Living Room Before and Afters

This is the room that sold me on the house. I pictured us living here as soon as I saw that brick fireplace that scaled two levels. Coming from a small condo, we had been longing for a space with abundant natural light. If you follow us on instagram, you may remember the whole "should we paint the fireplace black?" debate. I was for it, Ty was not so sure; he wanted to bring the existing brick back to life. A lot of you were rather passionate one way or another. My DM's were filled with emotion, and friends and family were texting me their opinions. What a hoot. While I prefer to keep things original when possible, the brick had too many peach undertones, so black paint it was. The black brick has become both Ty and I's FAVORITE part of the home. It's unexpected, bringing depth to all white space.

We replaced the dingy carpet with a wire brushed oak floor.. Behind the sofa, we hung our ever so famous map (which I picked up at an antique fair for $8! I always feel so bad when ya'll ask where we bought it and I can't send you a link! Here is a source for something similar- I would go with the XL size). Also antique, our faux Eames chair. When we bought it, we were unsure of the yellowed leather hue. It has totally grown on us; we LOVE it! I've shared a good dupe below. Click images below for sources!

There were few places in the house to hang our map, due to its magnitude. It wasn't quite right above this sofa, as it is too narrow for the width wall. Rather than adding symmetry with another large piece of art next to it, we hung this light to accentuate the asymmetrical layout. How mid century of us. I ADORE that fun sconce; it adds just the right amount of dimension to this space.

To open up the floor plan, we removed the wall between the kitchen and dining. HUGE difference. We bought this sofa for our last home, so we got incredibly lucky that it is the exact width of that wall! You may notice that we do not have a coffee table in this room. It's intentional. We often move the ottoman, that is attached to the sofa, into the middle of the room to act as a coffee table. We may add a coffee table down the road; but right now, we are enjoying the simplicity. Our brass curtain rods, hung a few inches from the ceiling, make the room feel taller.