Sunday, March 27, 2011

Not So Socially Awkward

Apparently my weeks end on Sunday, and for that, here's the end of Design Week. I took a "weekend" on Friday and Saturday so forgive me for delaying the best of my home!

My living room has been quite the project. I knew I wanted to do black and white in the living room when I moved in. I also knew I wanted to accent it with peacock blue. Mom somehow convinced me to buy a blue leather sofa, and it has worked out quite well. The biggest problem with my living room is it's layout. It's very long and very narrow which makes it hard to place furniture for entertainment purposes. It also has one very awkward wall that I'm still having fun decorating.

BEFORE:


I really liked how the room APPEARED to be full, but it was TOO full. I loved the heavy black furniture, but there wasn't much room for anyone (except Chester my old greyhound). Unfortunately, the great entertainment cabinet I had blocked the air return, and I had to opt for something more energy efficient.

THE MIDDLE: 

I traded in the heavy console pieces I loved for some lighter, more vintage pieces like the coffee table. The heavy coffee table I had before has been replaced by this cute, antiqued one painted with aqua and black harlequin. That itself opened the room tremendously.  (Please forgive the iPhone picture!)



AFTER:

I rearranged the room at Christmas to fit the tree in the corner. I ended up keeping the furniture in the same place after I took the tree out to make room for super cute "new" club chair. I've yet to decide what I think about the new floor plan. If you have ideas, please send them my way!

Traded in the big entertainment cabinet for this cute console table that I found at Canton Trade Days.

Brewster at Canton Trade Days

And here you have my wonderfully awkward wall. I have had a lot of "fun" trying to figure this wall out. It is still in progress. It's currently in need of a mantle at the least!

Brewster also likes the rug in the living room. This is the fabulous blue sofa my mom convinced me to buy. I "recycled" the pillows from my old bedroom in my previous house. There's much more space to walk around this room now, but this arrangement has made that awkward wall the focal point. Eek!

Does this chair look familiar to you? 
Perhaps from my "That's What She Said" post?

This chair got it's contemporary and precious (although it was already precious) update from 
J&B Interiors in Fort Worth, Texas.

It used to drive my mother crazy that I didn't have a clock (large enough to read anyway) in my living room, so here it is. The peacock plate at the top of was part of the inspiration for the rest of the room.

I recently saw a post from a fellow blogger about decorating with books (a very Kate Spade kind of thing to do). I chose this one, because it's an Apache blessing I love and the colors were perfect.

I love the new "cafe sign" trend. Words of wisdom found everywhere. 
This is my daily reminder not to "settle". 

Since my living room and dining room are technically one big room on the same floor, I used elements in both places to pull them together. The blue wall in the dining room brings the blue from the living room all the across the floor. The blue glass bottles here echo the motif found on the hutch in the dining room.

I AM a surgery resident afterall! The top two books I pick up on a near-daily basis. The ancestry of Brittney Lee Culp, M.D. happens to be the hard work of my mother's as she know has our family traced back to the 1200s on one side! And no surgeon should live without a vintage (or vintage-replica) of a good anatomical atlas!

While I am running low on ideas for rearranging this room, and especially that awkward wall with the fireplace, I do have a couple left. I'll share them with you as I complete them. But please feel free to comment with ideas! Here are a couple "overhead" views (as best as I could manage) in case you need inspiration yourself!
Please excuse Chelsea and her nap time.

Brewster is offering himself up for a great cuddle session. However, we're not quite to the grand finale, and Design Week is almost over.



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