Wednesday Eye Candy: Lovely Living Room

I found this beautiful living room while trolling on Pinterest (via Stephanie Torres).

Those lamps kill me. I would love to have them on the (nonexistent) night stands in my bedroom. If I could steal the rug, I would. I'm a sucker for a bold, graphic rug.

All the little details also wowed me immediately too: the vignette on the sofa console, the gallery wall anchored by a mirror, and  how that blonde brick plays nice with the driftwood side table. And there's not even a grey wall to be seen. Shocking!

(All photos via ee photography. Design by Farrow and Cobb.)

A Touch More of Grey

So the painting of the living room/dining room/kitchen combo, as well as the adjoining entry and hallway, is eminent! Summer is 3 short days away, and once I get a chance to catch my breath, you can bet that I will we climbing a rather large ladder to paint our open living area.

I know I went on and on about how I had found the perfect color, Whetstone Gray, here. But the more I looked at the paint swatch taped to the wall, the more I came to realize that it's really not so different from the current and dreaded Navajo White. Then I got to asking myself, "What's the point of dragging in and setting up scaffolding in the living room, only to end up with a color that is almost identical to the current color?" Seems like a whole lotta effort for a little payoff.

In case you can't remember, here's what the Whetstone Gray looks like:

It's the one smack dab in the center. See, it's just a touch more grey than the current wall color. (Sorry, I couldn't resist).

So back to the paint store we went to grab some more samples. This time I wanted something clearly more grey than greige, and I think I have hit upon some promising colors.

We are leaning heavily towards the lighter grey in the middle swatch, called Grey Owl. (The other lighter options are Smooth Stone by Martha Stewart on the top, and Moonshine by Benjamin Moore on the bottom. The darker swatches were never really on the table, but I was too lazy to cut them off.)

Here's a shot from a further distance so you can get more of a sense of color variation.

And if you are still not convinced, then check out this pic, which was featured in the newest issue of House Beautiful. (More on that tomorrow.)

It just so happens to be Grey Owl. I screeched when I turned the page and saw our paint color listed! I love the soft grey and how good it looks against both whites and blacks (like the sconces on either side of the bed), as well as pops of color (like the yellow flowers and green piping of the canvas bag on the ground). What do you think?

Living Room Additions

What do this lamp...

This (blurry) map...

And these window panels all have in common?

They are all recent additions to the living room!

The tripod lamp was on sale from The Foundary, an online discount retailer that offers home goods at up to 70% off. The lamp was a 24 hour event, and I scored it for $75.00, far below the price of any other tripod lamps I could find online. It came with the (currently crooked) linen shade. It is calling the corner by the slider home for now. 

The vintage map is still in its box, hence the blurry eBay picture, but it looks much better (and clearer!) in person. It's from the 1960's and still attached to it's wooden rollers. I got it for a song on eBay, and hope once it's up, it will look like this inspiration pic. We just need to buy the appropriate hardware to mount it; we are thinking drapery brackets (unless you guys have any better ideas; we are open to suggestions). I am so eager to get it up on the navajo wall taunting me behind the sofa, but it might be more practical to wait until we paint in a couple weeks. What do you all think? 

We will definitely wait to put up the new curtain panels until we paint. I, like many out there, have been stalking these beauties from West Elm, just laying in wait until they went on sale. Alas, they did about a week ago and I pounced, using a 10% off promotion code to drop the price from $49.99 per panel to just about $45.00. And due to a gift card I have been holding onto since Christmas (thanks a million Mom!), we got them for free! The color, texture, and pattern are just lovely in the room.

They will go above the sliders in the living room and the dining room, and I bought a extra panel for the small window just to the right of the living room slider. My plan is to DIY a roman shade using this tutorial, since I think hanging panels would look weird above the window seat. So now I not only have to get up the guts to paint a lofted room and living/dining/kitchen combo, but also to sew and craft. Should make for an interesting summer! Only five more days and counting! 

Required Reading: Rue Issue 3

I am in So Cal at the Puente Statewide Conference. So while I am away, I thought I would leave you with some eye candy from the pages of Rue's third issue.

I was really drawn to two of the features in this issue: Jess LC's apartment, which also doubles as the offices for her jewelry business; and Tamara Kaye-Honey's LA home. Let's start with the latter, since you know her collection of mid-century furniture had me salivating over here.

The blue color reminds me of our current master bedroom (which might just get reincarnated in the new digs). But that desk! I would kill for it. How much do you love the built in bookshelf in the back? It is the perfect place to stash a printer. I will now be stalking Craigslist for something similar!

And here's the same room with a dresser that looks a lot like ours. I had been contemplating staining ours darker, but I really like how the warm honeyed color reads against the blue wall and white trim. (Which is good since our veneer is about as thick as a dime and we really couldn't figure out how to strip it without wrecking the veneer.) What are your thoughts? Does this stain work?

And now on to the living room:

I am normally not a fan of spaces with white walls, but I am loving this relaxed and light-filled room. The wall of windows and doors, the vaulted ceilings, and the warm wood floors all work so well together. That graphite couch even has me rethinking sectionals (which I have never been crazy about) and my beloved green sofa. Seriously, how well would that sofa work in our new space?

And the earthy hues of the sofa, rug, and coffee table really allow the punchy yellows and oranges of the ottoman and pillows to pop. The gallery wall in muted black and cremes doesn't demand attention, but really finishes the room. I think this room could easily be reinterpreted into our new living room. Oh, did I mention it's officially ours tomorrow?

Now on to Jess LC's vibrant space:

I want to transport that chair into my home! Since you all know about my love affair with that golden yellow color, this should come as no surprise. And I have to figure out where that blue chevron fabric hails from so I can DIY some curtains for the new home.

Let's not ignore the simple vignettes in the pic on the right. They have just enough color and movement without being busy, as does this nook below.

I have been eyeing this Bigso Stockholm office system from the Container Store for about 6 months, and I definitely want to use it to set up an office in the new home. Dreaming is so fun!

Anything else catch your eye in Rue?

All images courtesy of Rue.

Current Casa: Living Room

This past weekend, I realized that I was cleaning and straightening our house for the last time before we move. Yes, I will still vacuum, mop, scrub toilets and sinks, and dust before we move, but now that I have starting packing, our house really won't look like it did when we lived here. (Sad face.) So after the weekly clean, I decided to snap some pictures of our current casa for posterity's sake. Also, I thought I should post a little house tour before we move.

My disclaimer is that this home never felt finished. There was always something I wanted to tweak, replace, or refinish; but since it was a rental, that was really not an option.

Let's start in the living room. Some of these pics should be familiar from my sofa post from earlier in the week. Here's the view when you walk in the front door.

Yep, this is normally where you will find the pups... if they are not following us around, begging us to take them outside to play.

Here's a view facing the fireplace, with a close up of the mantel scape below. The fossils were found at a jobsite I worked on in Texas.

To the left of the fireplace is the sofa, and across from that is a lovely built-in bookshelf that we will miss dearly.

I wish the books were organized like Megan's from Honey We're Home, but maybe I will get my act together in the new casa - once we figure out where to put all those books, CD's and DVD's!

Just right of the built-in is a sideboard that showcases our only wedding photo (read all about that here), as well as our wedding guest book, album, and framed invite.

This is the view from the door, which looks straight down the hallway to the bedrooms and the bath.

And here's the tower opposite the fireplace. Something needs to happen with that piece... Oh, and please don't mind the boxes.

So there's the living room. Stay tuned for the kitchen and bathroom later this week.