flowers, baskets, and books: my living room

Are you as pumped as I am?? Because it's time for another Kelly's Korner Show us Your Life blog carnival featuring LIVING ROOMS! Woooo!! (This is my imaginary crowd going wild. In my head.)

I'm particularly excited about this living room thing, not because mine is especially amazing or anything, but because I joined up for this same feature almost two years ago. This means you can actually SEE PROGRESS in my decor...and progress is always exciting. I've worked hard on becoming a crafty person over the last year or so, and I'm happy to see that reflected in my decorating choices. So if you'd like to review, here's my "Show us your living room" post from September 2010. Enjoy that blast from the past...and now let's jump straight to the present!


Alright-- I know this technically isn't part of my living room. It's my front door...but since you could choose to go through the front door to get to the living room...you see how I just slid it on in?

 I just made this patriotic wreath last weekend (and talked more in depth about it earlier in the week...sorry for the repeat pic) and am still super proud of it! Therefore I will be showing it off again. You're welcome. 


Alright. Here we go with the serious living room stuff. My decorating goals are as follows: don't look like a furniture store (that is, totally matchy-matchy/boring); reflect the personality and interests of the people who live there; never stop adding to/mixing up/repurposing what you have. I "shop" mainly at yard sales, thrift stores, and clearance aisles. I'm learning to make (craft) the things that I want. My favorite things to look at are flowers, baskets (or anything made of woven stick-like material), my dog, and books. And now I present you with...my living room:

Standing in the master bedroom doorway, looking towards the front door (with totally 'blank' wreath that still needs to be decorated but I have nowhere better to store until the day I get around to that). The archway to the left goes to the guest room, nursery, and bathroom.

Standing in the kitchen archway

Standing at the front door: archway on the left goes to the kitchen; doorway goes to master bedroom

Standing in the guest bathroom archway

I love my totally 70s piano. I grew up playing it in my parents' house and am thrilled to have it again now! Although it gives me lots of surface area to decorate, it's also a lot of places to dust. Which I basically never do, so don't look too closely!

The top of one bookshelf. When you run out of space ON the bookshelves...piles of books serve as nice decor, right?

Our mantel. This was kind of the "last frontier" for me as far as decorating. If you looked at our 2010 pictures-- it was SO empty and boring! And remained that way for quite some time! I've finally embraced the eclectic, layered look for the mantel and I LOVE it. That "B" is kind of random, but I sorta have a nail right there (from a picture that used to be hanging there) and if I pull it out there'll be a hole...and I have no paint to touch up with...so I needed SOMETHING to hang there. That's not quite the right thing, but like I said-- it's a constant, evolving work in progress! The portrait of Lola (our dog) was painted by my sister-in-law's mother, who is an artist. I LOVE IT!

I picked up this adorable little cross stitch at a yard sale a few weeks ago. LOVE it! This is possibly the only thing I own that abides by the "put a bird on it" rule of decorating/life. In general, I am strongly opposed to all forms of birds...but this was too cute to pass up. I'm considering painting the frame a bright color...any ideas?

This is partially to showcase a Pinterest-inspired canvas I made a few months ago and partially to showcase my husband cooking dinner. Hard to know which one is more impressive, right? ;)

A decoupaged "B" on a bookshelf. Perhaps in lieu of put a bird on it, I abide by put a "B" on it. And yes, that is an inch of dust you see on that shelf. Just keepin' it real, folks. At least I picked up the dog toys off the floor for you.

Hydrangeas and milk glass: two of my favorite things. And yup-- those are from my yard!

I couldn't think of any good reasons not to include the hydrangeas in as many pictures as possible. Here's what the fireplace area looks like if you're sitting on the love seat.

I suppose that's all the pictures I'll torture you with for now. In general, I really like our living room...although I am also frequently frustrated by the somewhat awkward layout of it (it's impossible to arrange the major furniture any other way), my inability to really utilize the high ceilings (yet), and I often contemplate painting the walls a totally different color (but probably never will because HELLO that would be a lot of work for a lazy person). 

If you just haven't had enough of my living room yet and/or the summer heat is gettin' to ya, you may want to check out my SUYL: Christmas Decor from this past Christmas. It shows a lot more of my living room (and glimpses of a few other rooms) and let's just be honest: I loved my Christmas mantel this year. Sigh. Only 5 more months, right?

Thanks for stopping by! Have a fantastic weekend!