And by dummies, I mean ME!
I can't believe how quickly this week flew by already. But I had a pretty productive weekend and semi-productive week, at least in the evenings, and having a lot to plow through ate up some time! Checking things off last Monday's list feels gooood! I gagged a lot though. We surely, and quickly, accumulated a lot of grody around here, so throwing some of that out (even though I had to touch it) was liberating.
We spent this past weekend prepping for the big basement project I mentioned in last week's To Do List for 2013, and since we had the labor available (thanks family!) we ripped the gross carpet out of both rooms, the only two that had carpet in the entire house. So after all that, I don't have too much planned for this weekend, really, kind of recovery mode. Possibly more sorting if I can bear to lift a finger. But since I know that's like, not happening, I suspect this weekend will likely be spent on a mission for area rugs for not just one room, the living room, but now our bedroom and possibly the guest room slash my office slash my dressing room slash perpetual landfill.
We were thrilled to see that the hardwoods underneath were not in horrible shape, and other than a few spots that will need work in the bedroom, and a few more in the office/guest room, they were great looking. However, that now means we need area rugs, especially in our bedroom, for coziness AND to make our bed stop flying around the room so easily. (Seriously, I sat down last night to start folding laundry and it moved like 6 inches, and I almost ate it. The little rubber cup things I put under the wheels minimized it a bit, but not totally.)
Here are our current states in the bedroom and office slash everything room:::
View of the bedroom, in it's cleanest state in forever...This was literally right after I made the bed after we moved all the furniture back in from tearing the carpet out. But this would be about accurate to it's usual appearance, it's generally the cleanest spot in the house actually.
View of the office slash guest room, also in it's cleanest state in forever. This will likely not stay this way for long, sadly, though the bed was cleared off to organize current orders, like normal. The metal bookshelf you can kind of catch a glimpse of on the right corner there with the ziplocs jutting out of (that store paper!) is normally inside the closet where my supplies are usually kept. Due to the upcoming work in the basement which involves plumbing, that closet had to be vacant so we have it just against the wall there til the work is done. I don't actually have much problem in that closet with clutter since I've gotten better about keeping overage culled. I mean it, family. It's not 10 boxes of overage anymore.
And the not really current state of the living room but effective enough:::
View of the living room from back when I originally painted it, not clean, though cleanish here, currently kind of a disaster due to the amount of stuff piled inside it from other rooms to sort and purge. Note that the large sofa was replaced recently with a dark brown Flexsteel which is not shown here. So imagine the long sofa is just dark brown. Through the doorway is the office and bedroom, and the archway is the dining room. Floors are the same throughout by the way, the office image is the best representation of color. All the dark woods are original. We assume the previous owners refinished the floors lighter, though I would go closer to the originals. The paint is that Ralph Lauren Suede finish, and considering we have horrific 80 year old plaster, it is fantastic for covering up the weirdness of these walls. I did the finish the right way in the beginning, I started around the bookshelves, and by the time I got to the next wall I said screw it and went to just rolling the rest of the first coat on like normal paint and then did the "faux finish" kind of half-assed with a roller the second coat. Looks good to us!
A few style notes, and where I probably need input from better-at-interiors-than-me readers...and probably Emily and Orlando to, like, come to a less than favorable locale compared to where they reside::: I am planning to switch from the kind of half-assed red/brown theme I had going on in the bedroom to navy and tan/white and maybe some other accent, which will kind of happen as I go. The yellow in the room Emily did above is calling to me, though I don't know if the husband will go for that, as it's pretty bright. And he doesn't really do "light/bright", especially in a bedroom...I married a vampire, evidently. I plan to get some navy curtains to replace the dingy looking red ones we have now that seem to attract fuzz and dust like magnets. But that leaves me with a question for an area rug. I don't want to get too crazy in there, but I would like a darkish blue one I think, I have no idea if that's smart or not. As shown in that image above, a nice, dark blue with a not so garish pattern works well.
Since the floors are lighter, and the walls are still white (if anything, they will go tan-ish if I paint), and I want dark window coverings (room darkening in there specifically), I feel like we need a mid-dark shade for the rug. But should I be doing colors? Or go neutral? The carpet was a light tan.
I don't want shag because it's just kind of sheddy and overall not practical despite my loving it, and I don't really want flatweave, just because it's not going to work well in that particular room. The more I think about it, I also don't want it crazily patterned, just because I feel like that needs to be a more calm space. Annoyingly, the ones I've found that I like are all crazily patterned, flatweave or shaggy. Figures!
For the living room, sticking with the aqua, blue, green and tan/brown colors. The rug we have now is fine, my husband loves it but I am over it, but has a massive stain that we can't get out, or cover, so it needs to go.
Here's a shot of that, and you can kinda see a snippet of the couch:::
Please don't mind the gunk. I didn't vacuum first.
We have not found anything remotely similar, so now I am looking for a replacement there. I think 5x8 is about the size I had in there, but 6x9 might be ok, too. Since the sofas are dark brown and tan, the walls are light aqua, and I plan to do either brown, tan or blue curtains, I am thinking I will stick with a darker blue patterned rug. I lean towards Moroccan prints and chevron, but my husband isn't so into either.
I have no idea whether or not to get one in the office. It doesn't NEED one really, but I'd like one for guests. When I get my amazing antique office chair repaired and back in the room (it's not shown because of the repairwork my daddo is doing), I will need a mat or rug so the wheels don't destroy the wood. Otherwise, that's the room I can do anything in since it's mostly my room. I have no theme, no curtains, no nothin'! All of my Poppin stuff is lime and pool blue, with a few accents of grass green, navy, clear acrylic and aqua floating around. The walls are white and it's a blank slate.
Here are a few we're considering for the bedroom, probably in an 8x10ish or 7x9 (don't get me started on my questions of "where do I place it and in what direction...")
1::: CB2 2::: Overstock.com 3::: CB2 4::: Overstock.com 5::: Crate&Barrel
And here's where I am for the living room...most of these he hates. The two selections I guess could work in either room. We are looking at around a 5x8 or 6x9 for the living room.
1::: Home Depot 2::: Overstock.com 3::: Overstock.com 4::: Home Depot 5::: Overstock.com
I am looking forward to having some of this done, especially the basement. Big ole check off the list! I was elated when we got the carpets up and the floors were so nice. Now to keep these two rooms clean, and some extra purging done...
Time to veg! Happy Weekend!
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i love love love the shade of your living room!
ReplyDeletemy rug pics are:4 and second row are: 1 & 3
Thanks!
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