Lack of Communication

I have recently started a board on my Pinterest that is completely dedicated to the blog here that you can follow for all of the recent posts. While I was going through and pinning all of the old blog posts one by one, I realized that I left my readers at a bit of an open-ended post about our living room. The last thing you guys saw was this picture.

This was supposed to be followed up by the final picture of our living room, completely painted and ready to go. Unfortunately, it took a while for us to get up to that corner of the room because it involved a ladder which we did not have at the time.

Realizing that this has happened, allow me to convey my deepest apologies.

To right that wrong, allow me to introduce, the finished living room wall!

You might recognize the deer head from this post a couple of months ago. (And yes, in case you were wondering, my eyes do often wander over to the stag head. He's still so cute!) Now he has some friends! 

Along with the fact that our TV viewing is now way more comfortable than it was with the tan wall behind it, the nice contrast that the other white objects have on the wall really balance out the dark TV and media center. My little white whale even makes it into the mix somewhere so that he is usually silhouetted by the dark blue. And remember, this wall color cost less than $5 because it was in the 'oops bin' at Home Depot!

Filling the frames are just large scale images I found online (under the creative commons rule) that I had printed at Staples for around $2 (it was a while ago, so I don't remember the specific cost, but it was absolutely less than $5). I decided to try out the rumor on Pinterest about being able to get engineering prints and it was totally true! Worth it! They are black and white originally, so that helped, but the line quality is amazing. The paper is a little thin, but once it's behind a frame, you can't tell anyway. The frames, of course, were just refurbished Goodwill frames. You know I don't buy new! All of this framed art cost less than $15. Score.

You also may have noticed that the furniture has been rearranged a little. I decided to move Scott's leather chair and my over-sized chair together so that they could keep each other company on the other side of the room. The table they share was $10 at the ReStore.

(After I moved them, I realized how much this configuration reminds me of my Grandma and Grandpa O's House (except for the massive ceiling to floor bookshelves behind their chairs)!)

We really like how open the room feels with them over there. We moved the couch and end table right up against the wall on the other side and we might be getting a couch from Beth and David (who are replacing it with an amazing grown-up sectional from Macys), that will go on the opposite wall. We will have PLENTY of seating, which is something in short supply in a household where we frequently have from 5-12 people trying to watch a movie at one time. Remember, we don't even have kids yet!

All in all, I know the changes you've "missed" haven't been huge, but they have made a big impact on how we use the space. We recently acquired a Kinect from a generous Uncle and now are able to simply move the coffee table to get our Xbox skiing and bowling on. It's amazing how much just moving a couple of things around can really help the flow of a room.

We're Big Fans...

...of our new fan!

My brother came into town this weekend for his (gasp!) 30th birthday and the Fest Of Ales here in downtown Lexington. He walked into the house for the first time, saw the living room, and realized that the fan was a little lack luster right away. He wasn't being judgmental...it really was, see?

It blended in with the ceiling and was also far too small for the large room that it was supposed to be cooling. We briefly considered doing two fans (because of the size of the room), but soon decided that the effort (and cost) was lost on us and a general upgrade would be just fine. The old white fan was only a 42 in, which is a size normally used in bedrooms, so we knew that we were looking for something in the 52 in. range. We ended up coming home with this guy.

The ELEVATION (Who names this stuff?!). We liked the fact that it wasn't too dark for the room, but wasn't white. We also enjoyed the modern style, dark or light wood options for the blades, and the fact that it came with a remote.

We then proceeded to take down the old fan. It was slightly more difficult than originally anticipated, but after having your arms above your head while standing on a step stool for a while, any amount of time is going to seem more difficult.

First up, we installed the base portion of the new fan.

We used a small down-rod because even though we do have a tall ceiling, it's not tall enough to warrant the longer extension. After we had it wired, mounted, and in place, it was then time to decide: light or dark wood.

Sorry about the terrible picture. Also, our carpet is gray, not brown. Like I said...bad picture...

After a bit of thought, I decided on the lighter wood. The darker would probably match more of our furniture in the living room, but the lighter wood looks much sleeker against the white ceiling, so the decision was made.

Honestly, it's exactly what the room needed. Thanks to the Bro and his housewarming gift, we not only have a fan that actually works and is the correct size for the room, but something that adds some style to our little living space.

Still working on that accent wall, yeah.

How awesome! Have you ever added an element that really completed a room? Let us know in the comments!

This week I'm working on the guest bathroom more, so make sure you check for updates!