By Request: Before and After

By request, here are some before and after shots of the living room I finished painting and where we finally got "real" furniture over the Thanksgiving weekend. It's still a work in progress--there are still boxes to unpack, the walls are still blank, and I'm still unsure of the layout. Here are the befores (you can see the sofabed with the missing cover where we're using a sheet--blech):

So many boxes...

Here is where I ran out of paint on Saturday night. You can also see the twin mattress we received free with the purchase of our full-size ones. We kind of used it as a sofa-ish thing which worked out well for a few of the girl's sleepovers. We gave it away on Craigslist the day before the furniture was being delivered.

We wanted a simple couch but we definitely were favoring comfort over style, considering how much we enjoy watching games and movies. The girl and I were really craving a chaise lounge and we all wanted high back/neck support. We saw this model in the furniture store but it was so ginormous and frankly just screamed Man Cave:

We opted for a smaller version and both Paul and the girl were gunning for the cupholders but I (and reasonable decorum) won out and we forewent them. I must add that the seat on the opposite end of the chaise is a recliner. Ta-da!

I moved out the bookshelf that we were temporarily using as a tv stand and got an official one with doors to hide a lot of the cables (ugh--I'll spare you a picture of the major cable management issues behind that door on the left). We upgraded to a big flat screen tv and we still have yet to remove the plastic off the frame. I think the TV needs a little bit of height--like a higher base or something.

A cleaned up After:

For now, I moved the bookshelf behind the sofa and put these lamps here. Ugh...I gotta do something with that lamp.

We picked up this accent chair which I love not only for the leopard print but it's actually quite comfortable in a firm and supportive way. And dare I say, pretty darn stylish.

And since we were in Charlotte to take Nana to the airport, we swung by Ikea and got a replacement cover for the sofabed. They no longer carried the original red cover but we liked this multicolored one as well. It works, right? Sure beats a sheet...

Finally, here is that hall that is kind of begging for color. Velina suggested red or orange. Frankly, I'm not opposed to it--I'm thinking a nice pop of color would work here.

And that is the living room so far. I am definitely open to layout suggestions though as you can see there are still boxes to unpack. Maybe an area rug between the tv and the big sofa? I'm kind of at a loss where to put that Ikea sofabed so it's in the corner for now. Also I'm struggling with lighting. Maybe when the boxes are out of the way, more options will materialize.

Still a work in progress...