My living room has had more posts about it than any other room in the house, and it’s STILL not done. Having said that, I told y’all about the epic IKEA trip and there needs to be an update because even though the room is STILL not done, if I waited for it to be done, there would be nothing to blog about.
To recap, here is the transformation of the living room:
This is roughly what it looked like from 2007-2010. Emphasis on the rough.
This is roughly what it looked like from 2010-2012. Less emphasis on the rough, but wow. Ugly. This was what it looked like when I decided to make it over.
This is my first makeover. I have fond memories because I love the trim and I was SO proud of those pelmet boxes, but that color is so ugly I could die.
Side note, Hubbin was pissed that he had to miss the game just to move while I took pictures.
Then I redid the kitchen and I loved that blue so much that I had to do it in the living room. So, I did what any self respecting woman would do – I painted the entire damn thing myself one day while he was at work so he couldn’t say no. And it turned into this:
This was back in the day where we had a comfortable couch.
Then I needed new furniture, and organization. I mean, we NEEDED a place for Jason’s sister to sleep when she came to visit! We needed a Manstad couch and an Expedit shelf for storage. Simple. I budgeted $700.
This literally looks like one of the showrooms. The only thing NOT from IKEA is the TV stand.
Ok, that is not a one Manstad sectional (LOVED the couch, HATED the color), and that is not one Expedit shelf. Those are two Expedits, two Karlstads (that I wish I’d had measured, because they don’t fit right and that bothers me daily), eight baskets, four curtains, one coffee table, and one side table that you can’t see in the corner. And in that basket all the way to the left? That has eight Besta legs and eight Capita legs in it because I couldn’t make up my mind, and neither of them are actually ON the bookcases. That rug is from IKEA but used to be in my office (which will soon be a dining room!).
The Karlstads are a source of contention because we got them because we needed a pull out sofa, and IKEA had little selection, but one sofa wasn’t going to cut it. The loveseat was only like $100 cheaper than the regular sofa, so we got that. And it’s WAY too much furniture to center in front of those windows, which is what I WANTED to do. And the sleeper sofa? The couch itself is like a ROCK. It is, single-handedly, the most uncomfortable couch I have ever met in my life. Regardless, they are here and staying, mostly because I don’t want to drive to Charlotte again.
Things still to do:
- Attach legs to Expedits (likely Besta)
- Hang the big floating shelves we bought AFTER I bought all the supplies to make some myself
- Print engineer prints of pictures from our hometowns to hang above the floating shelves and frame
- Change or stain those awful legs on the sofas
- Re-center the pictures over the television, which is centered in front of the coffee table
- Get a normal looking fan. I hate white fans. And get a fancy thing that goes around it on the ceiling.
- Find a lightbulb that goes in the lamp that Hubbin bought that’s currently sitting on top of the Expedit.\
- Get more/better throw pillows
So there you go; that’s what it looks like for now. I want to do all the leg work (bad pun) sooner than later. And the pictures should be a breeze, but it’s the one of Richmond, where Hubbin grew up, that’s going to take some legwork. Anyone down that way have any good ones?
Edited for update – I finally got around to hanging those ridiculous shelves (see here for that nonsense) in July.
