UPDATE: Here's a picture of the living room completely painted and rearranged. We're loving the new color and arrangement.
Since Zach and I returned from the midwest after the holidays, I've been working to incorporate the family items we got from our grandmothers and other goodies into our living space. We both agree what's the use of having them if we're not going to have them out to enjoy, use and look at. So that and the addition of a full size kitchen table (notice that Darby has taken up residence under the table), has set me on rearranging space creating bender. I started with the kitchen, moved the sideboard hutch thingy to a corner to create a little dining nook, which has been really good. Now we have table items close at hand to the table, such as extra linens, steak knifes and cheese boards, but it still holds some nice things we like to look at.
Next where the hutch thingy was we added a metal rolling shelf. It's nice in that it's portable and adjustable. I think the best thing is that it gives us room to pull our cookbooks out of the closet and see what we have on hand. I repurposed a picture holder I had from our previous apartment into a mini clothes line to display some embroidered tea towels my great aunt gave us for our wedding. I was feeling so bad that they were put away, but I don't want to have them "in use" and end up stained.
From the kitchen I moved on to the living room where I embarked on a full scale rearrange. The desk got its own self contained corner space. The furniture found its way closer to each other so we don't have to be all the way across the room while visiting. The rearrange also put our two chairs, seldom used before, into play to give the couch a break or us a place to sit when all three dogs claim the couch.
Beyond rearranging the living room, I decided to repaint it. The green and red were looking dull and not really fitting into the vintagey bright aesthetic we have going in the kitchen and bed rooms. Now the living room is on its way to what the paint chip calls haystack. I'd call it butter or buttercream. It's a buttery yellow that's bright and at night in the lamp light feels warm. The pictures don't do it justice because with bare walls it feels stark, plus they needs another coat of paint and I still need to paint another wall. I can't wait to finish it up and put everything away. Fingers crossed it produces the look I have imagined in my head.
