A couple of months ago, I inherited the most amazing gift. A huge oil portrait of my great-great-great grandfather, George. He was the ultimate game changer.
Here’s George the first day I huge him in our formal living room:
We had done nothing with that room yet. And you can clearly see how white the walls still were.
Finally, I have been able to add little by little, working in the quite antiqued, quite ornate gold, gold, gold frame into my brushed nickel, light and airy, cool tones, beach-y feel home.
I guess like so many things in life, you know it works when it looks effortless. I have spent hours going back and forth about what to do in this room, which colors, which pillows, which accessories would make George feel welcomed and loved in our so-not gold and ornate home. I took a few photos today of my progress, and in looking at them on the computer my first thought was how pretty straightforward they looked. It’s a learning process, maybe I’ll keep it for awhile, maybe I’ll change it up in a month. For now, I like the layout and I think I’m doing a pretty good job with George.
A large potted palm, a few pillows, one small vase, one picture, one table lamp made of glass (so I didn’t have to make the awful decision between ORB, gold, or brushed nickel). Leaving it at that.
…Though some picture frame molding in crisp white would look divine…. in time, in time.
The wall color is Navajo Sand (Glidden). It’s a very subtle, sandy light tan/beige. With the living room being two stories tall and so open to the dining room, stairwell, and hall way, we decided to do just one color- a color we didn’t want to be changing anytime soon. It is pretty light, but exactly what we wanted.
The bay windows have navy thermal drapes and a oil-rubbed bronze tone curtain rod- brushed nickel just would not have worked. That was a hard choice to make in light of George’s gold, gold, gold frame. Although this is and likely will be the only ORB fixture in the house, I think it was a good choice. I am the most matchy-matchy person- at least the style is the exact same :) Drapes from JC Penneys, rod from Target.
That teal carpet is heinous. Yes, yes I know. It’s departing sometime this month we hope! We will be replacing it with some pet-friendly Pergo. Once we do that, we’ll be moving the matching sofa (told ya) in here at it will be complete.
The entry table is on the other side of the room by the front hallway. Another layout I’ve been constantly tweaking. I know, totally silly, but all of this is fresh for me. Trying to make my house a home and feel warm, but avoid overdoing all the cliché candles, vases, bowls, picture frames, doo-dads that cause clutter and chaos.
A basket for library books, extra pillows awaiting their sofa, bowl for keys, bamboo houseplant still going strong after fours years, one picture, and two matchy but still “in-the-background” vases. Okay, so I didn’t do so well on avoiding said vase or picture frame, but I did limited myself: )
As you can see, all our “wood” is a middle tone, honey oak which photographs so orange-y (yuck). Not my favorite, but I am really not interested in painting all our trim and “woods” white, no matter how “in” it is right now or how perfect it would look with the cool tones we’re picking throughout the house. This poor girl has a zillion more projects higher up on the list, so I won’t even let myself daydream about white baseboards and banisters.
All in all, our current state of living room is far better than what we started with:
The previous owner left us a naked lady fountain-light combo. Filled the nook by the front door pretty well. Henious to look at though. Thankfully, our realtor loved it. No joke. She took it off our hands the day we moved in. We think a Christmas tree just might find itself their this winter.
The giant blank wall where George hangs out now. Those walls go up light 20 feet. Thank God for gifted 4-foot tall artwork.
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