CORNERS of the living room

If you have been around Crooked Shmooked since the beginning then you know that this blog was started as an attempt to follow what was supposed to be a quick remodel. It turned into over a year of the husband and I living with my parents while our house was worked on by family on and off. It was finally finished a month or so before the babe was born, but I haven't given a house tour yet and have been nervous to show any photos with decorating gaps throughout the house. My ideal was to have the remodel and decorating done before April of 2010 when Lil' A was born, but as Robert Burns said-- The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft a-gley.

So, no living room tour yet, but these are some corners that I am liking right now...

1 - our unfinished photo wall: prints by Katie Daisy and JellyBeans, triangle collage by me

2 - thrifted globes

3 - a dottie angel wall hanging, gma and gpa back in the day, a tin found in my German gma's sewing kit after she passed, a bird terrarium a friend brought me when I was sick, thrifted milk glass with gma's wooden daisy

4 - IKEA lamp, World Market curtain, Nick & Nora zebra print blanket, vintage embroidery

5 - thrifted paint by number, vintage and antique books from various places, brass swans from the sister

baby steps in DECORATING

Yes, I'm still alive and kicking! .... well, maybe not kicking... more like lounging in the amazingly comfortable rocker/recliner my husband bought me for Valentine's Day. The decorating is slow-moving. So slow that it's not happening. My due date is 4 weeks from tomorrow and my body is definitely letting me know that daily. We are working on getting the nursery ready and have been organizing the house as well. I hope to decorate before our little girls arrives, but we'll see! Three steps in the right direction are--- #1.) Finding our living room color palette inspiration in this vintage doily from my grandma. (Excuse the horrible photo quality.) #2.) Finding money that we didn't know existed while moving and purchasing the IKEA cabinet I was loving. #3.) My mom buying me this sweet Dottie Angel wall hanging.

It will all come together in time. Baby steps!

don't you dare tempt me, IKEA

Hubs and I bought ourselves a flatscreen for Christmas. From us to us. Since we spend many a date night watching movies in rather than out at the theater, it seemed like a nice date enhancer. But once you buy a big 'ol flatscreen, you need a big 'ol entertainment center that it can go on top of. Today we found just the one we never knew we always wanted.

Unfortunately it is out of our price range of $0 - $0. What do you think: diapers for the little stinker growing in my belly oooor this shiny, pretty cabinet? Okay.... diapers it is. Gosh. Poop sure costs a lot.

COUCH dilemma

Okay... I'm overreacting, I suppose. This is not a real dilemma. I just have a very hard time making decisions. We are currently in the market for a new couch and it is proving to be more than my indecisive, pregnant brain can handle. The mission is to find a comfortable, neutral, microfiber (so it will at least be semi-safe around the little one) couch that we can fit on laying down. The couch saga begins...

Our "ideal" couch was the 93" Lounge Sofa from Crate & Barrel, but when we actually tried it out in the store on Saturday, I realized how deep and loungey it really is. If we had a formal living room and a family room, it would be a great family room couch, but it is not a couch I'd feel comfortable using for both. The reason? I shimmied to the back of the couch so the cushions were supporting my back and in order to sit on it with my back supported, my legs from mid-calf below were just sticking off the end in mid-air and I'm 5'9", so it's not like I'm a short person. I began thinking of all the scenarios in which we'd have people over to sit on that couch and I thought of grandma and grandpa attempting to sit comfortably on it with their little grandparent socks and comfy shoes hanging off the end, and that is when I realized it just wouldn't work for us.

Then we went into West Elm and both fell in love with their Blake Sectional. I realized that our living room is shaped in a way that would make a sectional fit perfectly... buuut at about $2400, that isn't even an option. Oh, how we wish it was.

Then we decided to take our search to Craigslist and we are now looking at the following couches:

$500 for this sectional originally from the San Francisco Design Center. I'm really liking the sectional idea so this is a definite possibility.

This is a microfiber couch from Z Gallerie. It's 7+' long and comes with the two matching chairs. A living room set would be very nice and it's in like new condition. This is probably the closest we'd come to finding a newish microfiber set being sold used.

Not microfiber, but for only $250, I'll let it take whatever a kid can throw at it and will turn around and buy another used sofa in a couple of years. It's 8'6" and an interesting shape. It looks comfy, but I'll let our bums decide that once and for all if we decide to visit it.

So what do you think? Any comments, opinions or suggestions to help with our hunt?

Edit: Well, we did it. We bought the last couch listed and are going to get it professionally cleaned. It's fun and comfy and we can't wait to put it in our living room when we move back in!

our NEW COUCH?

Happy Monday! Well, Ashley of Kitty Genius has introduced hubby and I to what may be our next home purchase: the Crate & Barrel Lounge Sofa in gray. We decided it might be better to invest in a long-term couch rather than spend money on an IKEA couch that will likely last only a few years. This couch comes in a nice long 93" size and is microfiber so it is easy to clean. The reviews all say it is incredibly comfortable. I adore the color and love that the shape can lend itself to just about any style.What else can we ask for in a couch? Now to find a store nearby to try it out in person...

making me RETHINK

via Domino

I am loving this living room lately. I love all of the tiny patterns in subtle colors and the touches of white. It's calming and fresh, but also funky in an understated way. It's making me rethink my design ideas for our living room a bit. 

coffee table WORTHY

via domino

In so many living room decor photos, the coffee tables are covered in stacks and stacks of big, hardback books. Do you ever wonder which books are worth keeping out for guests to browse through, or which books are eye-pleasing enough to pass for coffee table art? Each person has their personal preference according to his or her interests. But, if you were wondering, here are 8 books that I think are coffee table worthy.

Row 1: 

Vintage Shoes : Shoes through the ages. Unique styles, and vintage styles that you'll want to run out to a vintage boutique to find. Fabulous.

Creature : Andrew Zuckerman places his stunning photographs of beautiful animals on silent white backgrounds. If you love animals, you will love this. 

The Oxford Project : The project of photographer Peter Feldstein. Intriguing now and then photographs and stories from the people of Oxford, Iowa.

Vogue Living: Houses, Gardens, People : Fashionistas share their homes and gardens. If you think their clothes are stylish, you need to see their homes.

Row 2: 

The Surfboard: Art, Style, Stoke : Hubby and I gave this to his surfer dad for Christmas. It's filled with gorgeous surfboards and information on the history of surfboards.

Ocean: The World's Last Wilderness Revealed : I saw this book in a bookstore with my hubby a few years ago and we stood flipping through it for quite a while. The photography is beautiful. It's been on my wishlist ever since. 

Domino: The Book of Decorating : You've heard the hype, and it's all true. Tons of domino inspiration in one book. 

Graffiti World: Street Art from Five Continents : Not just ugly scribbles tagged on a lamp post. This is graffiti art.

What's on your coffee table?

it's almost a ROOM

Our living room remodel has been sloooow moving in the last month. Between my being sick, hubby working holiday hours for FedEx, and the holidays, it was at a standstill some weeks. But my dad and brother-in-law continued to work on it in their free hours and hubby has finally been able to help again with Christmas shipping finished. Here is the living room with the new lighting, new doors, and the sheetrock going up. It's starting to look like one big room! 

to remind you where we started...

and where we've been...

We're almost there! It's almost time for the fun part- paint and decorating and all things pretty... I can't wait!

feeling BLUE

Someday when our living room is done, I will paint it blue. It's not often that I find something I love. I usually just like a lot of things. But whenever I see a room that is painted some shade of blue (mainly aqua or turquoise), I love it. 

via Domino

via Greenapplegrenade's Flickr

via Marysusan's Flickr

via Fifilynn's Flickr

via Domino

via Domino

via Domino

via Domino

via Domino

via Location Works

via Domino (also in the Domino: The Book of Decorating)

via Better Homes and Gardens

nice to meet you, LIGHT LOCATIONS

I was making my way through a maze of design and decor blogs tonight, as I often do, and was introduced to a gem of a site via please sir. I don't know about you, but I love to see home interiors. Every time I come across a house tour on a decor blog, I can't wait to visit each room and see what unique spin the homeowner puts on decorating. If anyone knows of a blog that is solely house tours, please tell me because I will be ecstatic. I think this site comes close. Let me introduce you to Light Locations. Light Locations is a site dedicated to providing beautiful and unique locations to the film and photographic industries. I'm not in the film or photographic industry, but I am in the nosy neighbor club and I want to sneak a peek inside these homes and yours if you'll let me. Take a looky-loo with me...

See, now wasn't that fun? Now you are ready to join my nosy neighbor club. You know you want to.

THRIFTY treasures

My sister is the greatest thrift store shopper of all time. I have never been able to compare. She's found depression glass, nice designer clothing, and I can't recall everything over the years. I'm usually too impatient when looking through things and have never found anything good enough to keep me interested in returning-- until last week. Decorating on a budget has me checking the great-priced antique stores and local thrift stores at least once a week. And I'm actually finding some things! It's pretty exciting. It's exciting to know that I found a deal and grabbed it before anyone else. Here's what I grabbed.

a large picture frame. I love the design on it... I don't know what is going to go in it, but I'll find something.

this teeny tiny ceramic leaf. It has a chip on one of the corners, but I'm not looking for perfection. I just love vintage ceramics and am starting a collection. This will fit in nicely. 

a blue lamp. In my mind, I wanted a ceramic lamp, but this one was $3 and the color will work perfectly in the guest room. It almost looks ceramic, but it's actually glass and they somehow painted the inside of the glass to be blue. Sneaky, huh?

another milk glass treasure. I saw this lamp right as I walked into thrift store #1 and I snatched it up. It was $13, but I think it was worth it. The base of the lamp lights up and the main light is having some stage fright issues, but I'll fix that- somehow. This will go in the living room somewhere. I have the antique store milk glass lamp, a white ceramic lamp from Linens 'n' Things, and then this lamp to fill the living room. I'm liking white lamps right now, is it obvious?

I also found a milk glass vase for $1 that I forgot to photograph. Let's see... it's a bud vase and it's milk glass. Can you picture it now? Someday it will end up on here.

So my conclusion is that thrifting is fun for the person who finds things! And this week, that person is me (and hopefully you)!

hidy-ho NEIGHBORS!

Well, we've been kicked out of our crooked little house and have moved into my parents' house, which is conveniently next door. We decided we probably didn't want to die of mold and smoke inhalation. I think it was a smart choice.

Yes, we moved out of the house and our couch moved into the kitchen. It actually makes the kitchen so much cozier, don't you think? We're thinking of keeping it there permanently. Right there. Okay, maybe not... or definitely not. But don't you wish you were one of those people who has a ginormous kitchen that can fit a 12-person table as well as a cozy couch nook? Yeah, me too... me too.