Before and After: Reviving the Living Room in Two Hours

Today's Agenda:  Checking out some desks and chairs - I do love a great home office project :)

As I mentioned yesterday -- I finally did what I thought I would never do -- moved the sectional sofa AND changed out the rug in our living room.  I loved where both were in our living room but I just wanted to try something different.  I think of our apartment as a bit of a design lab -- place for me to try out different layouts and materials and color combinations and see what works! 

Here is the before...

 And the after! 

 

 

 

 

I purchased nothing to do this redesign and only took two hours to move things around -- just used what I had, moved things around and pulled a rug from my collection of things I've bought because they were such a great deal and really easy to store.  The rug I used is from Anthropologie and was on sale for $129.95.  Pretty awesome and the blue is a really happy blue. I then moved the gray and white rug into our bedroom under our bed and it looks like a brand new rug!

A few of my favorite details -- I moved the bar to the kitchen counter.  I love a bar cart or tray but this is a good spot for mixing a drink.  The glasses are just above this area and the sink is to the right.  Plus the bottles look really pretty against the Benjamin Moore French Beret paint...that I'm obsessed with. 

 These red chairs I purchased for only $75 each on Craigslist and I love them.  They are easy to clean, and a great red that I've tried to carry through in the kitchen.  I really like red and blue together -- the trick is to keep it from looking too patriotic.  I really like to watch the NBC Nightly News while eating dinner with my husband so this is the perfect spot for us -- chairs are easy to clean, good posture and cute little table for a glass of wine. 

 These lamps are my favorite.  They were a find from Homegoods and were each $30.  I love that they take away from the TV a bit.  And they give off really good light.  I like that the shades are a parchment color against the starck white of the TV console.  These books I keep handy to write down meals that are a hit.  Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc at Home is a great resource -- easy recipes and inspiring photos.

The new layout is really functional too -- I curled up on the chaise lounge last night and went through my magazines instead of turning on the TV, ate dinner in our red chairs and talked about the nightly news and was happy this morning to wake up to the fun blue rug!