Tag Archives: living-room

I Cleaned My Living Room!

I cleaned the living room Saturday. I actually did it late Friday night because I’ve read from other bloggers that morning light is the best for taking pictures.  So much learning!!    So…I got up Saturday morning and took pictures.

Come in!!   You’ll never visit where my living room will be this clean again. I’m not a dirty person but I’m happiest in a small mess.

But to refresh you..it’s been evolving…in this picture, which was taken with my old photo editing software before I changed to the very cool one I’m using now…I knew I wanted a “B” on the wall and I’d asked Mike to help me move the old entertainment center back in from hiding. I knew I had to make this work, at least for a while, else there would be a minor revolt on my getting any more furniture moving help.   And there’s my trusted friend, the vacuum hose.

Now, here we are today.  Furniture is in place.    Not everything is perfect, but at least the cleaning supplies are put away and I didn’t get them in the picture.

 

Living Room

There has been almost no new purchases for this room in 12 years.  Primarily,  I moved the furniture around. I don’t have a before picture but the couch was in the center of the room. Ho hum. I was tired of it.

Here’s a picture of the current resting place for my “B”.  That gourd doesn’t really go there, but I haven’t figured out what to do with her.  She’s a pal of mine.  I grew her a long time ago and when I shake her, she rattes.   She’s like me…when I get shaken up, I get all rattled!

Here’s another angle…

The curio in the corner was a present from my husband about a gazillion years ago.   We were pretty lean at that time, so he bought it unfinished.

And here’s the mantle which I’m looking forward to decorating for fall….

I always keep a pair of wire-rimmed glasses on the mantle.   They remind me of my father, W. T. Barker.     The P. Buckley Moss print is part one of the Rhythm & Roots series she’s doing.  I haven’t bought the second one which depicts the Burger Bar in Bristol, Virginia.

The bowl with the gourds in it  was a gift from a local Mendota woodturner/craftsman, Curtis.  I can’t remember his last name!!   If someone local is reading this, please leave a comment with Curtis’ name and I’ll correct!!     The book is an old Bible that has my Uncle Johnny’s handwriting and notes in.   He was actually John Pershing Parker.   He’s long gone, and the Bible is almost falling apart.  The cover is like soft denim.   The Bible was found in an old garage Uncle Charlie (Charlie Litton) built that was being torn down by a contractor for VDOT during a road improvement project.    It was worthless to him but means everything to me.

 

I’m feeling a bit smug about this photography software.  I used a “vignette” feature on that picture which blurs the background so that the subject matter will capture the viewer’s full attention.

Here’s the coffee table with a bowl of gourds and some zinnias I picked.    Like my vase?

Here’s a view so you can see why the foyer and the living room paint colors have to “talk”.   It’s a little bit elongated.   Sorry.

And my last picture..

 

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Thank you for visiting me in my living room.      I like this room.  It’s best feature is the paint which makes a nice backdrop for everything else.  It is especially pretty when it’s snowing outside and the fireplace is burning.    I am looking forward to one of those days this winter.

 

 

 

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Mendota Daily August 14

I get Pottery Barn’s catalog. I order one thing per year so I’ll stay on the mailing list.   Confession…I order more than one thing but not too much more.    So many good ideas!!

I’m trying not to be such a CONSUMER… shopping just for the hunt. However, I do like swapping stuff around and interchanging things, and sometimes I end up buying something. But I’ve been really careful spending money.  Since I haven’t been working, I haven’t been getting paid.  You get the picture!   Recently I moved things around in my living room, and I realized I needed something in a blank spot on the wall. The CONSUMER started coming out, and oh well. 

I tried to do an arrangement with this giant B pictured below that is actually cardboard. I’d hauled it from Georgia several months ago and hid it. Mike doesn’t care when I buy things but it was a cardboard B.  I had a vision for it (Anthropologie) and I didn’t want to try to communicate what I saw in my head into what I wanted him to see in his head.   It doesn’t work.   We are wired differently.

I spray painted the B a metallic color thinking that you might not realize I got it for $9 at Joanne’s Fabrics. Did I fool you?

Looked pretty bad. The B went into the closet for a few days.   I then came up with a brillient idea to put it on top of the entertainment center with a plant.   This left a big blank wall spot, and while I wanted the entertainment center in the room, (Just a little over a week ago, I had made a big deal of it and made Mike help me carry the thing from the garage to the house)  it looked like a big tall chimney.    It’s really a dilemna in this room.  It’s a cathedral ceiling so anything short looks squatty but the entertainment center is tall and skinny by itself.   Like a lonely soldier.

I could not figure out what to do, and that’s where the Pottery Barn catalog arrived and gave me the idea to use a floating wall shelf.  I could place pictures on the shelf and use it to “step down” to the couch so the entertainment center doesn’t stand out like an ugly tree.    I didn’t want to pay Pottery Barn prices compounded by the fact that we have no Pottery Barn around here,  so I went to Hobby Lobby and found one for $44. Of course, I had the 40% coupon, so it wasn’t too bad..less than $30.

Here’s what it looks like…I just ran and put these pictures on it. Not sure if they are staying.

I like it!

Here’s what it looks like from a few steps back…the couch looks awkward in this picture…I’ll clean the room and get better pictures this weekend.  And draft…another tall skinny picture.    


Don’t look at the coffee table which is stacked full of magazines and stuff.  It’s just in your head. It doesn’t really look that way…I have a vision…

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