House to home #2: living room (part 1)

In the first post of this series, the dining room, I forgot to show you the little entry rug.  I think it picks up colors from the dining room.  🙂

Let’s begin in the back half of the living room with a photo from a blog post from May 2012 when I shared with you some spaces in our then-newish house.  This was a new console table from IKEA I’d just added on a rather a large wall.  I hung one of my large framed photos behind it and there wasn’t anything on either side.

After shopping long and hard for a large enough mirror to fit the space, I finally found one.  The idea was to brighten up the room with some reflected light.  The day it was delivered was so exciting! The box was HUGE.  I had to get our handyman to help hang this.

When Mr. B and I were in New Orleans, I eyed these lamps in a cute little shop.  I’d been looking for colorful console table lamps and these were perfect.  We bought them and asked them to ship them to us.

In the photo above: chairs  pillows  similar throw  storage  mirror

I have since added a plant, a small fountain, ottoman, and a few other odds and ends.  For YEARS, we have had no houseplants because our kitties used to spread their dirt all over the place and also chew on the leaves.  This ficus has no leaves down low for them to reach (from the floor) and they don’t seem interested yet in these leaves.  I have to show you how I am keeping our cats out of this plant…

That’s a $1 doormat.

The main part of our living room was very brown.  Brown rug, brown lamps, brown throw pillows, brown shelves, etc.  My first project was to try to paint the bronze lamps.

It was a bit of a mess, but successful in the end, I think.  I used an oil primer first and covered it with 2 coats of a glossy oil paint in creme.  The trouble came in trying to paint the inside without touching the outsides.  I added these decorative finials that are more interesting than the little balls that came with the lamps.

Interestingly, the most major change to the room is the rug, and it arrived only a couple weeks ago… the last of the changes.   It made a huge difference in bringing all the other changes together.

I have more to show you!  I’ll be back on Monday with shapshots of throw pillows, bookshelves, artwork, etc.