Picture Perfect Room?

I don't know that I'll ever have a picture perfect room, but Donna over at Funky Junk Interiors put out a challenge that I think is just the push I need to get moving on our living room. I'd already been thinking about tackling it once the Christmas tree came down. So, I guess now is as good a time as ever!

This room has a lot of great potential and I want it to set the tone for the rest of our house. It faces south, but we have an overhang so it gets a nice soft light that comes in. It's a nice quiet spot to read and drink a cup of tea or to have wine club.

When we first moved in, I wanted to create the feeling of a foyer or hallway since you walk into this room from our front door. So, I had the couch placed so the back faced the door. I thought at one point that I wanted to put a sofa table behind it.

But, it really didn't do what I was hoping it would do.  We had to move the couch to make room for the Christmas tree and after the Christmas tree was gone, we really liked the couch where it was.

It opened up the room and made it feel more welcoming. We've defnitely used it more with it arranged this way than we did before.

But, it definitely needs some help. No curtains, the walls are bare and it's just kinda blah. Uninspiring. Boring. Blech.

See that chair back there? Yeah, I've had it for a year. I've got the fabric bought and it is definitely the inspiration for the rest of the room. (Hint: it doesn't have any red.)

And yes, that is a Thomas basketball hoop stuck to the window. That's what happens when there are no curtains.  And my camera bag on the buffet.  Classy. 



But now we've got a big empty space where the couch was and not much seating. We knew we wanted to leave the couch as is. It was new when we moved in and SUPER comfy (great for naps!).  I've got the chair I'm going to refinish, but that's it. 

I started playing around with my kitchen chairs to come up with an arrangement I thought would work, but wanted to see an overall floor plan. So, I went out to bhg.com and used their Arrange a Room tool (which is very cool, btw). I played around and finally settled on a final arrangement.

Lots of seating that promotes cozy conversation, but still leaves it open and inviting. Yay!

I can't wait! We've got one new chair already and the other should be here this week.  I've also got curtains that I thought of using in another room that are going to work really well in here.

But, there's a bunch of other stuff to do:

• Paint and reupholster chair (which I've never done before)
• Three new (or new to us) side tables
• New lamp shades or redo the current ones
• New lamp
• Hang curtains
• Update hardware on the buffet (there is a reason there's no close up of it yet)
• Hang artwork/mirror/pictures above couch/buffet/bookshelf
• New lamp for buffet?
• New pillows for couch

And that's just the short list. I have some other things I want to do in there as well, but need to work them out in my head first.

Wish me us luck!