Wednesday, April 7, 2010

The Living Room








So, my Mom is coming today (she'll be here in about an hour and a half) and staying for a week. This means that I have been cleaning, continuously for the past two hours... with no hope of actually getting EVERYTHING put away, de-cluttered, etc. This happens every single time that we have visitors. I would really love to get to the point where everything in this house has it's place, and stays there! It would be nice not to have to do a major picking up and cleaning right before people come to visit. Yes, I realize I could always start this process a few days ahead of time, but really, what is the fun in that??!! Why not create as much stress as possible? Besides, everything will just get cluttered and messy again in a few days!

So, I am sitting down to post a few pictures because I needed a little break before we head to the airport. I'm letting Andy completely empty the contents of my wallet so that I can have 5 minutes to do this post. That counts as being a good Mom, right? Plus, I think he is putting one of my credit cards in the dresser drawer, so that will help me not buy things I can't afford! ha ha

Okay, SO... back to the living room. It seriously hasn't been clean (or clutter free) enough to post "after" pictures since I got my "new" camera after finishing our built-ins (which you can read about here and here ). Well, I figured today was as good a day as any to post the "after" pictures! It might only stay clean for a day! (if that!)

I'm really happy with how everything turned out and we didn't have to spend much money decorating, because we used a lot of things that we already had. I was also really happy to finally have a place to display some of my milk glass. I have pieces handed down from both of my grandmothers, from my husband's grandmother and from my step father's mother. The clock is from 1860 (no, that is not a typo!) and was in the jail where my great grandfather was sheriff in East Machias, Maine. It was one of the many things my grandmother gave me when her and my grandfather downsized and moved into their retirement community.

Now, all I have to do is figure out what in the world to do on those two big BLANK walls and the top of the matle! Not feeling so inspired on those yet, but happy to have an almost finished living room!

5 comments:

  1. Colleen I LOVE the new look!! It's awesome!! So pulled together and comfy looking...i can't wait to come sit on those couches and that cute chair!! :) Your milk glass looks great up there on that shelf too..did you have enough to keep in that hutch thing too? That is a lot of milk glass you have there! Oh and the curtains are super cute too!! Now..I just need you to fly up here and help me decorate!! I'm soooo bad at this!! Good luck with the blank walls and mantle...all we have are blank walls..and No mantle!! (yet!)

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  2. Green with envy. It is just so lovely!

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  3. Looks great Coll!! I'm with Micaela, come help!!

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  4. Here are some wall ideas from your husband, just to get the ball rolling:

    -A tapestry of the family crest (I don't know if one exists).
    -Velvet Elvis.
    -Christmas Lights (white).
    -Bagpipes (if you want to play up that whole "Scottish-Cottage-Chic" angle).
    -Lobster Pot.
    -Wagon Wheel.
    -A massive shelf with a fish tank on it.
    -Inflatable pig.
    -A 3 ft. by 3 ft. Rubiks Cube.
    -A blown up picture of Andy's first sonogram.

    Love,

    Matt

    P.S. You're Welcome!!!

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  5. I think the inflatable pig would fit best :-) Seriously though, thanks for the nice comments! This was fun to do... especially since I've been stashing away all kidns of decorating things and hand-me-downs from family members for YEARS hoping to have a place to put things some day! ha ha
    I know I can always do the whole picture thing on the blank walls, but I was trying to think of something different. So far, no luck... I need to start lurking on crafty decorator people's blogs!

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