Our Cozy and Quirky Living Room

We've lived in our new place for just over a month now (yes, we've gotten past our renter's remorse). We've made really good progress on most rooms, but there's always more work to be done! As I learned from Diane Lane in Under the Tuscan Sun, when you move into new place you have to pick one room to focus on and make it your own. Since we spend a lot of our time in the living room it was important to me to get it feeling cozy and comfortable for us to lounge around and watch movies.

Our decorating style tends to be a mix of modern and old world, with some funky accessories and eclectic details sprinkled throughout. The home we moved into is significantly more modern than our previous apartment. The lighting fixtures, flooring and appliances are all updated, but the house still has some historical details, like the radiators, which are basically artistic sculptures in each room.

1. Built-in entertainment center (probably from Ikea) - Mirrored box from Home Goods (our attempt at hiding our cables, wires), some of our favorite books (Bespoke - The Men's Style of Saville Row by James Sherwood, Our engament photo album/wedding guest book self designed on Adoramapix, The Essential Batman Encyclopedia by Robert Greenberger, World Whiskey by Charles Maclean, Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, The Sartorialist by Scott Schuman), Media boxes from Ikea.

2. Built-in glass shelf above television from Ikea - Brown vase from Home Goods, Silver candle stick holder from Ikea (it doesn't seem to be available any more), Blue hand blown glass vase a gift from my bestie who lives in Egypt, large white vase and leaves from Home Goods, the copper bird was a gift from my grandmother (she has no idea where she got it, but it's really cool).

3. Pink Panther - A gift from my grandmother to my husband for Christmas. A little background, my grandmother was a world traveler, she's collected many antiques or unique artifacts from around the world. My husband has always talked about how he wanted some "manly" lion or tiger statue or artifact in our house, so I told my grandma this and she said she had the perfect thing for him.

4. Coffee table tray from Home Goods - Always complete with a fun book: The Sartorialist: Closer by Scott Schuman, and some magazines, GQ and Bon Appetit


Here's some shots of the whole room:

1. View from the front door
2. View from the stairs
3. View from the dining room - One of the best wedding presents we received is the Pendelton blanket that's over the back of the large couch. It's so warm and cozy! Area rug from Overstock. Coffee table and end tables, borrowed from BryGuy's father, I think they belonged to him when he was in college.  

Upcoming enhancements:
* I'd like to get a ultra mod chair and small table for the corner where the christmas tree is currently located. Maybe something like this: Ritalo bonded leather white chair for $154.99
* New end tables and a coffee table - our old apartment had very very tall ceilings so we could have big furniture and it still felt dwarfed in the great room. Now we have a smaller living room area and need to be creative about how we make the space feel open and comfortable. I think some smaller accent furniture would help feel like there was more walkable space in the living area.
* Artwork - We have so many more walls than in our last apartment, so things are feeling a little bare right now. I'd love to create a full gallery wall behind the couch and heading up the stairs. We will be keeping our eyes peeled at vintage shops and other places to see if we can liven the walls up a bit.

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