When I was a little girl, I grew up in a home that looked eerily similar to a cottage. The walls inside were made of barn board, there was toile wallpaper in every room and vintage door knobs on creaking doors. There were wooden beams on the ceiling, baskets galore, rusty and exquisite antiques and numerous plate walls.
I don’t know why the style of my childhood home had such an impact on me, but it did.
Despite my need to be an individual, and at one point wanting to purchase everything brand-spankin’-new for our home, I cant fight the fact that I am always drawn to natural elements, vintage finds and french inspired items.
Which brings me to our living room. Our living room is connected to our dining room and a few feet away from our kitchen as well. So our lucky family room couldn’t help but get a little makeover when we redid our dining room.
You can see the whole dining room reveal post HERE if you missed it.
You see, I was left with two end chairs from the dinging room table we redid in the Spring; I immediately knew I wanted to use them in a big way.
Despite my husbands laughter when I recovered their seats in stark white, I was convinced they needed to be different from our dining room chairs and that the room needed some lightening up. My new rules for the kids, on the other hand, did NOT get lightened up, but got laid dowwwwwn.
White anything and babies do not mix well. Do not get me started on our white bath rug or the white towels.
At least the cushions on the white chairs are baby proof; they are out door cushions and they are my new indoor love!
I silenced my husband’s laughter by pointing to a bottle of bleach.
Miracle potion for Mamas all over the world!
So far, the chairs have been in their new home in the middle of our living room and they don’t have any marks, when they do however, I am sure a little touch up will make them look good as new. Or at least that is what I convinced him of while I quietly tie the children to their spots at the table during meal times.
You see, where we eat our meals is literally riggggghhhhttt next to where we watch our television, play our games, wrestle the dog and relax as a family.
I’m not really holding my breath though, because nothing around here is too sacred.
For example, our easy and FREE vintage-paper-gallery-wall-how-to can be found in THIS POST.
Some white milk glass holds our remotes, and even the baby knows where they “go”. Not too sure what that means, either he is an organizer (pleassse let it be true!) or else he is uber observant. Either will do, I am sure, I am just happy someone is helping me pick up things!
People always ask why we have breakable items “out” and around our house with three young children and I can honestly say that the things are just seen as decor items to our kids and not play items.
That, or they are too busy fishing out the old cheerios from our sofa.
Regardless, they have their toys and their own things in the baskets that are in our coffee table.
Easy access for them and easy clean up for me!
In the corner of our living room we have a curial cabinet full of dishes and the extra special things that the kids won’t be tempted to touch.
You can read all about how to make your own DIY numbered baskets HERE.
They offer more storage for us and I love how they add height to the cabinet as well.
It will never be my first choice to put furniture infront of a window, but ours are very low to the ground and basically leave us with no other options.
Since we have big windows combined with a bossy rectangular shaped room we decided that by placing our love seat in front of our large window, we still enjoy some gorgeous day time light and the curtains frame out the sofa.
To anchor the sofa even more and to make it look like it was meant to be in front of a window, we put a narrow sofa table behind it.
This allowed me to hoard buy more lamps.
One day I found this pair of tan over sized lamps at a local thrift store for seven dollars a piece. I loved the way their shape and size immediately and snatched them up. I simply added some new drum shades to them and they were good as new.
Different textured pillows have been moving around our home and have now found a permanent for now spot in this room.
The trellis pillow is made from out door material again. It has already stood up to baby milks spills and then soon after, mama tear spills. They truly do repel liquids of all sorts, a welcome addition to a well used space.
We keep a giant supply of kid toys in our DIY toy box and usually they dont end up back in the toy box tills the days end.
Click HERE to see the full DIY post.
I cleared the kid cups, the kid stains, and the kid toys to take these tidy pics just for you.
Dont let the cleanliness fool you though, any good mama knows that a messy house is proof that children are truly happy.
Lastly, to anchor the entire space, we got rid of our dark shag rug and added a natural sisal rug to stand up to racing hot wheel tires, little girl nail polish, and dog paw prints.
We spend a lot of time playing and really living in this living room.
Growing up submerged in
cottage style ended up leaving its influence on what I love and what I
am naturally drawn to.
cottage style ended up leaving its influence on what I love and what I
am naturally drawn to.
I loved changing simple things in this room that now make it feel evolved, natural and comfortable.
I can’t guarantee that if you stop by for a mid day coffee that the toys will be away or that the white chairs will still be free of baby finger prints, or that I might be cleaning up a random spill but I can promise you that you will feel comfortable in the chaos and the love.
The best part about creating a room is making it work for the family that lives and makes memories in it; this place, our place is finally starting to feel like home and I couldn’t ask for anything more.
Except maybe waterproof, spill-proof, white covered chairs.
Getting Inspired at:
Tanya Runkle
August 8, 2013 at 4:16 pmBethany your living room looks fantastic!!
xo, Tanya
Sarah Reynolds
August 11, 2013 at 9:48 pmYou are insanely talented and beautiful inside and out! I love coming into your home and how welcome you make people feel in it. Not only that, but I always take pictures because I'm not only a weirdo, but I'm inspired. Your home and it's beauty is such a perfect reflection of YOU and your family. x0x0
homefornowblog
August 19, 2013 at 4:42 pmJust found your blog via a feature and I love your style! Looks comfy and gorgeous.
Kayla Janachovsky
August 19, 2013 at 7:55 pmYou do such great work! The two rooms flow together so nicely!
Inspire Me Heather
September 30, 2013 at 1:44 pmYour living room looks beautiful! We have the same style too – I wish mine looked more like yours though… Oh well, I have this linked to my post on living rooms too today for inspiration!
bethanygier
September 30, 2013 at 5:38 pmHi Heather! Thanks for the comment. 🙂 They say great minds think a like! lol I will have to follow you too to gather some similar inspiration! 😉
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