living room wishlist!!

since there are only a couple of months until we start looking for a new apartment, i have already begun pulling together ideas and purchases for our new living room.

aside from being a seamstress and putting together fabric and colors that way, you probably have already figured out that i am in love with home decor as well. i like a good challenge, like a puzzle-- fitting furniture and pieces and colors and textures together to make a comfortable whole. my boyfriend also has good taste, but for the most part lets me decorate however i want. he likes black and white decor, and since he's a drummer he's a bit of a rockstar himself ;) i really want our new living room to fit both of our styles (not to mention i would like it to be the total opposite of our bedroom, which is more bohemian in style and color) -- we like bold prints, bright colors, but i tend to like a more minimalist approach when i can (and can clean out the clutter ;)). he likes sleek lines (on his way to his engineering degree, no less..), and i love pattern. the room that we have now is okay but not exactly what i'm going for- i have some serious ideas.

here is what we've got going on right now:
(our newly reupholstered black and white chair!)


i recently redid the Expedit shelf to hold our books, with color coordinated books on the front and the remainder of the books (and our boxes of dvds, cds, and photos) on the back side. [pardon the terrible photos, it was dark out! bleh.]



the main thing we want to get is a new sofa, since the one we have is an old handmedown; and even though i love it, it just isn't pretty and is saggy and so extremely heavy that we hate moving it (its a fold out!)... ikea has a sofa that we'd like to sit on next time we're there and see if it is worth the money:


as you can probably tell, i love the glam look of black and white damask and artwork prints (and the ottoman, mantle decorations, and the white coffee table.. it goes on and on). since we are in a very tiny space (half of the living room is my sewing room), it works well. but i know that once we actually have a whole room instead of half of a room, we'll want to spread out a bit. my idea is to keep a lot of the black and white, but incorporate a bit of pop art/ art deco inspired artwork and fabrics into the mix, to keep it bright and bold. i think with that new black sofa, we'll really have free rein on decorating!

obviously since we haven't found a place yet, i don't know anything about what our wall layout/situation will be.. but i am hoping that i can do an art wall, pretty much from the ceiling downwards, similar in style to these, with all of the different prints and frames collaged together:




i recently purchased some prints to mix in with those you see in my photo up above (with all of our framed black and white photos/prints)-- the ones we have already range in size (framed) from 11x14" to 16x24", so i wanted to find some smaller prints, and also a couple of larger ones.
from a shop on etsy, all 5x5":




i'll be getting just simple white frames at Ikea, no matting.

i also ordered two larger prints to help bring in the pop art feel:
24x31" (for me):

28x35" (for the boyfriend ;)):


i have my eyes on a couple of other prints on etsy, that i am excited to hopefully order, too (they are medium sized prints):


yessssssssss, joan jetttttttt! <3

and of course, some new pillows will be necessary. i always cover my own pillows, which tends to be a pretty easy afternoon project, so i'm looking forward to recovering a couple that we already have, as well as making a few new ones to go alongside some of the black and white damask. (that ikea sofa is almost seven feet long, so we'll need some more pillows ;))
i ordered this awesome fabric from thailand:

and would love to get some of this as well:



but i also have my eye on this pillow on etsy, that is made from an old ship sail! ahh! i want it so badly!:

i can't decide which color i'd get, but i know i can't afford both ;)

and these!!! from lama designs:



and then of course, alongside the sofa, there are all of the obligatory items from ikea...
like a new rug (4x6'):

and some other odds and ends:



(i LOVE that frame.. and they were sold out last time i went...booo.)

also, recently at work (in the OR), i acquired an old cart.. and after much washing and cleaning (hahah...ew.), it will end up as an end table in our living room! i love it, even though my boyfriend thinks its sort of weird. i love the quirky weirdness of having a piece of medical equipment as furniture! its a bit tall, so it will be interesting to find a good spot for it! i'm thinking it will be fabulous with a small lamp, pencil jar, a vase or two, some magazines, maybe a couple of folded blankets on the bottom shelf...

right now its just holding junk ;)

so, it feels good to have all of this clumped together in one post and look at it all at once.. since i've been trying to pull ideas from all over the place... i think its going to end up being really fun to put it all together; and hopefully it will end up as i want it to.. i really just want a fun but glam/rock and roll living room. functional but stylish. bright and bold, but still minimal. and i think having a new sofa (not to mention a totally new apartment) will make me feel a lot better!

so in love

with these!
..so much so that i am thinking of incorporating some of the ideas into our living room once we move.. to go with all of our black and white decor that we already have. i'm loving the little bits of color!

artwork.

i am starting a little collection of artwork for our living room. it may or may not make its way up onto the walls before we move in six months, but its worth a try. i always used to be the type of girl who went the easy way with art: posters. in the past few years i've grown more and more appreciative of actual art-- original photography, paintings, prints.

i have some wonderful artist friends who have helped along the way. i currently have original photography from some of my favorite ladies: meg and kerry (kerry's still need frames...)-- and i have some black and white portraits of yours truly on the way from the always amazing jess from fidelio photography. i am also lucky to have artwork in the form of sculpture from my best girl, raea (who has an amazing new etsy shop: empty cage; and prints by pam's standingflower gallery.

this apartment isn't the best for showcasing artwork, as its small and cramped and it can start to feel overwhelming and cluttered very quickly. i long to have nice big sunlit walls on which to hang all of my pretties.

i recently treated myself to two new prints which i think will eventually work out nicely with our in-progress black and white living room decor; from a fabulous shop on etsy: untamed menagerie...

i LOVE LOVE LOVE them, and can't wait to find some awesome frames for them!

its going to be fun coordinating frames and finding temporary spots for everything in the next couple of months...

black and white.

we (mostly i mean me) are getting ready to do a small living room re-do. just a very small one, because space and money are very limited. but, i recently got a steal on some ikea curtains i've been coveting, along with some black and white damask fabrics to recover our sofa pillows. for now it will have to do, until we can get down to ikea to get the black and white rug we want for under our coffee table. the curtains that are on their way actually have a hint of avacado green in them, so we can still keep our accent color if we want to.... and hopefully someday pat's sister will give us her old sofa (she has to find a new one first ;)), because the one we have now just doesn't match. pat loves the black and white thing, so i figure its something we can both enjoy. its a little glam, which isn't necessary his style, but its also modern and funky. plus, i'm a little bit punkrock. ;)
i actually did a round of black and white in my living room at my old apartment, with bright orange curtains. it was fun... and the black and white rug thats featured in one of these photos is actually the old one i had from ikea that i sold before we moved. go figure.

onto the inspiration!