Lighten up, Dude!!

(I love that line from Disney's "Hercules". Now I totally have that song in my head. Maybe you do, too!)

 

So, in my quest to catch up here on this blog, here's a fun moment in our lives that makes me smile ABSOLUTELY EVERY TIME I think about it.

 

Like, really really big smiles.  :-D

 

So, this is our living room:

 

 

We've had the furniture for a good 12+ years. And the piano for even longer.

 

 

When we bought it, I really loved that the colors were updated, and it looked so very dark & rich and sophisticated. The sofa and loveseat have loose pillows in different patterns, which makes them feel more like a designer did it. I've even used the loveseat when we would set up our store display at the Home and Garden Show, because it helped our fireplace booth look more "homey", and people loved it. The chair fabric wears like IRON (when no children have taken scissors to it) , and always makes me feel like they're from a library.

 

Now, to be fair, you must understand that I really cleaned up this space before snapping these photos. Usually, we're not perfect-looking. There's shoes in the doorway, homework and school papers lying around, and the constant Seminary Preparation Pile. So this is a very "picked-up" look. Something you might see if you were coming over to visit.

 

Honestly, if it weren't for having people coming over, I wonder if my house would ever be really picked up and clean!!

 

(if you look closely, you can see some of my lantern collection in there)

 

After a while--several years, Dark and Rich and Sophisticated started translating to Dated and Heavy and Super-Dark.

 

While the furniture has held up pretty well, it does have more of a Sinking Feeling when you sit in it now. When the guests need a hand up to get out of your sofa, you know it has lost it. The sofa actually broke once, and Todd had taken it, ripped the bottom off, and replaced one of the major frame pieces in it. A word to the wise, teach your children NOT to flop on the furniture!

 

And the designer-type pillow back on the sofa and loveseat were getting harder to sit against -- always having to reposition the pillows, and often removing them altogether. I will say, that the sofa made a really great napping spot, though!

 

The wingback chairs are actually recliners, and the footrest on one of them had also gotten broken.... again, probably from a child flopping on them.

 

And as much as we'd loved our furniture, we decided that it was finally time. Time for new furniture.

 

(Pardon me while I squeal in delight!!  YAYYY!!!!)

 

Growing up, I only remember my frugal and not-well-off parents getting new furniture ONCE. And when we did, I remember my mother asking my teenage self [several times] what my opinion was, and what I thought about it. Looking back, I'm rather impressed that my mom valued my opinion that much. Maybe she was unsure about her decision?

 

As we shopped, we found it was easier to eliminate things we didn't like, and harder to identify things we did like. We did a lot of sofa-sitting. A LOT!! We actually ended up special ordering our chairs and waiting an extra 6 weeks for them to arrive.

 

Pretty excited when Delivery Day came!!

 

 

Are you ready for the Big Reveal??

 

Our goal here was to definitely go lighter. Lighter in looks, lighter in color, lighter in feel, lighter and brighter. More updated, but with classic lines and very comfortable. Season-less. Timeless. You might remember that I am a big fan of Sarah Richardson's designs, so I'm sure that was kind of in the back of my head as we shopped. I'm still drooling over her Summer House rooms, that I shared with you way back HERE.

 

We were not going for wild colors. I figure when I'm ready for color, I will add it with pillows and accessories. Right now, I want peaceful, relaxing, and not so much on the vibrant side.

  

Worth. It.

 

We kept the tables & bookcase, and just changed the upholstered pieces.

So. Deep breath.

 

HERE YOU GO!!

 

 

 

We absolutely LOVE this!!

 

And yes. Those chairs are pretty light. We may regret our choice of linen-colored chairs at some later date. We had them apply fabric protector to all the pieces. I smiled when the guy told us, "I gave the chairs extra spray. There's so much on there, they're probably waterproof now." Hahahaha!!!

 

You may notice that our Easter bunnies are decorating up the piano, tables, shelves -- year. That's what you get at this time of year!

 

We do have a newly-renewed "no food in the living room" rule again -- despite the fabric protector. No surprise there. (Watch for an upcoming post on why we're spending a lot of time in the kitchen-dining rooms now!! Can't wait to share that with you, too.)

 

If you're looking closely, you may also notice that in addition to the sofas and chairs, the lamps have also been replaced. (We totally needed new lamps in the family room, so the living room lamps migrated down there.) And I want you to be impressed when I tell you that I had nothing to do with the choice of lamps -- it was all Todd's doing. And he did pretty darn good!

 

I'll wait while you scroll back to look at them.

 

Ok, you're back? So, here's what kind of made me smile. Right about the time that he ordered the new lamps, by coincidence, there was a recent issue of Better Homes and Gardens magazine that showed a living room on the cover that has similar coloring to our new furniture. They put a lamp in there that..... well, see for yourself:

 

I thought it had a remarkable similarity to the new lamps that Todd ordered!

 

(Pretty sure that Todd wasn't trying to match the lamps, but I wonder if there were some subliminal memory of them when he did select our new ones?)

 

Doesn't matter -- the new lamps go great in the living room!

 

Our next step in this room is to remove the popcorn ceiling and get a new updated ceiling fan in there. That's a project that's still on the edges of our radar. For now, we are basking in the greatness of our "new" room!!

 

Happy Saturday!!