Living room progress

INTERRUPTION! I'm already taking a small break from my new years revelry...

In my small number of posts, I've probably spent too much time talking about our living room. But that's because it's the room that I most want to be totally us. It's the first thing you see when you walk into our house, and ideally, it's where I'd love to see our family spend the most amount of time together. The problem is that I spend way more time thinking about it than doing anything to it. It's the only room that I haven't really experimented with paint or pattern. What I want is peaceful, simple, light, airy, and cozy, but what we've had is boring, sparse, and a little unwelcoming. As a result I've been hesitant to post about it because it kind of hurts my pride. Well, one new year's resolution is to be a bit more transparent and less concerned with perfection on the homefront. So here it goes.

BEFORE: when we bought the house...

DURING: just after we moved in...

A FEW MONTHS LATER:

CURRENTLY:

Unfortunately, my mother in law's trip to South America did not yield any baskets (the ones I had in mind are actually form Africa anyway) however she did seek them out in five countries, God bless her, she's the absolute best. So for now, my ikea plate chargers and serving bowl are standing in. I like their shapes and textures too. The bold ethnic floral pillow is made from a Michael Smith fabric memo that I rescued from the wastebasket at work. I'm the world's biggest scavenger! there are still alot of things that I'd like to add and fix up before it feels complete to me. The biggest things are the lighting and the rug. Right now everything is sort of floating and the lovely orange honey stained floor clashes a bit with our furniture.
The other side of the room still needs some love, so when we get to it, Ill show you that too.