Our living room - as done as it gets

I put off sharing my living room for such a long time, because I just didn't think it looked nice enough.  There are always kid things around, and I finally had to accept that this is as done as it gets.

It's the same general layout as the house in Minnesota, except we don't have a door to the garage in between the living and dining areas.  We reused our Ikea wall unit, accessories, lighting, side tables, and console behind the couch, but everything else in here is new.  We needed a new sectional when the original went to live downstairs.  We needed a new rug when I took the orange one for our bedroom.  We needed a huge curtain rod to span the 10 foot window, and white curtains since our old ones were much too cream. 

The wall unit has served us well in both houses.  It's pretty much destroyed by the kids, but you can't tell unless you are right above looking down at the finish.  All in all, it's done wonders for making our boring box living areas look fancier, without the expense of actual built-ins.  I decided to put my treasured pole lamp in between the two 'rooms' to act as a sort of divider, it also puts it front and center instead of putting baby in a corner. 

We really don't have a lot of wall space in here since much of the room is taken up with the wall unit, window, and railing.  For the little stretch of wall shared with the kitchen, I chose to hang some photos of the boys. 

They are so hard to photograph!  I love these gold frames at Target, they are gorgeous and not too expensive.

I've chosen to use a mix of gold, wood, and black in the main areas of the house to unify everything.  I found so much of my décor at Target, it's just very nice looking and the right price!  With kids ruining things every day, I can't spend a lot.  This rattan mirror from Target is the perfect piece for the top of the stairs. 

The sectional is a soft denim colored fabric, we had it custom made at Walter E Smithe, and it's been perfect for us.  Here are the pillow+sofa fabric swatches against our rug when I was making the decision.  Don't mind the paper plane!  I loved the retro look of the pillow fabric, but it turns out this print isn't really working for me.  The couch fabric is a different blue from the rug, but it looks great in large scale. 

I tried various grays and tans, but I wanted something different.   I also couldn't find a ready made sectional with a simple style in the small footprint we needed, for less than 3k.  We ended up paying $2500 for a custom sectional with warranty, which I think is great.  Rather than getting a matching ottoman, I opted for this one from West Elm because I loved the simple shape and low profile.  Why are all ottomans so tall?  I don't want my feet elevated when I sit, thank you.  Anyway, I like mixing the different pieces for a more eclectic look.  The rug is discontinued from Crate and Barrel, and I wouldn't recommend it, anyway.  It's literally falling apart!  After spending $900, it's irritating to say the least.     

I still want to get new pillows, but I'm waiting for the perfect ones.  I also want to find cooler end tables, but I'm waiting until the little guy is a bit older.  I have done my best with the shelves.  It's a mix of books, photos, and candles for the most part.  There are also some 'tchotchkes' and quite a bit of 'crap holder' baskets down at the bottom. 

I still like to have this little strip of books in rainbow order, it's not 'in' anymore, but it looks pretty. 

The right bookcase has the majority of toys and junk.  I try so hard to purge, but I end up throwing my hands up and dumping it all back into the baskets. 

It's ok, I think this is pretty good for a family home!  I upgraded the standard Hemnes knobs on the tv stand with the mid century star backplate knobs from Rejuvenation.  I love the look!

The dining room has a lot to talk about, so I'm going to save that for another post.  Here is a look at the living room at night.  We don't have a ceiling light, so we really love the Ikea lighting above the unit.  Also, I just love that Amazon commercial on the tv!  Almost makes me cry.  Yes, I was too lazy to turn off the tv.  And there you go!  The most used room in our house. 

The post wouldn't be complete without some before and afters!

When we bought this house, there was not much to be excited about.  The previous owners are very nice people, but the house was very dark and cluttered, with heavy drapes and different carpet in every room.  I could see the potential, but a lot of people probably wouldn't.  Here is a true before and after from when we first saw the house to now.  What a difference!

I can't wait to share my dining room transformation with you all soon.  Have a great week!

Instant workspace

So, you may recall from my entry remodel post that I had this awkward space in between our couch and the railing. 

Here is a better look at this useless clutter zone.

I had a dream to use this little strip of space for a desk area.  Up until now, my laptop lived here:

Sup, breast pump?  Obviously, this was totally unacceptable for a work area.  As a photographer, I spend hours on my laptop editing, and this setup was uncomfortable at best.  I also had the bad habit of just setting mail, paperwork to be filed, and my external hard drives right there on the couch.  It was awful!

I also had all my lenses and cameras just sitting on our Ikea bookshelves surrounding the tv.  It looked so messy.

My plan was to replace the console table with a small desk, and move all this stuff over to the desk area.  This was not easy, since the desks I liked were much wider than the 40ish inches I had in the space.  Then, I found this simple 42" desk at World Market, and took advantage of a sale.

It was sort of hard to put together, because the metal is hand forged and the holes didn't exactly match up.  But, I love the look and it's sturdy after assembly.  It was already functioning better to have a desk in this area immediately after I put it together.

Then, I looked to the wall above.  I had two acrylic shelves from CB2 that I had planned on staggering over a dresser in the guest room.  After I came back to reality and admitted that the room was way too small to fit even the tiniest dresser, they hid under the bed until now.  They came with silver screws, but I used some black ones I had laying around, I think they look so great!

These are 4 foot and 2 foot shelves, so I had to place the longer one past the width of the desk.  I thought I would hate that, but I actually don't mind.  It creates the illusion of a wider area, and also frames the lamp nicely.  They are also sturdy enough to hold my heavy lenses!

And I wanted to reuse my beloved pineapple lamp, so I got a new shade and it looks pretty good here.  Here is the final space:

I'm so in love with this!  There is pretty much a place for everything.  It is beyond thrilling to have my lenses look beautiful, and be easy for me to grab whenever I'm heading out to a photo session.  I even had enough space for my speedlight!

The top shelf mostly holds framed prints, because I love some good inspiration while I'm working.  I chose images of my boys that are cute (obviously) but also showcase great lighting, composition, or post processing.  I plan to rotate them out as they get bigger. 

The top shelf also holds my client 'Thank You' cards I include with print orders, and this little white box I found at Homegoods keeps my battery charger, tripod mount, and a couple older memory cards that I don't use often. 

Since the colors in my branding are white, charcoal, and teal/aqua, I was pretty excited when Ashford came home from school with the watercolor art you see framed here.  I found the frame at Homegoods, ripped out the inspirational 'saying' that it was meant to hold, and put his painting in.  The aqua/mint box frame in the middle was also found at Homegoods.  The clock is from Target.

Let's talk about the stag head.  Last year during Black Friday, whitefauxtaxidermy.com had their annual sale.  I bought a huge rhino head for my brother, and couldn't help but snap up 'Alfred' for half off for myself.  After I got the shipment, I was sort of at a loss with where to hang him.  Luckily, he looks majestic here, and wears a wooden camera toy my kids hardly ever look at.  I still have some anxiety about him crashing down when the door slams and destroying my laptop and lenses, but I have a heavy duty anchor back there, and I can't live my life in fear. 

Since I needed a desk with small width, pretty much none offered drawers.  I didn't really mind, because I find that drawers in tight spaces just get cluttered and hard to find things in the back.  I measured the openings of the shelves, and found that CB2 had a wool storage box that had the exact same dimensions. 

It holds additional hard drives, referral cards, and my supplies for mailing prints to clients.  It was not cheap, but it's beautiful quality, and I had the best customer service from the store.  Quick story - I ordered the box for pickup at the Chicago store because it's out of stock online, then quickly realized I was never ever going to be able to drive an hour to the city to get it...they shipped it from the store to me, for free.  Awesome!

The basket on the top shelf was a Michaels find, and it has a homemade camera cushion created with a $3 Target infinity scarf wrapped around a dish towel.  I do not sew, people!

Seems to be working just fine, and the baby hasn't figured out my camera hiding spot yet!

Here's a better view of the space I have between the desk and the media stand.  It's not a ton, but there is a nice little spot to store my reflector, and enough room to pull out the bins. 

I wanted the desktop to be pretty clean, but I did need to have a spot for pens, my scissors, and lens pens.  I got lucky and found the acrylic divided organizer on clearance at Homegoods.  I got the business card holder on Amazon.  The elephant file organizer is at The Container Store, and you can mount it or use it on the desktop! 

The elephant is important because I wanted an easily accessible place to store prints until I figure out what to do with them.  I'm usually pretty good at printing the ones I like, but as you can see from the pumpkins...I don't always do anything with them in a timely manner! 

Also at The Container Store, was this clever peel and stick weekly task pad.  I thought it would be great to keep what I had to do for my business separate from the family calendar in the kitchen.  I also like that I can just stick it up on the wall in my line of sight.  I know many people use their phones, and I do as well, but I love having a visual for small tasks that don't merit a phone entry.

Here's a more realistic version of what the desk looks like while I'm working.  It's five o' clock always!

And here's what my kid is doing while I'm trying to take photos. 

Speaking of the media stand, this thing is pretty boring, and not really my style anymore.  We got it for $250 back in 2008, and the veneer is starting to bubble and chip on the top and edges from being moved so many times.  I thought long and hard about what to do with it.  Paint it?  What color, white?  NO -  I have kids and this thing is perfect drawing and rolling height.  Black?  Too much black.  The navy on the front door and closet?  Eh, too close to the blue couch and may not look good.  So, in the end, I got some new bright boxes for inside and left it as is.  And that, my friends, is how you justify doing absolutely nothing. 

I'm excited about the mint boxes, because the largest one will easily hold mailing boxes for 11x14 prints, which is something I usually have crapping up my house in every room.  The rest will hold older prints, and miscellaneous photography supplies.  I got mine for 30% less than retail at Homegoods, but you can get them full price at The Container Store. 

The antique tray on the top has some little doo dads, but I'll be honest - the baby just picks that stuff up and throws it, so it doesn't normally live here.  Tiny acrylic box of memory cards, succulent from Lowes, gold lid acrylic box with fancy binder clips for my packaging. 

So, the last detail I obsessed about is the chair.  I disliked using a dining chair, because I want all my dining chairs around the table.  I wandered around World Market one day, looking for accessories to spend $40 in 'explorer' rewards on, when I saw this chair was marked down to $100.  I loved the airy look, and the metal legs.   

After I signed up for their 'text' program, I got 15% off.  With my rewards on top, I ended up paying $48 for the chair.  Not bad!  It's comfy enough for working, but I initially added a little faux fur to the seat to protect my delicate heiny.  Then I saw this throw at Target, and loved the texture.  It makes the chair more comfortable, and also adds an extra element and brightens the dark corner a little bit. 

So, now that you've spent your entire morning reading about a four foot square spot of my living room, how about some before and afters?

And here is another angle that I love, seeing both my gallery walls at once. 

Thanks for reading, I hope you are inspired to turn an unused corner into something great!

And if you are in the Chicago area and need family portraits taken, please contact me for a blog reader special!