Category Archives: Living Room

Prepping for Fall

Today as I sit curled up on my sofa with my Chromebook propped up on the arm rest I see the leaves beginning to change color outside and the gray clouds looming over our house bringing the first chill to the air.  I love it!  This is what fall is to me.  When this happens it means it’s time for hearty vegetable soups and to prepare our home for fall.

Fall is the prelude to winter and both of these seasons are when we spend the most time inside.  During the colder months I love to hibernate inside and enjoy the aroma of Cinnamon, Nutmeg, and Orange essential oils diffusing in the air. I also love to swap out some of my decor for warmer tone pieces to help really create that intimate and warm feeling in my home.

When it comes to home decor I like to purchase one or two good pieces each season.  I don’t typically go for the cheap or fad stuff but for a piece that I feel like I will be able to use for years. For me it is an investment.  I found several pieces that I adore this year while I was browsing through Pinterest.

Amber Crackle Glass Pumpkins


These glass Pumpkins from Pier 1 Imports caught my attention because they remind me of my pieces of carnival glass that I have collected over the years.  Beautiful glass like this is one of my favorite ways to bring the deep hues of orange into the house.

Faux Oak Leave Stem


Faux foliage and flowers are great ways to add height and color to a corner, end table, or mantel.  I know some people like to use real foliage from outside but faux makes more sense for us since we are living in an apartment until after this next adoption.

Round Iron Flowers Mirror


This beautiful round iron flower mirror from Arhaus can either be hung on a wall or laid flat.  I would have to place this one in the center of my round coffee table and light the candles on those nights when I just want to curl up and finsh the last two hundred pages of my Lauraine Snelling book.

Dashing Deer Art


I bought a beautiful painting of a horse last year for our living room. Ever since then I have been head over heels for animal artwork and this Dashing Deer one is no exception.  To me its a perfect pair of rugged and feminine decor.

Pillows


We were shopping the other week and the girls fell in love with the mermaid sequin pillows.  I’m not kidding you, they played with them for about fifteen minutes in the store.   They are like decorative sensory toys.  The ones we found in the store were priced a little higher than what I wanted to pay for a sequin pillow but one quick look on Amazon and I found these for a much lower price.

Pillows are a fun and easy way to change the look of a sofa.  So why not have a little fun and add these (deer, arrows, cowhide)  cute pillows in for some seasonal comfort.



Sectional Sofa

I’ve had our current sofa for thirteen years now.  It’s a good quality sofa with a color and pattern that is very forgiving of spills.  As much as I love my sofa I’m going to be about ready for a change next year when we move.  Sofas are so important because as a family that’s where we spend a majority of our time together.  Comfort and durability are key with little ones.  Michael Luke is a huge fan of sectionals.  I wasn’t quite on board with the idea during the first few years of our marriage but sectionals have really grown up and can really look quite stunning in a living room.  For instance take a look at these from Arhaus.


For me a sofa is an investment. It’s a piece that needs to be well crafted and look beautiful for years to come. That’s one of the things I love about Arhaus sofas. Plus,wouldn’t they look amazing with the pillows I selected, the round iron mirror on the coffee table with the pumpkin glass on top, and the deer artwork hanging on the wall?  The only thing lacking might be this super soft throw.

Yeah, now I feel ready for fall.  What pieces do you love to use to prepare your living area for fall?

 

For more Color Transformed Family follow me on:

Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, Hometalk,
or RSS.

Enter your email address below to receive new posts via e-mail.:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

Not an Orphan Anymore

Ok, I have to admit I was a little shocked when I saw that it had been nearly a month since my last post.  I’m not quite sure what happened because in my mind I thought it had only been a week or two.  September was one of the busiest months that Michael Luke and I have had in a long time.  We knew it was going to be tough going into it but we had no idea how quickly it would tire us and leaving us grasping for some free time. So much so that we took a much needed vacation to Seagrove Beach in Florida at the end of the month just to recoup.
image

All this brings us to October.  A month that I have never welcomed so warmly until this year.  Oh, I am so excited for October to be here.  I’m ready to embrace Fall and hibernate down for the Winter.  Anybody else with me?

If you are like me… when life gets busy the housework gets left behind.  And boy did it!  There was the changing of the guard from Summer clothes to Winter clothes for the girls, laundry, laundry, laundry, Fall decoration boxes, bags of luggage for our vacation, and general mess from life with two girls, a scatterbrained mom, and a working husband.

So, last week it was refreshing when I cleared off the mantel and began decorating it for fall.  Amiss all the chaos there was finally some peace & calming (pardon the essential oil pun).  The girls helped me and they loved it.  Esther was ecstatic that we were decorating. They helped me pull each peace out of the box and danced around the room as I placed everything on the mantel one by one.

Mantle 2 10.14

 

It really doesn’t differ much from my Fall mantels in previous years except for one little piece.

mantel 4 10.14

We found our “Not an Orphan Anymore” block in Nashville back in September when Esther got to reunite with her bff from Hong Kong.

esther in nashvilleYou may remember him as the one who wanted a family and went home before her so that she could see getting a family wasn’t such a bad thing.  Thankfully, she finally came around.

Anyway we passed by a vendor with engraved wood blocks and boards that were reclaimed from old barns.  We immediately fell in love with it and knew that if belonged in our house.  Not just because Esther isn’t an orphan anymore but because as Christians none of us are.

he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.  Ephesians 1:5

Adoption is a picture of the gospel because as Christians God has adopted us!

So now this little reminder block finds it’s home on our mantel.

Mantle 2 10.14

Oh and as for the big board in front of the fireplace.  He’s going to be moving above the television cabinet… eventually.

mantel 3 10.14Maybe I will actually get around to refinishing the cabinet, painting the walls, and hanging the board this year.  Maybe. I will get around to blogging more though because I miss you. I miss typing and sharing.  I miss blogging so here’s to letting you know that I am back.

What have you slacked off on recently that you have really been missing?  Go ahead and find your moment of sanity and try to sneak a little bit of it back in your life.  I dare you!

Linking up at:

OurJoyHisGlory

For more Color Transformed Family follow me on:

Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, Hometalk,
or RSS.

Enter your email address below to receive new posts via e-mail.:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

Entertain Me

One Saturday this Summer we went yardsaling. Is that even a word?  I shard most of what we found in this post, and in Noah’s updated room reveal but one thing I haven’t shared until now is our new old entertainment center found we found for $10.

updated living room 3

Well, actually I don’t think it was an entertainment center in it’s former life but it is now.  It’s a little worn and has definitely seen better days but it’s nothing a little paint and sanding can’t take care of. I’m on the hunt for some fabric to act as a screen behind the wire on the doors and I’m still back and forth on the paint.  I would really love something light but I have plans and paint to redo all the walls in the living room to match the undertone of the silver accent wall in the dining area which leaves the color of the entertainment center still up for grabs.

dining table

It’s a super soft light blue/gray color that should lighten up the entire area.  I get happy just thinking about it.  Unfortunately, the brushes don’t paint the walls themselves so it’s just going to have to wait until after Noah’s birthday party next month at least.

Let’s take a little trip down memory lane to see what the living room used to look like.

living room 6Our armoire was  nice and functional but it was also big.  I mean huge, deep, .. and heavy. It towered over the entire living room,  looking like it was ready to pounce on anyone who dared come close to it.  ML and I had had plans to replace it for a while.  That’s why the sliders were still underneath the armoire in the picture above.

updated living room 2The new entertainment center is much more shallow.  The armoire was 24″ deep vs. the now 15″ deep entertainment center.  It’s also much shorter so it doesn’t take up as much space visually in the room either.  It’s nice to not have a huge piece of furniture competing with the mantel.  It gets the spotlight all to itself now.

I’ll admit it looks a little funny with the gallery wall behind it but someday… hopefully fairly soon we plan to relocate the gallery to the wall behind the love seat.

living room 8So what is the fate of our armoire?  It’s still up in the air.  Right now it’s still in the living room.  Looking at the picture above its in the far right corner where the screen used to be.  This is just a temporary placement until we decide its future but in the meantime it is being used to hide Noah’s dollhouse from her until her birthday.  I’ve slowly been working on it over the past couple of months and can’t wait to share it with y’all!

We like the armoire. We really do. But how practical are they now?  Now that flat screens have replaced the old tube there’s no need for a piece of furniture that deep. Televisions in the living room aren’t considered taboo anymore either. We all watch them and we all have them.  It’s ok to let the neighbors know.  Another use for an armoire is additional storage in a bedroom.  Like how we use ours in the master bedroom.  The only problem here is that we don’t need an additional armoire now and I’m not sure if we will in the future. Closets these days come with pretty adequate storage and armoires can take up some major real estate space in the bedroom.

Do you still have armoires in your house?  Have you found yourself slowly replacing them with smaller pieces of furniture?  What are other pieces of furniture that are we losing their need for?

For more Color Transformed Family follow me on:

Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, Hometalk,
or RSS.

Enter your email address below to receive new posts via e-mail.:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.