Living/Piano Room Update

Oh my dear blog.  Has it really been nine days since I last posted?  All of my good intentions for regular blogging again are in vain.  I blame winter.  I always blame winter.

Fortunately the weather has been improving lately.  It was in the 60s today!  And tomorrow the high is 71.  And then it is going to snow 1-3 inches tomorrow night.  Ridiculous weather!  But we aren't focusing on the snow; I just keep repeating 71 degrees and reminding myself of that.

With the warmer weather, not only do I find myself much happier, but I find myself much more inclined to be productive around the house.  After hibernating on the couch all winter, I'm ready to clean and organize and decorate and renovate this place!

So I will start today with some long overdue pictures of our living/piano room.  This room has been my "baby" in our new house.  It is the one room that we did not have in our old house, so we got to start from scratch in this room.  I've never done that before, so it has been fun to pick out colors and decor starting with a clean slate.  I don't claim to be an expert on interior design, and I don't know if there is anyone out there who really wants to see pictures of my living room.  But it's my blog, and I like to talk about it, so there.  =)

I posted some of my ideas for this room before we even moved into the house!  I have been waiting to post "after" pictures of the room when it is totally finished, but I have decided that there may never be "after" pictures.  I think this room (and our whole house) will always be a work in progress.  Because I like to always have projects.

Here's what this room looked like before we moved in everything.  It's a good size room, a little bit on the narrow side.

And here's what it looks like now!

The wall color is Revere Pewter by Benjamin Moore.  I love this color!  It's a gray/taupe/beige and looks different in different light.  But it is a great neutral.  I think it will end up in other rooms in our house eventually.

The couch is from Wal-mart!  It was cheap, but we don't really sit on it that often and so far, after six months, it is holding up well.  In the pictures, the cushions look like different colors for some reason.  But in real life, it does not look that way.  There's just something funky going on with the light/flash.

The rug, which to me is the highlight of the room, is from RugsUSA.com.  It is 7'6" x 9'6", and I paid $180 for it, which I think is a great deal.  It is super thick and plush, and so far (fingers crossed!) it has held up really well for us.  I spent a long time stalking this rug and watching the price change.  You have to watch the prices really closely on this website.  Right now, the price of this rug is $275 (which is advertised at 50%).  It's possible you could check tomorrow though, and the price would be $280 at 60% off.  Their math is a little crazy, but with patience, you can score a good deal!

The curtains are cloth tablecloths from Target.  I don't think they are available any more.  I really liked the pattern/colors for this room, so I just bought some curtain clips and hung them up.  They are the perfect length; no hemming was necessary.  I debated putting two curtains on each window, like most people do.  But I think I like it with just one panel per window, and it saved me $35!

  I got this wicker chair on Craigslist for $50.  It is originally from Ikea and sells for $110 new, I think.  It probably wouldn't have been my first choice for an accent chair in this room, but it was affordable and I liked it enough to buy it.  It is decently comfortable to sit in this chair, and it seems sturdy.  So I'm keeping it...for now.  =)

Above the chair, I hung these frames.  Inside each frame is a quote from some of my favorite books.  The frames are all from Ikea (best place EVER to buy cheap white picture frames!).  The blue medallion is from Hobby Lobby.  I made and printed the quotes myself.  I'm not sure if these quotes will stay here forever, but the nice thing is since I made them, I can easily change them too.

I love built in bookcases and would love a whole wall of them if possible! I also love the look of books organized by color that I have seen on other people's shelves, so I decided to give it a try here. 

 

Now let's talk about some of the things I don't like in this room.  I like to think of this room as a formal living room, but I also use it to teach piano lessons.  So I want it to be pretty, but I also need it to be functional!  I'm still working out how to keep all my piano supplies organized and within reach while still keeping the look I want in this room.

This is the chair I bought at a flea market last year and repainted.  I love the chair, and use it daily to sit next to the piano and teach.  But when I'm not teaching, the chair just sits there in the corner looking awkward.  Next to the chair is the wire basket I bought at the same flea market.  In the basket, I keep all the supplies I need while teaching.  It's handy to have it right next to me, but I don't love it all just sitting there on the floor.

I also don't love the printer sitting next to the piano.  I need it there, because I use it regularly during lessons.  But it's not very pretty, so I'm brainstorming ways to better disguise it.

Then there is the mudroom bookshelf we made while living in our old house.  It was a perfect fit in our old living room.  I don't really like it in this room though.  Plus we really don't use it.  On the bottom, I keep my piano books (I want to get prettier magazine holders to hold them too!).  Then I usually hang my camera bag on the hooks, as well as Audrey's backpack.  Otherwise, this bookshelf just sits here collecting junk.  However, it has come in handy when we have a big group over to our house.  I just move the piano books to the top, and then we can put everyone's shoes on the shelves and coats on the hooks.  We do use it on occasion.  So for now, it's staying in the room.

Other possible future projects in this room include:  board and batten treatment on the walls (like this!), wall art above/around the piano and an overhead light.

Wow, who knew I could write such a long blog post about one little room in our house!  Can you tell I really enjoy this stuff?  =)  To anyone out there still reading, thanks for humoring me and keeping up with this little blog of mine.