living room | Operation Home

Hey y’all!

So, I’ve been searching for something to add softness to our fireplace area for some time now. Remember this bad boy?

My goals in doing this were to (1) break up that continuous sea of brown (ie: the floor and fireplace) with some brightness and pattern, and to (2) add more seating… all without obstructing the view of the fireplace (aka… my favorite feature in the house).

I’ve loved the idea of poufs ever since I first laid eyes on these magical creatures. I mean, they’re like sophisticated bean bag chairs. And nothing beats a bean bag chair… I.mean.nothing. Picture my child-self perched on a red vinyl bean bag chair in our basement, playing Super Mario Brothers on the original Nintendo system, jerking up the controller every time Mario jumps. Because that helps. Totally. Not as much as actually jumping with Mario, but close. 😉

We still own a black bean bag chair that Joey’s parents gave to Lucas. It’s currently in the hangout room, but seems to migrate around the house from time to time. It’s casual cool. I have to keep it.

Anyways, after searching for poufs for a while, I became pretty depressed. They can be pricey. Some at upwards of two hundred beans. The cheapest I’d found was around 60 bucks a pop at Tarjay. Still no drop in the bucket considering that I wanted two. And keeping cost down is a must… With all of the larger reno projects we have going on (our pool renovation, the front door, vent cleaning, etc.) my “design budget” is practically nonexistent.

Then, one fateful day, I hit up Tuesday Morning and found a GREAT navy and white ikat-ish pouf for.. Wait for it… $24.99!! Shut the friggin’ front door.

I asked an associate if they had a second pouf in stock but they didn’t. Bummer.

So, what’s a girl to do when faced with this sort of dilemma??

Answer: Drive 20 minutes to another Tuesday Morning while crossing all appendages that she’s not too late. Clearly. 😉

And it worked.

I powered through the aisles fully intending to take down any pouf-lover who got in my way frantically seeking out that blue and white ikat-esque goodness. Which is when the skies parted and a ray of sunlight illuminated the pouf’s essence while a heavenly choir sang “I’ve Got That Loving Feeling” a la Maverick in Top Gun in the background.

Or maybe I just saw my new BFF, paid for him, and ran. Whatever floats your boat.

I got my twin poufs home, rushed them to their new abode in front of the fireplace, and stepped back to admire as Lucas (a fellow pouf lover, apparently) immediately began smooshing his face all over them. Love that kid.

And here they are strutting their stuff…

And yes, that plant is dying. I mean, duh. #whereplantscometodie

They’re exactly what I was going for… They add crisp coziness to the fireplace area without taking away from it. I love the cool, brightness of the colors against the warmer brown tones. And the contrast in textures makes me happy. Way to read my mind and totally accomplish my goals, poufs… It’s like you have ESPN or something. 😉

Here’s the current view of the living room. Slowly, but surely it’s coming together….

And just for fun, here’s the before shot when we first got the keys to the house…

Now, if I would just get over the “art paralysis” that’s taking place in my brain so I could get on that wall above the TV. I have a few ideas, I just haven’t gotten around to trying them yet. I also need to come to a decision on the coffee table. Whenever I posted about our new rug, I received several sweet suggestions both on the blog and on Facebook to paint the coffee table anything from white to a bold color like green. I’m leaning towards white, but until I’m fully certain, I don’t wanna mess with the original finish. I’m letting it marinate, if you will.

So, anyways, another small tweak to add coziness to our space. What tips do you have for adding coziness?

You guys.

Mission Find-Living-Room-Rug = Complete!

And ya know what’s funny?? When I wrote this post and stated “I think the biggest thing will be simply FINDING the rug”, well, I’d already found it.

I just didn’t know it yet.

Ya see, I have a Tuesday Morning roughly a mile from our house. I love that store. They have really nice stuff for pretty good prices. I’d been in and outta there many times over the past few months and each time, I noticed this grey, nubby rug for sale. It was on the floor, all rolled up in plastic.

Each time, I’d look at it. Note that it was the perfect size (8×11… Which was the minimum size that would work in our space) and that I liked the color. The label said it was a herringbone pattern, which I thought would be neat. But each time, I walked out without it. For whatever reason, I thought the grey was too dark for our space. Plus, the $299 price tag was hard for me to swallow.

Fast forward to several weeks later… I’ve now done lots of research on rugs. And know how expensive anything larger than an 8×10 can be. The built-ins are now painted white which gives me a much better idea of what’ll work in the space. I go back to Tuesday Morning. The grey rug is still there. It’s now unrolled and hanging on their large rug rack. Now, I can truly see the color. It looks lighter than I remembered it. It.May.Just.Work. And the price tag now states $249 (original price $699) — That’s 65% off the original price!!! Having done my research, I know that this is a good deal. The tag says it’s jute but feels more like cotton or wool to the touch. Very soft. Good quality.

But still, I leave without it.

I go home.

I tell Joey about the rug. He knows ALL about the rug-hunt and how pricey they can be but states that if it’s a nice rug that’ll last us, it’s worth it.

He picks my brain a bit about what the rug looks like, then goes to pick up a few things from the grocery store for dinner.

And he returns with the rug.

Did I marry well, or what? I’d been sick the previous few days (my trip to Tuesday Morning had been my first attempt to leave the house) so he thought it would make me feel better. It did.

The rug is the perfect shade of grey. The herringbone texture adds just enough interest without being distracting. And the size… Perfect.

The couch sits on the rug entirely with a few inches to spare on each side. Once we had it down on the floor, I stared at it in wonderment as it made the room feel about 30x cozier. It was like the floor was wearing a luscious cable-knit sweater. Plus, the grey tones pull from the grey dining chairs nicely, tying the rooms together.

(Pretend that the yellow transformer on the table isn’t there)

And I love that you can actually SEE the rug from this angle…

(And ignore the green ball, too… Any other moms out there just stop seeing the toys after a while even though they’re right there in plain sight??)

Before, our rug was so small, that you couldn’t. And now that the old rug is gone, that’s one less brown-toned item in the space.

I’m actually thinking about painting our coffee table white to add some contrast but I haven’t quite decided. Thoughts?

So, anyways, that’s the story about how a beautiful, awesome rug found a home. Next up in this space will be revamping the wet-bar, hanging art, etc. plus, we’re thinking of some of the longer term, down-the-road type projects like adding overhead lighting, a solar tube, etc. Slowly but surely we’re getting there with this space and the rug was a big piece of the puzzle, so I’m ecstatic that we found it..