online and in stores. But one day orange jumped into my head after trying to find grays or neutrals or whatever, and all of a sudden, it clicked. Orange was what we were looking for! 

We had fun working on this project and love relaxing in our new room. We feel so grown up!