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Friday, April 30, 2010

A grown up house... one day

Slowly but surely, I want the house that N and I will share to be one that people admire when they come over.  I don't expect to be in a magazine, but I will admit that it's really important to me to not be embarrassed of my living room.

However, getting to that point is going to be hard.  In case you haven't noticed, home decor is pretty darn expensive.  Yes, I know there are the Crafty McHandy people who turn a garage sale dresser into a showpiece for $30 but I lack that skill set (and desire).  I'm a shopper.  I like to pick things out, compare them to other things, and make the right choice in the end.

Even though I don't move in until August, and we don't even have a couch picked out yet (neutral L-shaped sectionals are tough to find, it turns out), I've started scoping out items that I think I could happily display for years.  I will buy them one by one, and hopefully have a lovely room to share one day.

Things I have
When I moved into this house with wood floors (which I don't see why everyone flips out over, they're lots of work) I saved to buy a chocolate brown and ivory damask rug from Pier 1.  It sheds like none other, but I still love it.  And I can't believe I found a picture of it online 18 months later.
 
When I graduated college in 2005, I moved into my first Dallas apartment and bought a brown (faux) leather armchair for $300.  It is really comfortable, and looks pretty nice for pvc.  Plus, puppy dog nails don't scratch it. (The chair below isn't identical to mine, but it's close)


Things I want
The first item on our list of things to buy for the house is a good couch - one you can fall asleep on.  My sofa is not very comfortable and is starting to show its age after only 5 years, and N's couches were hand me downs from his parents and are coming apart.  I think something like the sectional below would last us a long time and help fill up the big, long living area.  I will swap out the bonanza of beige pillows with color, of course.

Next, I want to find a classic espresso stained media cabinet and shelving unit for N's giant tv, living room computer, game consoles, speakers, and various plastic cases. (That's before I move in any of my prized Sex and the City dvds!) The unit below (3 pcs) is $700 at JCPenney, but I think I'd break it up instead of making a valley for the television.

We'd also need to find some coordinating coffe table/end table collections, which will be a challenge because I agreed that as long as it is not hideous, N can get one of those coffee tables that pops up.  Ugh.


Finally, I want a mix of colors and textures to make the sensible furniture more interesting.  I want the kind of room where things don't match, but share a common color family so they work.  (Yes, I am an Anglophile.  I know.)  Everything below is from Z Gallerie or West Elm, my two favorite stores for decor.



And now I want to go shopping really bad.  What are your room goals?  Do you think I could do better by making some substitutions?

5 comments

  1. I think you also need to cultivate a collection of some fine old, worn things to complement all of your new, factory-direct furniture, because one style misstep young homeowners often make is believing that copying Pottery Barn equals good style.

    You already have a keen eye for fashion - so it shouldn't be much trouble for you to develop a keen eye for decor by reading home decor blogs for a few months before you hit the stores. Blogs I suggest are: MFAMB Home, Pure Style Home (look in her archives for early posts of hers about the beginner's mistake of being "too literal"), Decorno's archives, Decor8, Black Eiffel, Design Sponge, Copy Cat Chic, Cote de Texas, Little Green Notebook, and Urban Grace Interiors.

    BTW, I love your blog and hope you get more comments & followers because you deserve it.

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  2. Thanks hush! I like reading your comments... I get excited when it's someone I don't already know. I'm hoping the blog takes off this year. I keep coming to close to being in papers and then they decide to interview someone else!

    I'll look into those blogs... I was a lover of Domino magazine before it folded and that's my dream style (eclectic chic with comfortable furniture). I don't want the house to look like I went to Rooms to Go and bought a set - lamp and all. It's going to be a big project, for sure!

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  3. I love the sectional you have chosen. I want something very similar for my next house.

    BTW, the keep calm and carry on sign can be found on etsy for a pretty reasonable price. I've been thinking about getting one for my classroom. I've also found some really nice artwork on etsy for cheap.

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  4. I actually already have the keep calm sign in my cube at work from before they got popular, so I'll probably just go without at home. The message is more relevant in this office anyway! The only piece in that collage I may buy is the striped painting.

    The sectional is by La-z-Boy, and can be customized to have a sofa bed on one side. We want something that people can sleep on in the event we have more guests than our 1 room allows.

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  5. Check out Lonny - the new online shelter mag that is like the free version of the old Domino.

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