Tempting Throw Pillows

Are these pillows too femme for a couch that's used by a gentle giant while watching car shows, hockey, football, and racing? We were in west elm trying chairs on for size and I spotted these cockatiel and hummingbirds pillows.

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Would this be considered putting a bird on it?

In person, they look like they would look great with my tie dye pillows from west elm circa 2011.

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I should have snagged them before they're gone! I wish that west elm wasn't such a hassle to get to on weekends.It's definitely a weeknight treat.

I am totally dying to change something up in the house. I haven't had a project in over a year and I've gots the itch.

{In the Works} Tie Dye Pillows and Ikat Chairs

I've become bored with our orange pillows and wedding pillows on the big green couch. Hours of e-searching for fabric hasn't warranted anything that wouldn't give Andy a yeast infection (from the girliness) or isn't $40/yard. I've talked myself into these and am now obsessed with them.

From my new Paper Source (i.e. my new retail obsession), of course. I am even considering paying shipping if they're sold out in Chicago. (The Oak Brook store was sold out.)

Speaking of fabric, I've ordered this excellent orange and white ikat to recover our kitchen chairs:

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I was so excited to find this fabric. It was *exactly* what I had envisioned in my mind. Unfortunately, it is a trade fabric, but I found an etsy seller who was kind enough to order some for me.

Living Room Facelift -- The After Photos

I just launched a huge project at work, so I took some mental health days to celebrate. I busted open the blinds and windows to let all in of the incredible sunshine and warm breezes that Chicago has been enjoying** and caught up on some projects around the house. I know that doesn't sound like much mental health, but all of that sunshine, knocking off the "To Do's," and not being at my desk made me feel like a million bucks, even if I couldn't walk when I was finished.

My first project was the living room wall that I wrote about a few weeks ago.

I *love* the results and we've been getting great feedback from family and friends that have seen it. I can't wait to order our new lamps.

I liked the color so much, that I used it on the breakfast bar.

I got kind of paint-happy and picked up a second gallon of this paint for the dining room wall. Andy nixed it for fear of being too brown and convinced me to stick with the wallpaper plan. I think that we're doing it next month. Hooray!







**I am so torn between celebrating this extended summer and desperately praying for a damn frost to kill all of this pollen that has been knocking me on my a*s since September; however, I am fully aware that it could technically be snowing by now and I don't want to push my luck.

Living Room Facelift

This is what our living room has looked like since we moved in.

It's a mish-mash of old and new. The tall lamps are old Crate & Barrel lamps (circa approx. 2001), the couch is Hutton by Room & Board, the mirror is an old antique store find that I adore (I think circa approx. 1953. My mom and I paid $250. Can you believe that?), the coffee table is a Lane that Andy's grandma bought from a model home back in the day, and the end-table is an old hand-me-down that I lifted from my parents' basement when I was in college and never returned. 

We've since installed blinds in the living room.

And now it's time to infuse some life into the room. I've been considering wallpaper on the wall behind the couch, but, $40 in wallpaper samples later, I just can't find anything non-girly for Andy and I agree on. And I'm chickening out on wallpaper in general. Instead, I've decided to paint one wall of the living room brown. In my mind it looks like this:

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The wall color is Moroccan Henna (UL130-210 from Behr. 

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The lamps are the "capri bottle lamp" from Jonathan Adler, for which I am waiting to become available here.

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The end tables were purchased on Craig's List a few weeks ago. They're just plain Danish/Mid-century Modern end tables, but they are in excellent shape. (Or they were until I nicked one as  I carried it out of the seller's house.) I'm in TX for work as I write this, so I couldn't include a photo.

I currently have orange throw pillows and the leftover throw pillows from our wedding, which look great.

Now I need some art for the other walls in the room.

Our Fireplace Project

For some reason, our unit is one of the few in the building in which the developer did not put lights in the living room. I needed a quick fix for lightening up our fireplace wall until we can afford to wire the ceiling for lights. We decided that paint was the most affordable, dramatic option.

I'm not a big fan of our corner fireplace wall. The tile is so dark and the nook is awkward. In an ideal world, I'd hang some cool pendant lights there to fill the space and provide some light.

I chose to paint the wall green to play off of our couch, which sits across the room. Andy and I agreed on the color "Leapfrog" by Behr, which seemed to be just a smidge brighter than the couch.

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Oh man! HUGE MISTAKE. It was bright. I mean, like Kermit-the-Frog-dipped-in-acid-and-then-plugged-in bright.

While I do not typically shy away from bright colors, it was just too much. Not to mention that it didn't align with the rest of our house. I went to Home Depot with a swatch of our couch fabric to see if they could color match it. As I stood in line, I realized that our swatch perfectly matched the next color on the Behr card, Wild Grass.

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I wasn't wild about the color, so I had it mixed with only 45% of the color and it turned out perfect. A week later (I think that I got some bad paint because it was thick like batter and took days to dry.), the wall was finished!

Here's the final product:

The candles are the "luminere" line from CB2. I originally tried them without the side photos, but it was too bare. I love the way that they look with the green paint.

They look great when lit up at night - even if my photography skills don't show it.