One Change or Two…a Whole New Look

Good morning and welcome. I’m delighted to show you the changes in my living room that began with the purchase of a new (to me) sofa. This beautiful, brand new, Ethan Allen sofa was found in a consignment shop. The sofa had been recently purchased and then brought to the consignment shop to sell. I was very happy to purchase it at an excellent, reduced price. I was lucky to find it complete with all the purchase paper work. The sofa is traditional modern in style and very comfortable.

Above the windows you can see a series of original Japanese prints brought back from Japan after the Second World War. They are called Sumi-E, black ink paintings.

The sofa was placed in front of a bank of windows at one end of the Great Room. Behind the sofa is a narrow table my talented Hubby made from a single piece of wood using piping for the legs.

You have a better look at the table in this picture. On the table rests a bouquet of white hydrangea from the garden held in a crystal vase. Lights flank each end of the table with some beautiful pieces of glass resting on the sofa table. A 1770’s “shrank” or wardrobe from Germany anchors one side of the fireplace. Above the table is a valance in golds and greens adding a bit of color to the windows without blocking the light. Light filtering blinds are hidden behind the valance ready to be lowered as needed. A Picot lithograph is hung above the shrank pulling in colors of the room. The sofa has some scatter pillows in the green of the sofa and vine patterns carrying the colors of the rug…a recent Thrift Store purchase for $1.75 each.

The beautiful carpet was purchased on Marketplace for a fraction of the original price. It has gorgeous greens and pinks, gold, blues and purples in a repeating pattern with a lovely fringe. The two yellow Barcelona chairs face the fireplace and pick up the yellows in the carpet. A husband-made live edge coffee table on wrought iron, hairpin legs sits in front of the chairs. The wood is black walnut and has some lovely markings in the wood. A vase of garden flowers rests on the hand-made table.

At the opposite end of the room is a chocolate love seat with vining yellow and silver flowers covering the silk fabric. Beside the love seat is another Husband-made table with wrought iron legs with a live-edge walnut table top. A wrought iron lamp sits on the table and a silver tray holds a Waterford brandy snifter and two Cartier brandy glasses…all thrifted. Behind the table is a bookcase and on the right an old stained glass window.

The bookcases are built in and filled with wonderful books and other treasures.

The shelves hold a selection of astronomical collectibles and some regional pottery. There are Waterford time pieces, colorful glass fish and even a little robot. It’s fun to make discoveries as you look over the shelves or find an interesting book to leaf through or read in depth.

Its always a challenge to create a warm and inviting room with a little bit of style and some welcoming color. Interesting objects help to make the room somewhere you want to linger. I love the color that flows around the room. It’s soothing in Summer and I think will be warming in the Winter with a fire going in the grate. In the picture above you can see the brass railing that is mounted above the fireplace. We use this during the holidays for anchoring garlands and hanging stockings. It works really well.

A grouping of watercolors are next to the shrank on the window wall. Two of them are by local Southern artists. I love to display local art. These are all Thrift Store finds.

I was really happy with how this room turned out. One change in the sofa caused all of the other decisions about the room to be made. It’s amazing how one thing leads to another when decorating.

This room is an eclectic mix of Consignment pieces, Husband-made pieces, Thrift Store pieces and a few retail items. They all work together to create a room that welcomes you to sit and stay for awhile.