10/28/10

Have I shown you this?

I'm linking to Fabric Fun Thursday
If you are here for this link party, you'll have to go about halfway through this post to get to the fabric items -- my pillows.  Oh, I almost forgot, in the 3rd pic you'll see a wreath under the sewing machine.  I made that out of burlap.  Just cut strips & tied them on a styro wreath.

I think you've probably seen parts of this room, as in a couple of tablescapes, but realized I had never actually shown the entire room.  I'm talking about my living room.  As I've shared before, we live in a townhouse, and it isn't very large.  We utilize every room in our home.  There is no foyer and the entryway opens right into the living room, but we used tile to designate a small entry and walkway to the rest of the house.  The living room is our main living/media area.  This is where we have our flat screen & stereo equipment.  This is where The Man put in surround sound, added wainscoting, a two-wall display shelf to break up the vaulted ceiling, & crown molding.  This room has really comfy furniture where we spend every evening reading &/or watching our favorite TV shows.  This room is easy to mess up with newspapers, magazines & whatever knitting/crochet project I might be working on, but it's also super easy to tidy up.  I'll start the tour at our little covered front porch area.  I love making this pretty for every season.



I almost always have some kind of wreath or swag-type thing on the door.



This is what passes as an entry.  I've used my antique singer in this spot for a long time.  I really like things on angles, so you see that a lot in our home.  This is another spot where I always have some seasonal display.


Panning around the room clockwise, this is a very Tuscan print from Kirkland's.  The flat-screen was a dickens to get mounted on the wall, but we truly enjoy it.


The tall pine cabinet in the corner houses our media equipment & also provides more spaces for me to decorate.  In case you are wondering, the guitar is mine.  A bunch of years ago I was a "wannabe" Country/Western singer, but I couldn't sing & I couldn't play, sooo....!  The grandkids like to "strum" on it now & again.  Anyway, the cabinet & the coffee table used to be very dark pine (like my dining room furniture), but we managed to get them stripped & stained with a very soft golden stain that really enhanced the knots & grain of the pine.  They also are much easier to take care of in our dusty desert climate.


This is a very comfortable leather chair, and Abby likes to sit on the back & look out the window.  She's chirping at me right now to open the shutters so she can get in the window.  It matters not that it's still dark outside & the birds aren't even awake yet!


This is The Man's end of the sofa.  I try to keep things fairly clean on his side table, because he's just not into being careful where he puts his books or newspapers.  The clock is about 35 years old & we bought it new.  It's rather Early American, as is all the pine furniture in our home, but it has a lovely chime so it stays forever.  The magazine holder is a Chinese market carrier that we found in San Francisco a few years ago.  We liked the size & the dark stain.


This is my end of the sofa, note all the chotskies on my table.  The large mirror is another Kirkland's purchase & the matching candle wall sconces (all metal work) are from a boutique in Phoenix.  Abby  has apparently grown tired of waiting for me to open the shutters.


The next 3 photos show the display shelf that The Man added.  You can also see the crown molding that he painstakingly put up.  He put outlets on this shelf so we could have lighting, he just hadn't considered that I would want a lamp up there.  Yet another Kirkland's buy.  The wall-hanging was one of my first efforts at quilting.


These four little windows cause me much consternation when I'm trying to take pictures during the daytime.  That's why I was snapping away at 5:30 a.m. one day.  The set of candles are battery powered with a remote.  The Man saw "remote" & thought it was an excellent idea to get these.  What is it with men & remotes?  It's hard to see them, but the 2 chickens are made with wire that looks like wood.


The Man did this 2-level design with the angled corner to fix a poor air-conditioning duct layout.  This room used to be really warm, because the air-vent came straight out from the original wall & flowed right to the front door area.  Great planning by the original builder, right?  And, yes I know we need to paint the interior grill of the vent.  "Oh, The Man, I have a little honey-do job for you!"  Almost forgot about the angel.  This was an after Christmas sale item at Michael's many years ago.  It has been a very bright gold color until just recently when I painted it a dark rich copper.  Much better.


This end of the shelf isn't too exciting, but it's okay & I really like that this whole display area is here.  We are the only home in the neighborhood with this & it always garners a lot of attention.


Just a little close-up of my very simple coffee table display.  The silver tray isn't old, but it looks old.  Love these very chunky candle holders from Pier 1.




This loveseat is actually a twin sleeper sofa, but we rarely use it.  It just happens to be very comfortable & is the appropriate size for this space.  I have this thing for pillow covers & have made several sets over the years.  The two end cushions I made using the sample display books that fabric stores carry.  They are all very heavy tapestry fabrics & I just patch-worked them together to the size I wanted.  I love the colors & how they turned out.  My favorite quilt shop had a huge bin of these sample books that they were just giving away.  Yay for me!  FYI -- those aren't spots on the sofa but sunlight peaking through the shutters.




Wow, this has been a very long blog.  Sorry about that.  When I get an idea of something I want to share, I tend to get carried away with the pictures.  I hope you've enjoyed the tour and will come back again soon.  I'm linking to Vanessa's at Southern in My Heart for Inspiration Fridays

Carol






2 comments:

  1. I love your vintage sewing table. I've searched and searched for a nice one of those over here in the UK but have yet to find one. Grrr.....

    It was a good point you made about whether the musty smell carries into the bedding. The answer is no....in this case (pardon the pun!).The suitcase hasn't got a musty smell at all. I guess if it did then it would...but nothing that a good wash wouldn't sort out!

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  2. I love so many elements in this room--your Singer table, the wall color (!) and of course, your beautiful sewing. Thanks for linking :).

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Make this a great day!
Carol