The start of the Living room redo

Back in the Fall we said goodbye to our dog Daisy.  

It was much sadder than I had ever thought it would be given that I am not a huge dog lover.  

But boy was that a sad few weeks.  The house was oddly quiet and it would take us about a month before we walked in the door and didn't feel a pang of disappointment when we realized she wasn't running to greet us. 

Having a dog is wonderful but there are always a few not so great parts.  For us that was the fact that dear Daisy preferred getting sick on carpet, mostly the living room carpet.  So we decided that it just wasn't worth replacing it until, well she was no longer with us.

You can't tell by looking at the living room but if this rug could talk it would tell the story of Daisy, our Wheaten Terrier.  

And while it had now been a few months I was still working to identify "the look" for the redo.  I just knew that on my list was a new rug and sofa, for starters.  I figured something would hit me first....rug or sofa and that would be my jumping off point.

The rug was something that would require time to find.  I needed good size since our living room is one big square, I wanted a fresh new look and I had a budget.  

Wow, who knew how many rug choices there are to be found online!?  The rug was the winner!

My final pick had an aqua base and pops of navy, indigo and some brown.  Don't you love it when something arrives 4 days later?  There is nothing like instant gratification!

About the same time I started the rug research I also began the hunt for a new sofa.  The current one we brought from the other house 8.5 years ago and I had recovered.  

Its 3-cushions make for lots of seating and the English arm style has lasted through numerous trends but as I age I have been feeling the pull towards a bit more of a modern vibe. I wanted the new sofa to reflect that.  My research took me to Emily Henderson's blog which highlighted her top pick for sofas.  The mid-century indigo blue velvet tufted sofa checked ALL my boxes.  

So while I wait for the sofa and am LOVING my new rug and the pop of happy it has added to our living room I re-think the remaining pieces in the room.

I highlighted the round dining table on an Insta post recently but here is a quick back store....A few years ago I replaced our distressed rectangular dining table with a distressed 60" round pedestal table but just couldn't part with the table made from old English floor boards and therefore it moved into the large living room and became a spot for the family desktop.  It stayed there for a few years and worked well.  You can see it on the picture above to the left of the image.

But the holidays came and so did dinner for 12 on Christmas Eve so the old floor board topped-table came back into the dining room and the round took its place in the living room.  And guess what?  It looked great in the living room!  Really great!  And it got lots of use in its new spot. And we were able to re-arrange the entire living room to accommodate the Christmas tree.

Fast forward to holiday clean up and the removal of the Christmas tree and we saw the room in a while new light.   

We realized that the hand-me-down china hutch from my in-laws was actually housing nick knacks we just didn't use anymore. Here it is below decked out for the holidays.

 The larger china hutch we had in the space had become a dry bar a few years back and seems to get enough use to warrant keeping it around ;).  You can see this in the first picture above.

Hubby and I discussed a few options with the space and ultimately decided to keep the round dining table in the space.  

So we flip flopped the 2-pc hutch/dry bar to the other side of the big window and moved the table into the place the bar used to be and it feels great.  

Open, airy, cozy, efficient and NEW...well almost! And I loved that the entire family was hanging out here yesterday watching a football game and reading. I guess I am not the only one who loves a refresh!?

I plan to wait for the sofa arrival before I decide on the follow things...

1.  Coffee table:  I think I will want to incorporate more warm woods once the darker sofa arrives.

2.  Window treatments:  I took down the panels that flanked the big window and I like the clean, bare vibe.  Again, want to wait for sofa since I am thinking about replacing the woven romans on the 2 side windows with fabric romans.  

3.  Built-ins:  Currently the back wall of the built-ins is painted a greige and I suspect I will want to update these too.  Do I wallpaper the back or repaint?

4.  Lighting:  I have also been searching lamps and have found one I happen to think is BU-TI-FUL but again...waiting on the sofa.  And do I want to hand a fixture over the 60" round in the back corner to help define the space better?

OK, lots to think about...stay tuned for updates as I go.