my living room tour

I've disovered that it's a whole lot more nerve-wracking to share pictures of my own abode than it is to share pics of someone else's. I post photos on here all the time from my client redesigns, but never has my pulse raced quite so much as when posting my own pictures. I guess when it's your own home, you tend to be hyper-aware of all the little imperfections - all the projects still on the to-do list - all the areas that need improvement. But at the same time, our homes are so personal...they're a reflection of who we are, how we live, and what we perceive to be beautiful.

So I don't take it lightly when a client lets me into their home to make changes left and right. I know how personal HOME is. Above is a photo of what you see when you first walk in my front door. My house was built in 1927, and the front room is a rectangle that I've divided into dining room on the left, living room on the right. (Here are some pics of my dining room on Design*sponge.) This piano is right smack in the middle of the two, directly opposite the front door. Ever since I repainted this room back in the spring, I've yet to hang something over the piano! Crazy, I know...but it's painful to mess up those walls that are beautiful and unblemished once again. I'm considering my big crazy gold garage-sale mirror (after I paint it white...I think). But it definitely needs something hanging there again.

On the same wall, to the right of the hallway, is our "entertainment center". It's actually a cool old mid-century buffet that we got for free from Chad's grandma. She was going to take it to Goodwill...brought it instead to a garage sale we were having...and our poor customers never got to see it. It came home with me instead. I always intended to paint it, but now I'm sort of partial to it's original darker-wood finish. I'm not super happy with the DVD player, receiver, speakers, and cable box just sitting on top, out in the open - but I don't have any other ideas for them at the moment. Allegedly, they have to have room to "breathe" so I can't stack them all on top of each other. Any ideas, anyone?

On the wall directly opposite of the TV is our lovely couch. I say "lovely" but what I really mean is "it's the only one I've got and it's functional". We bought it almost 8 years ago, before we got married, back when I was into olive green and dark purple. I've painted the walls since then (they used to be pale yellow) and have removed all the purple, and now I just treat the couch as if it were neutral. Pretending it's neutral and decorating accordingly almost makes me believe it. Anyway, this end of the couch is where all the blogging magic happens. See the laptop hidden down on the lower shelf of the end table? (The table was my grandma's, by the way. It's a bit rickety but I'll use it till it falls apart.)

Here's a close-up that's really a "before" - I'm planning to switch this up and add some fall stuff, but it hasn't happened yet. It's 91 degrees in Portland today, people! Yikes. I keep thinking fall's here, but it turns out to be a false alarm. Perhaps Fall is waiting for me to decorate before showing up?

Here's the full view of the couch and my two Ikea tables that are currently being used as my coffee table. I had another one, but I got tired of it. So it's in the basement.

And here's the wall perpendicular to the couch and TV. Sorry about the lame photo. It's always hard to take pics of windows, isn't it? That AC unit in the window - how can one object be both a lifesaver and a bane to my existence, all at the same time? It's so necessary in the summer - we don't have central air and can't install it (old house, long story). But yet it's so UGLY. And, of course, my two Ikea chairs with slipcovers from Ebay. How I adore white slipcovers! Seriously. My daughters colored on these with markers and smeared jelly on them. I simply put them in the wash and started over. Voila! Love them.

I'm hoping to show you more as I get a little farther into seasonal decorating. I'll do a little for fall - but Christmas - well, that's my thing! I'm getting excited just thinking about it. :-) Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this little tour of my humble abode!