The Living Room Saga

Have you ever noticed that people generally fall into one of two categories when it comes to entering and leaving their house? There are garage-door-entry people, and there are front-door-entry people. Now, of course this theory is dependent upon: (1) having a garage door; and (2) where you park your car. In our house, I am strictly a garage-door-entry person, coming in through the door that leads into the kitchen. The Mister, on the other hand, is a strict front-door-entry person. And, since our garage is currently full of projects and not suitable for either car to be parked in, we're both parking in the driveway. If that's not the difference - what gives?

It's because I can't bear to look at this sight everyday when I come home:

That's right, kids. That's my front living room. Isn't it awful?? I even avert my eyes when I go up and down the stairs. It is, quite literally, the room where all the other furniture goes to hang out until we have a place for it. Let's break it down.

This is our couch, which we inherited from the Mister's sister, when she woefully had to give it up because it didn't fit into her Lower East Side apartment.

It replaced this guy, which was part of the living room set that my parents bought in 1994 (the same one that contained the coffee/end tables that I just refinished. Talk about getting your money's worth.)

And yes, that's one of the many slipcovers I used on it during the years. Underneath, it looked like this:

Right? Is it a wonder I slip-covered? I think not. Originally, the loveseat came with this big guy:

And when we moved in, they both got plopped down in the living room, because we had to make room for our current, found-free-on-Craigslist sofas that we've got in the family room. I wanted to put these old ones into the basement, because while they are not attractive, believe me when I tell you they are super comfortable. I have recovered from more than one surgery on these guys, and slept many the night on them. So, naturally, I wanted to keep them for rec room furniture. The problem? They can't make the turn into the basement, and our basement does not currently sport a walk-out. Bummer.

So, they got put in the living room. (Eventually, we moved the big guy upstairs and stuck him in the guest room so that we could sleep two people in there until we replace the twin bed with a bigger one.) Once we had the new couch, courtesy of the sister-in-law, I finally said my goodbyes to the old loveseat, and off it went to the dump. That left us with our current conglomeration of stuff. We've got this table:

Yup, that's a communion table. The Mister's aunt is a retired bishop, and she got this out of one of her churches when they were going to throw it away. It's an interesting piece, and even though it doesn't totally go with the vision of the house, it's a non-negotiable piece for the Mister. So, we'll make it work.

Add to the mix my trunk, which was inherited from my Grandad:

And these bookshelves, which were a gift from my co-worker, and formerly lived in the dining room.

Oh, and let's not forget my rocking chairs.

The one on the left was a gift my maternal Grandma bought me when I started grad school, and the one on the right was inherited from my paternal grandmother. So, both are special and sentimental, and therefore, must be kept. That leaves us with these...

...and these...

which were all gifts from my china cabinet/tv stand donating co-worker. Oh, and those random, raw wood shelves and drawers? They go in the hutch that's sitting in my garage.

And that about sums up the current state of my living room. Pretty terrible, huh? So today, I finally got down to business about figuring out what to do in that room. And, in doing so, I discovered http://www.mydeco.com/. It's a fabulous website that makes it super easy to put together moodboards. After much perusing, and taking into consideration what I could do with the pieces I already have, I put this together.

I've decided on a light grey color for the walls (I've pinned a ton of rooms with light grey walls on Pinterest), and throwing some light blue tones in there to tie in with the dining room. As far as the bookcase, I've clearly got grand visions for the current ones that involve a whole lotta white paint. I'm hoping I can turn those little square tables (there are actually two of them) into a coffee table, and make something fabulous out of those skinny end tables.  I may or may not have a wingback chair up my sleeve, and ideas of how to accomplish turning it into something spectacular. Throw the commmunion table into that mix, and hopefully I'll be able to pull the room together. And - I've decided to give myself a December 1st deadline. 

So here's the to-do:

Paint the walls
Paint the bookcases white
Work out some sort of coffee table solution
Figure out a solution for the trunk (and yes, I've already tried it as a coffee table. Too tall.)
Get some blue curtains
Get some fun lamps
Get a wingback chair
Make newly acquired wingback chair white
Accessorize
Figure out a solution/home for Rocker #1
Figure out a solution/home for Rocker #2

Time to get crackin!