Living Room Mood Board

It's hard to believe Andrew has already lived here for over four months, but at the same time, it feels like it's always just been the two of us, and Louis. I love living with him and the little home we've made.

Before his mom and grandpa came to stay with us for Nina's graduation, I spent some time trying to decorate, organize, and make the space feel more like home.  We still had a few boxes out, and piles of things we didn't know what to do with. I straightened that up before they arrived so our house was looking her (yes, it's a she) best for company.

And since then, I haven't done a single thing. I decided I should take some time and create a mood board of what I hope the space will eventually look like. We have a huge open living room. One entire wall is windows, there is a wood burning fireplace in one corner, and it is also open to both the entry way and formal dining room. 

created with Olioboard

Luckily, when Andrew moved in he brought two really nice, brown leather couches with him. I already had a nice coffee table and end tables, and my parents also gave me my Gram's old arm chair, so we were pretty much set as far as furniture goes.

Because we have hardwood floors throughout our house, we wanted to get a large area rug to warm up the space and make it feel cozy. Plus, it's actually in our rental agreement to have 80% of the floors covered with rugs. Especially with Louis in the house. Right when Andrew moved in, we had a piece of carpeting cut at Home Depot for the living room. We needed something 12x12, and as you know, rugs are VERY expensive. So for our budget, this was the best option. They had a nice, neutral color that contrasted well with our dark leather sofas, but would also hide any hair or stains from Louis. It might not have been my first choice for an area rug, but for $100 you can't beat the price and I think it looks nice and pulls the room together.

After we bought the rug, we didn't do any other decorating until just before his mom came.  A few months ago, I asked for your help to decide which throw pillows to get for the space. I thought pillows would be a simple and inexpensive way to add color and break up the dark leather couches and wood floors. I ordered a few pillow covers from Etsy, and that small change made a huge difference.

There is still a lot of work to be done. I have NO CLUE how to style the mantle. I keep going back and forth about what look I'm going for. I've been pinning up a storm, searching for inspiration. Any ideas you have are welcome!

Also a challenge, is hiding the cords from our huge TV. We have it set to the left of the fireplace on a console table. But the cords drive me crazy! And the TV takes up almost the entire wall, so I need to find a solution for that area STAT.

And finally, we need some artwork on the walls! As much as I love a good gallery wall, we have one in our bedroom and I don't think I want to go that route in the living room. But with a huge, open wall behind the couch, I think we need something. I thought possibly having some photos from my trip to Italy framed? Any ideas? I also want to do a DIY version of San Francisco Subway Art and put that near the window on the wine rack. I think we'll use the top of the wine rack as our "bar cart."

Clearly there are a million ideas spinning around in my head, and now I'm rambling. But I figured I should start to gather my thoughts and inspiration for decorating so we can finally make some progress decorating our living room. If you have any ideas, please share them!

So, here are the rather sad "Before" pictures of our living room. I snapped these with my iPhone when my old roommate was in the process of moving out, and Andrew hadn't yet moved in.

sorry this one is blurry

 

This is what our living room looked like the day before Andrew's mom arrived, definite progress!

 

sticks on the couch = our effort to keep Louis off the couches! 

And now, after hurting your eyes with the "before" images, here are some of the inspiration photos I've gathered on Pinterest...

all inspiration photos & sources from my Pinterest

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!! See you back here on Monday!

xoxo,

Theresa