Remember that one time? When I said I was going to remodel my living room? Yeah, well, I don’t blame you if it’s slipped your mind :) After (no joke) years spent dreaming about the remakings of this room, I found that, when the time came to set the wheels in motion, I wasn’t so sure of what I wanted after all. (How anyone is an interior decorator for a living, I’ll never know). But while the details may have been in flux for months, I knew that, in the end, I wanted this room to be the focal point of our house. To be a colorful blend of our mutual love of mid-century style but also a reflection of all the eclectic, sentimental objects I believe make a house a home. I always feel like the true test of a room is what it reveals about the person (or people) living in it. I think you can learn a lot about Nick and I from what you see here:

Rooms with lots of frames of loved ones and treasured moments are my favorite kind. There’s no shortage of ‘em around here! The owl lamp is from West Elm (one of my favorite home sites) and was one of those items I bookmarked for this room long before I actually started work on it. Isn’t he a hoot? ;) Our house is a 1950s ranch and has a really open floor plan. The piano is visible from our open dining room, which is home to a big bookshelf my dad made for me (and that also happens to be a very treasured possession). When I was looking for some new art for the room, I thought a lot about our love of books and the written word and how I wanted to pull that book theme into this room too. I fell HARD for the big print above the piano, which I bought from 20×200. It’s titled “In the Library” and is a work by Japanese artist Tatsuro Kiuchi. The smaller prints are postcards of old Penguin classics (which I’m semi-obsessed with), found in a bookstore at Oxford when Nick and I were in London last summer. (On the bottom left): My grandmother was a master knitter who  taught me how to knit when I was younger. For years, this blanket hung over the back of the couch in her camper at the lake, a place I’d go every summer to visit. Inevitably, I’d find myself wrapped up in it with a good book, grandma’s knitting needles clicking away beside me. When she died earlier this year, and we returned to her house to go through her belongings, I took one look at that blanket on the couch and burst into tears. There are more memories woven into it than I can express and it means the world to me that it now has a home here at our place. (On the right): Finding a coffee table to love for this odd-shaped living room was the biggest challenge of all. We knew we wanted Danish/mid-century, that it had to be long, and that it had to be in our price range. After weeks of searching online, I snagged this beauty for $100 in an eBay sale. I went through hell and back in the form of 5 hours of Chicago rush hour traffic to bring it home with us, but let me tell you, it is now my favorite piece of furniture we own. Maybe because I feel like I’ve earned it after what I went through to get it :) The Wall O’ Travels! My mom helped me hang grasscloth wallpaper (which, for all you bargain shoppers out there, we bought the faux stuff at Lowe’s — MUCH easier to hang and still looks real!) earlier in the year and then my husband patiently hung every one of these frames (I helped with the newspaper templates I traced and hung up after learning about the nifty trick over at Young House Love). The bookcase cabinets are from IKEA’s Effektiv line and, while they were a pain to assemble (just ask Nick), I couldn’t be happier with the look or the massive amount of storage they provide for extra blankets, pillows, books, board games… you name it! Bless his heart, Nick gave me full creative design privileges in remaking this room. His one request? That I find a place for this fish sketching by a local artist (bottom left) that he bought me years ago. On the right are my Charley Harper prints, one from Nick and one from my best friend, Tracy. Harper is one of my favorite artists and I loved being able to finally get these framed! One thing that’s for sure about this house — you will never ever want for something to read. :) Two more prints I got around to framing and I just love so much because of who gave them to me. (On the left): Months and months ago, I’d left a comment on my friend Mary’s blog when I spotted she had an Ork Poster, mentioning how much I’d been wanting one as a way to remember Nick and I’s trip to San Francisco. A few weeks later, I arrived home to the most wonderful gift from her with a note that read, “Let’s take an adventure here together some day!” One of the sweetest gifts…truly. (On the right): Speaking of gifts, my graduate assistant (and surrogate kid sister ;) ) Chanel had her creative boyfriend, Kyle, do a custom sketch of Daisy for us as a Christmas gift a few years back. When I opened it, I had tears in my eyes because it was just such a “from-the-heart” gift. One of my favorite artworks in the whole house and I’ve gone on to hire Kyle to do a few others for my friends and their beloved pets! A few more sentimental objects I love in this room: a print from one of my fave etsy arts, Jenn Ski; a print my friend Maya sent me right before Nick and I took our trip to Europe in 2010; an antique typewriter Nick gave me for Christmas the year before we got engaged. Our TV sits tucked into this odd little corner of the room, standing atop the old bedroom dresser my parents no longer wanted when they purchased a new suite of furniture earlier this year. Nick took the lead in restoring it to all its mid-century glory and I love it for so many reasons, not the least of which is how convenient it is for storing our DVD collection inside it! Oh, and yes, that little print is a picture of Baby Nick (on the left) with his twin, Clay. It was too adorable not to find a place in this room! And finally, a mention of our new couch, which I first sat on in the floor room of a Room & Board in Denver, Colorado back in 2009. At the time, we were saving for our trip overseas and Nick told me if I still loved it a year later, I could make the purchase. It’s the Jasper and, while it took some breaking in, I love how it’s the best mid-century style couch I found in all my months and months of searching. The throw pillows are a combination of Crate & Barrel and finds by this awesome Etsy artist. Ahhhhh….feels so good to see the finished result of a year’s worth of hard work! And because I hated the idea of showing a before as part of the full post, if you want a peek at what the room looked like pre-remodel (but taken just minutes before we started repainting it so pardon the mess), here you go. One of its biggest downfalls is how dark it always was both during the day and night with the rust-colored paint (an ode to my 24-year-old self’s desire to live in a cabin…what was I thinking?! The room as it is now is much more in line with our adult tastes and the look and feel of the rest of our home!)

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