House Tour 2012: Living Room

My head feels like it's made of solid lead.

I blame the blooming trees. They're beautiful, but they make me feel off. It's not too bad... no migraine or anything, yet. And their loveliness is nothing to complain about. But, I think I may have to keep the windows shut tomorrow.

Anyway. Not feeling super chatty. Not thrilled with the photos. (Hello, overexposure). I've had to use the older camera for the full room shots. Our newer one only has a 50mm lens. That just means I can't fit a lot into a photo with it (a room = a lot). There is a serious difference between the two cameras. We're saving for another lens for the new camera, but they're pricey! I've had to relearn the oldie this week.

So, here's what my little Canon Rebel gave us today.



Okay, so... yes. Right away, you'll notice that one wall is pale yellow. Your eyes do not deceive you. We painted the rest of the room Benjamin Moore's "White Dove" at the end of the summer last year, but left this wall alone. We plan on putting grasscloth up. You know... later. In retrospect, I think we probably should have just painted the whole room. Who knows when we're going to get to the grasscloth? I have a pattern of doing this - thinking we'll get to some little odds and ends far more quickly than we actually will. And the odds and ends stay odd for months.



Our globe has seen better days. I don't do vintage globes, by the way. I'm really strange about things like lead. Wow - I wasn't planning on mentioning lead twice in this post, but here I am mentioning it for the second time! I get freaked and have been known to actually shell out the $20 for lead test kits just to be sure before I bring something into our home. I also am a germophobe. Sometimes. PLUS, there's the whole we-use-this-for-geography-and-we-can't-have-people-getting-things-like-the-Democratic-Republic-of-Congo-all-messed-up-because-of-an-out-of-date-globe.

Maybe I'm feeling more chatty now. As I type, chattiness is coming out.

I mentioned all that about the globe because, clearly, we need a new one. Quite a while ago now, Punkin removed the equator to use it as a headband.


Maybe not a headband. But, something like that.



All Baby's accoutrements there in the corner.



So, if you've been wondering about how our rug and sofa choices are coming along, the answer is "swimmingly". I have been so pleased with these slipcovers. Less than a year after we got them, my sweet baby nephew spit up nearly ALL of his bottle on one of the loveseat cushions. Sam quickly mopped it up with a burpcloth to keep it from seeping into the actual cushion... which is good. And the seat cover went in the washing machine and came out looking like new. I've washed all the seat cushions maybe 3-4 times and the back cushions once or twice so far. I hang them to dry and then give them a spin through the 15-minute steam cycle in our dryer before putting them back on. They still fit like a glove. (Fit like gloves? Plural?). (Did I punctuate that - or this - correctly?). They've been great for us.

The rug shed wool fibers LIKE MAD for months and months and months. The care instructions stated to not use the roller thingy on the vacuum, but to vacuum it like you would a bare floor... no roller. That did zero good. So, for probably the first six months, I painstakingly got down on my hands and knees and vacuumed that thing with one of our vacuum attachments. That way I still got the full suction, but without the roller. Finally, we just decided to risk it. We've been using the vacuum the regular way and now the rug doesn't shed anymore.



I'm very glad the regular vacuum works fine on it. And I'm very pleased with the rug. The sofa and loveseat are - I think - Pottery Barn Comfort and the rug is the PB "Brandon" rug.



Just to be clear - as I take these photos, I do stop from time to time to parent the half-naked hooligans running through my shots.

I'm glad for the books. Truly. I do wish we could keep the bookcases neater, but it is what it is. I'd rather the books get used than have pristine shelves. And they do get used. A lot. So, that's very good.

That box is a return I've been meaning to take to the post office. TOMS. Too big.







These closer up pictures are with my newer camera.







I really like the golden yellow pencils with the peacock blue mug. That color combination is very cheerful. Too bad they aren't all sharpened.



So, you knew it was coming, didn't you? The infamous bookcase. I'm not really ready to make a final call, but - I think I ruined it. The primer worked all too well... in a few places. The paint was peeling off great, until we hit that little skinny trim piece. And some on the bottom. And little nooks and crannies. And the entire inside back piece.

I'm not giving up, yet. But, it is getting close. I'm so ridiculous.



It's not a bad little room. Minus the bookcase. And a few other eye-sorish things. It's bright. I'm very thankful for the windows. I'm liking the aqua puffs. They're leftover from SweetP's birthday party. I have a tendency to leave birthday decorations up for a while... just because they're festive. But NOT balloons. Balloons make me a crazy woman. I leave them up for a few days... because I'm loving and thoughtful... but then I pop 'em. No guilt.

This is technically a Wednesday post. It's late Tuesday night as I write this. I'm going to go ahead and publish it now, because all you sensible people are sleeping at this point and won't know the difference. And because I like to read my own blog posts. Not just in the "preview" window. I like to see the done deal and check my spelling.

And that way I don't have to get out the trusty laptop in the morning. I want to make something special and yummy for the children for breakfast and not log on (not even to check email) until after lunch.

Have a great day! And good night!