Living Room Updates

Now that we have lived in our home for about a year, it is fun to look back and see how much the house has changed and improved since we first bought it and moved it. We still have a long way to go, but we have made a pretty good dent. Currently, the room that has seen the most change is the living room, or front room. It is the room you first see when you walk in the door. It has some great features, like the three beautiful windows, and some more difficult features, like the loooooooooong wall that connects it to the dining room.

Here's the room as we found it when we first moved in.

Terrible paint colors. The long wall was covered in a very dark red which sucks away all the light. Then there is that yellow color which is terrible. And you can't see it, but there was another beige wall. So much going on. The living room is also sunken. Don't love that, don't hate that. It separates the space from the dining room which is good, but the two spaces still share that really long wall which keeps them connected. That has been a design problem in my mind. 

So when we moved in, we painted this room a safe "bone white" from Dunn Edwards, which added a lot of light, and decided to make this room our "family room." I insisted on hanging some curtains because I wanted the space to feel warm. Unfortunately, that was a bad decision...you live and learn. 

First design for the living room.

We didn't have much furniture when we first bought the house...any at all really, so the "family room" looks quite bare. After living there for about six months, I convinced my husband that the room should really function more as a "living room" than as a family room. And so we moved some furniture around and got this:

Full couch against long wall; loveseat across and against a small wall; floral chairs in front of windows

It worked. We decided to take the curtains down, bought some couches, eventually scored that beautiful round coffee table and bought some nice lamps from Target. All was well and it fit the needs of a living room. Meanwhile, the room we made the "family room" looked awesome. (More on that later).

While on search for a dresser for the nursery, we came across a lady on Craigslist who had some awesome pieces. We got a dresser for $70, but then also scored a beautiful credenza ($150) and a cool old wine-box-turned-end-table ($30).

If you open the door, there is a working record player.

Not the best photo, but it says "Chateau Ste Michelle."

I loved the two pieces, but when they came into our house about a week ago, they stressed me out. I didn't know how they would fit and I hated that we bought furniture we didn't have a particular need for. Luckily my mom came into town and helped us solve this little problem. We decided to move the couches around, use the credenza as a sofa table and use the wine box table as a table between the two floral chairs.

I love the room! We still need art/decor on the walls, but as far as it feeling and functioning as a living room, I think we have hit the money spot! It also has a nice separation from the dining room. Now when you sit in either space, you don't feel like you are in one huge room but in a separate space. It is so nice! 

Any ideas for how to fill up the wall space? I am not the best at choosing decor for walls...but I will try my best.