50 shades of gray? No way!

We moved into our house almost 5 years ago and we have repeatedly wondered what to do to arrange our living room in a comfortable way so that we could all hang out together and talk to each other.

For years we had our couch facing the back wall, which did not seem very welcoming or conducive to engaging with anyone in the rest of the house.  Finally somebody had the idea to flip the room around, which involved moving the tv and satellite dish to accommodate the TV being on a different wall.

This allowed us to buy a sectional, something we have wanted for a while but didn’t think we had the right layout for. We love our new couch, especially the fact that we can all sit or lay on it and not even touch each other.  The room already feels much more open and welcoming.

But this is going to be the new “before” photo.  Now that I’m on a roll, why not change a few things?

The color paint that we chose when we moved in makes the house feel a bit like a cave so I decided to paint.  It was just a matter of figuring out the color.  Ha ha… it’s not ever that simple is that?

Gray? Beige? Greige? There are maybe 7000 different paint colors depending on which brand you go with.  It became a minor obsession, I admit. I would test samples on several walls and watch it throughout the day finally admitting that I didn’t like it, then go back and get another color to repeat the process.  It was very very frustrating for someone who just likes to get it done!

Anyhow, to make a long story short slightly less long, we ultimately chose a color and our painter will have it done soon.  Another way to lighten up the room is to change out a couple of the pieces of furniture and some decorative items. We are even thinking of putting in two more windows to add more light.

Of course if you paint the living room, you have to paint the kitchen and the dining room and the hallway and the doors and the trim.  A small project turns much bigger. 

I will have some before and after pictures (which we all love) as we go forward making changes.  Decluttering is a huge part of this process.  I thought I’d done a good job but there is soooo much more to get out of here.  I’ve often wondered when looking in magazine photos… where do people put their stuff????? Turns out, they have LESS on purpose! And furniture pieces with storage.  😉