Open Concept Living Room & Kitchen

As I mentioned last week, we bought at second home in Florida a little over a year ago.  My daughter is a highly nationally ranked tennis player and she has been training in Florida and playing many tournaments down here, so it made sense to buy a second home.

In this home we have an open concept living room and kitchen.  It's kinda cool.  I enjoy making breakfast in the morning and having the big screen television from the living room right there. 

We continued the blue and white color scheme throughout the majority of the house.  It really makes the house flow well.  I rigged the lamps to work off of Alexa  - which is awesome when I get home I just ask Alexa to turn on the lamps.

A dining room credenza acts as a television unit and is flanked by a glass bookcase and a large faux tree.  The area rug was an awesome find at Home Goods on my last trip down here in January.  Open and airy is the look we are going for - nothing too heavy looking.  

It actually gets quite chilly in this house, so a throw became a necessity.  This throw is a faux fur throw from Dennis Basso and gets used all the time.  The lamps are Home Goods finds as well.

There are two options for dining in the kitchen...either at the counter or at the kitchen table.  Even when it's just me and my daughter we seem to use both areas equally.

The kitchen is a nice size for a second home.  It's plenty large to work in on a daily basis.  I like that the counter stools don't have a back so they take up very little visual space.

Here is the view of the living room from the kitchen.  Open concept all the way!  The clock is a find from Target.

Hope you've enjoyed the tour of my Florida home living room and kitchen.  Can't wait to hear what you think.

-Judy

DIY Pillows for Living Room

Sometimes when you really want to find a fabric that works in a room you can't find anything. Then there are those times you are just walking around JoAnn's and you stumble across the perfect fabric.  The latter happened to me last week.  I found this very pretty fabric in JoAnn's for $6.99 a yard so I bought one yard.  I was pretty sure it would go in my living room.  When I got home I was so happy to see that it really did have the perfect colors for the room.

Right away I got to work on some new pillows.  Because I wasn't 100% sure about the colors when I was standing in the store I only bought one yard of fabric.  

That's ok...I had some coordinating fabric I bought a while ago that worked and I sewed up some pillows using the same tutorial I used here.  Honestly, since I learned how to sew a pillow with a zipper, pillow making has become so much easier.  I whipped out three pillows in less than a half hour.  The blue/grey solid fabric picked up on those same tones in the floral fabric as well as the blue/grey in my Serena and Lily awesome throw from Home Goods.  

  One of the reasons I made these pillows is I wanted to simply how many different patterns I had on both sofas.  I think the more unified look is easier on the eye.

In order to achieve this, I really needed one more gold pillow.  I went through my stash of fabric and found enough of the gold fabric left to make one more pillow with a zipper.  Yay!

So what do you think of my new pillows?

Have a great day.

-Judy

Trial and Error Pillows

I am still working on the finishing touches in my living room.  I have not yet found artwork that I love, so I thought that if I could settle on the pillows I could move this project forward.

The thing with pillows is you really have to try them in the space to see if they really work.  I saw this coral pillow at Pottery Barn, and loved it in the store,  and thought it would be a good addition to the living room.

I felt it would pick up on the same color coral-ish color in the area rug.

It does pick up the color in the rug, but it's taking the room in a direction that I don't want to go.  It's a little too harsh and I feel that it pulls your attention too much.  So I will be returning it to Pottery Barn.  

Back to the drawing board.

-Judy

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Trying Out Artwork in the Living Room

Now that I have found a rug for my living room, it's time for me to turn my attention to the artwork.  We have a beautiful piece of art that used to be over the sofa in the living room, but the colors really don't work in the room anymore.  To start the process, rather than running around store to store, I decided to go to an online art store and try out some artwork in the living room...virtually.

 I "framed" the artwork online and then placed it virtually in the room using PicMonkey.

It's a good way to get a sense of what colors work best in the room.

I haven't found anything perfect yet, but I'll keep on looking.

Don't forget to stop back tonight for my Winter Blues Wednesday party that opens at 8pm EST. 

 Hope to see you there.

-Judy

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Third Time is a Charm

The rug hunt has officially come to a close.  If you have been following me, you know that I have been on a full-time pursuit of the perfect area rug for my living room.  Two rugs have come home and both have gone back.  I have been to over seven different Home Goods at least 3-4 times a week for the past month.  I have visited multiple rug stores over the past few weeks as well. I had completely lost sight of what I wanted in a rug.  I was completely exhausted from the process.
 On Friday my parents said they would go to a few of the rug stores I had already visited to see if there was anything they could find.  They went to a store called Rugs and Art, one of the stores I had been to a few weeks before.  When I went into that store I had brought my paint chip and went through all of their rugs.  I had spoken with one of the owners and told him exactly what I wanted.  I told him things I liked as well as what I didn't like in a rug.  He took my information and said he would try to find me something.  I kept my paint chip, so he only had the paint color name.  He actually went to the Benjamin Moore store to get a paint chip and then took that paint chip to his warehouse and went through all of the rugs to try to find one that would go best with the new wall color I had painted.  When my parents walked into the store and told the man who they were, he pulled out the rug he had put aside for me.  They texted me a photo of the rug and from the photo it looked perfect.  The owner of the store was so nice.  He told my parents to take it home to me, and if I liked it I could pay for it or else I could return it.  He didn't even take a deposit.  

I told my parents I would be home by 1pm.  When I pulled into my driveway their car was already there.  I walked inside and my parents had already rolled up the other rug and had this one all laid out so that I could get the full effect right away (Yep...I have the BEST parents in the world).  I loved it even more the instant I saw it in the room.  It is a beautiful, hand-knotted 160 line rug.  The quality is outstanding, but even more importantly, it is the perfect colors to coordinate with everything I already have in the room.  

It measures 8' x 11'.  I had been looking at 8x10 rugs.  As it turns out an 8x11 works so much better because it completely goes under the piano and makes the room look larger.

With a hand-knotted rug there is always a lighter side and a darker side.  

Here is the view from the "darker" side.

Here is the view from the "lighter" side.

Honestly... I love it from all sides.  Here is the view from above which I took standing on the fourth step in my entry way.  

I am so happy to be able to cross this off of my list.  It was seriously taking up way too much time and energy, and it was stopping me from being able to complete the room.  

Next on the list...artwork.

Can't wait to hear what you think of my new area rug.

-Judy

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Rug #2 - Another Huge Miss

The hunt continues for a rug for my living room.  It's becoming an exhausting process.  Yesterday I shared with you the rug I brought home from Home Goods that didn't work.  Today the rug I have to share comes with a story.  I mentioned last week that had seen a "one of a kind" rug at one of my favorite furniture stores. 

 It was extremely pricey so I felt that I needed to see it in my home before I could commit to the rug.  I was told that there was another designer who had a client interested in the same rug.  I needed to make a decision or else they would show it to her.  I told them I couldn't make a decision and so they showed it to their other client. I was told last week that she loved it and bought it.  I was disappointed however I am a big believer that things happen for a reason and this rug was just not meant to be.  Of course, because I never got to see the rug in my home I started to view it as the the perfect rug and the "rug that got away".  As I continued my search I couldn't get this rug out of my head.  On Saturday I emailed the rug broker and asked if he could try to find me a similar rug.  An hour or so later he called me and told me the woman didn't have enough credit to buy the rug and so the rug was available again.  It was unbelievable that the rug I loved was suddenly available again.  A second chance.  I told the broker that I would be there within the hour to pick it up with the understanding that if I didn't like it is was fully returnable.    

When I got it home and laid it out the first thing I noticed is that the gray/green border was really a light blue/green border, which really doesn't work in this room.  The next thing I noticed, which really bothered me, were imperfections all over the rug.  

There were at least ten of these long wavy lines of what looked like missing yarn throughout the rug.  Definitely not acceptable for what I spent on the rug.  Once I saw these imperfections I started to really investigate the rug.  I was told the rug was 120 line.  It turns out the rug is only 80 line.  I was also told that the rug is "one of a kind".  

Funny...here is the rug on the manufacturer's website.  I guess since it is hand-knotted no two are exactly alike, but it's definitely not  "one-of-a-kind".  Once I realized it was not one of a kind I went even further and started to price this rug at several different rug stores.  Turns out the rug also retails for $1,500 less than what I paid for it.  

The rug is being picked up this morning by the store for a full refund.  I haven't even told them all of the information I now know about their "one of a kind rug".  All that they know is that I didn't like it and wasn't happy with the imperfections I saw.  Once I am sure that my money has been refunded I will decide if it's worth it to have a "conversation" with the store.  

  The best thing that happened is that I have completely gotten this rug out of my system now and can focus on finding a rug that will compliment the room.  If this hadn't happened I would have always thought of this rug as the one I let get away.

Don't forget to stop back tonight for my Winter Blues Wednesday party that opens at 8pm EST.
 Hope to see you there!

-Judy

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Hit or Miss Rug - It's a Miss

As you know I have been searching for the past few weeks for a new area rug for my living room.  Since we repainted the room a lighter and brighter color the old area rug just didn't work anymore.  I have been on a serious hunt for a rug.  Over the past few days I have been to seven different Home Goods.  Yep, you read that right...seven.  I didn't even realize there were that many within a 30 mile radius of my home.  At Home Goods #6 I found what I thought was the perfect rug (I did go to Home Goods #7 with this rug in the car in case they had something better, which they didn't).

I was so excited when I saw this rug.

It was very similar to this rug that I let get away from Home Goods a few weeks earlier.

The rug had all of the colors I wanted...a grayed green, some gold and ivory.  So I lugged it home and laid in out.  UGH...my first thoughts were I don't think it works.  Unfortunately since the gray green is the main color of this rug, it is competing with the walls...

and the toile chair and ottoman on this side of the room.  I lived with it for a day or two and each time I walked by the room I just knew it was wrong.  So it went back to Home Goods over the weekend.   I'm glad I brought the rug home because now I know that I do not want a rug with so much gray green in it.  I need a rug a more neutral rug with an ivory field with accents of the gray green.  

The search continues...

-Judy

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New Ethan Allen Coffee Table for Living Room

While the hunt still continues for the perfect area rug (I have been to seven different Home Goods in the past two days), I have continued to try to finish off the decorating in the living room.  

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, our local Ethan Allen is going out of business.  Each week they continue to lower their prices.  I have had my eye on the Ethan Allen Heron Round coffee table for a while but was waiting for the price to dip to under 50% off.

 Well a couple of days ago that's exactly what happened.  Of course this table only makes me want to change out the rug that much faster.  I just love the warmth of the finish on the table and it's lines...elegant but not overdone.

It's so funny...years ago we had a glass and brass coffee table (which we searched the house ten times over trying to find).  We have no recollection of what happened to that coffee table.  When my son  was two years old split his forehead open on another coffee table in our family room and after that I removed any furniture I deemed potentially dangerous to him, including the glass and brass coffee table.    

He is now 16 and my daughter is 13 so I think it's safe to bring back some "dangerous" furniture.  

I just love my new table and love even more that it was a real bargain.

Can't wait to hear what you think.

-Judy

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