Monday, June 3, 2013

Living Room Update

Good morning!

And whoooo, LAWD, what a weekend it was. I need to report back to you about my new/old television  show addiction, the worst estate sale I've been to in a lo-o-o-ong time, and some other various and sundry things that happened since you and I last spoke, but let's break out the big guns in conversational updates this morning and talk about the living room. It's foremost on my mind!

Behold! ORDER!

This simple domestic tableau is the result of hours, upon hours, UPON HOURS of hauling furniture and books. Don't believe me? Look at this photo from New Year's of this year, where you can get a better idea of a) how much I love to wear festive hats and b) the sheer volume of STUFF in the living room:

Imagining a new year with less stuff! Obviously! Well, probably not, but should be!
Those shelves came with me from my high school bedroom and they were just as filled with books then as they are now. Classic Hollywood biographies of movie stars, mainly,  mixed in with recipe and interior design books from the fifties' and sixties', mixed in with reprints of old horror comic books, the complete works of F Scott Fitzgerald, and anthologies of ghost stories. I've pretty much covered all these items in previous blogs, so you have a good idea of the cross-section of interests here in print form, in my living room. Problem is, I also LIKE TO HAVE A LIVING ROOM. I've come lightyears from my actually-bordering-on-Hoarders past as a human magpie who would sooner actually die than part with some dearer items from her collection, but these books have stayed put pretty much since I moved into the house, in one room formation or the other, glaring down from the shelves in chronic, constant disorder.

Last week, doing pilates on a mat in the floor of this room along with Mari Windsor on the television, I was crunching my poor, weak little body into various unnatural poses when the solution to my living room quandary presented itself-- storing hundreds of volumes of books in a limited amount of space would cease to be a problem if you stopped having hundreds of volumes of books. "But! What do you mean?" my tiny id cried out, "I happen to LIKE all those books!" I grappled with the concept of no longer having 24/7 access to Barbara Leaming's respective biographies of Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth (who were married, you know), or a lexicongraphic study of  20th century slang aptly named Flappers 2 Rappers. Suddenly, however, the idea of having access instead to a little breathing room appealed to me way more than having physical representations of the things that I like clogging up my sense of space.

How I felt after having moved out all four bookcases and their respective contents #bestmovieofalltime  (source)
So, long story short, we moved books, and books, and BOOKS to McKays. I probably kept one or two shelves worth of items--Diana Barrymore's All My Sins Remembered and a pair of Goosebumps books in French (!!) were on the top of the stack in the green room office that I have yet to assimilate into the bookshelf in that room, but I traded something like 10 boxes worth of stuff for $70 in cash (no trade credit! I'm just going to get in worse trouble!). I'm frrrrreeeee!!


I called my mom and managed to finagle my grandma's early 70's Trutone Western Electric console radio out of her, which, in truth, she has been trying to get me to take for most of the 2000's. I can remember years as a little kid of running into this solid sucker's sharp base corners on a tricycle or with bare feet, and pulling on the false-front cabinet doors with a wondering tenacity as to why the darn thing wouldn't open. The top on this console is a giant lid, essentially, for the workings within, which include a turntable, an 8-track cassette deck, and an AM/FM radio. I was surprised when I plugged it in that the radio and left speaker still work! While my heart's still ultra mid-century, I have to admit that the seventies' heaviness of the design on this piece really matches better with my crazy delicious Broyhill sofa set and the Spanish-influenced wrought iron dining table and chairs. This painting (below) is from the same estate sale as the coyote fur coat and the chair I couldn't keep. It's enormous, but I think that makes it perfect for the ONE piece on that wall.


Two remaining reservations in terms of the living room: tv presentation, and color. In terms of the tv, I just don't know what else to do with it! You know? Unless I drop some serious money on a vintage repro, or figure out some way to integrate it into an existing vintage tv-shell (seems like a lot of trouble for someone who doesn't know much about carpentry to begin with), it looks like this is my best possible option for displaying a flat screen in this room, with what I have. As far as the color, while the wild, Miami turquoise of the current wall paint was specifically matched to this photo of David Bowie from the "Life on Mars" video (would I lie to you?), it matched WAAAY better with the all-gold couches and doesn't let the Broyhill pattern pop the way I think it deserves to.


As much as it grieves me to say it, I think I might paint the room an off-white. Something SUPER clean and standard, so that all the golds and turquoises and wood-tones of the room are jetfueled into the foreground in terms of what catches ones' eye, and my house looks like something out of Apartment Therapy. Thoughts? Am I going to regret it the moment I put brush to wall surface? I need your advice!!

A closeup of the couch:


And a (dismal looking in this light, it's really quite pretty in real life!) side chair near the door:


Have you had any life changing epiphanies about the set up of your living space lately? Made a big change in arrangement or color? Just got sick to death at the sight of something in your house? What color would YOU paint the living room? Let's talk!

That's all for today, more tomorrow. See you then!

21 comments:

  1. LOVE IT LOVE IT HOLY MOLY WOW! It looks so much fresher, happier, less claustrophobic, and easier to clean.

    And a new paint color will only enhance that effect, while showing off that kickass sofa. If you're not sure, or you're waffling between a few colors, have a few sample size cans of paint made up and test it to see what you think.

    I bet a warm off-white infused with a TINY bit of yellowy-orange would make your sofa really pop. Something like Benjamin Moore's Navaho White, White Cloud, or Bavarian Cream would look great.

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    1. I just can't decide if I can commit to all off-white! My house has such a box-of-popsicles color scheme right now that it would take some getting used to. I might try it on one wall and see if I just die of color withdrawal. If I can get rid of all that clutter, though, it's a brand new world of possibility! Thanks for the paint suggestions.

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  2. I don't know why, but I just never feel comfortable in a white or off white room. Since the things I love are so colourful, it ends up looking even more insane and full when there's a million colours ricocheting off the white/off-white. So I personally vote for a super pale turquoise. I can't even imagine how lovely it would look with your amazing couch and chair. Seriously, you are the queen of furniture, I think. And I have a bag that I could swear matches your couch and chair.

    I, too, am forever waging the war between collecting/far too close to hoarding for comfort and ease of movement and use. Luckily (or unluckily) I have four cubbies to utilize, but even then, who wants to have to wade through a pile of stuff to get to what you want/need? A place for everything, and everything in its place, and I feel a million times better.

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    1. I know, I'm kind of scared to move in that all white direction...super pale turquoise might be neat! Weirdly enough, I've seen a luggage set in EXACTLY the same material as my couch. I think Avon made it? Maybe yours is one of those! Talk about perfect vintage camouflage. :)

      I am feeling much better with less stuff! It's weird, because I have this nagging "But what if you need it!" moment just before they go, but then I think of the old man with the school bus full of scrap metal on one episode of Hoarders. He's facing jail time for not cleaning up his property, and the metal surplus company offers him a lower price on the scrap than he thought he was going to get. He actually starts crying and says "I ain't gonna give it away! You'll have to send me to prison!" And while some people would go "WTF YOU'RE CRAZY WHAT A NUTJOB", I know that feeling all too well! I get teared up thinking about it. That's my little cautionary mantra, whenever I get too upset about getting rid of stuff, that I don't want to be that guy, whose stuff means more to him than his (outside jail) life!

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  3. Looks so cozy! Lovely colours, and that painting is amazing!

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    1. Thanks, gal! I'm still working on the colors, but I lo-o-o-ve my furniture and that painting! :)

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  4. you´re brave with this books!!!!!!!! congratulations!

    maybe painting 3 walls in a creamy white to set of - and for the tv-wall stay with the turquoise color to echo the upholstery....

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    1. TRYING SO HARD, lady. I'm trying so hard not to re-clutter! Thanks!

      I really like the idea of a statement wall in color, I think I may try that!

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    2. I like this idea too. Maybe the 3 softer walls could be the lightest shade of the Miami turquoise?

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  5. i love neutral rooms where the furniture and accessories are left to bring in color and character and really pop— go for it! and congrats on getting rid of so many books— i did that recently. granted, i didn't have nearly as many as you, but i did realize that if something has been on my "to read" list for more than 3 years then it's probably not getting read. . . i only kept a few vintage books i love, how to/reference books for art and bookbinding, and old books that are going to be part of my etsy business. it feels so much better to be without them!

    i just finished putting together a baking area in my home and shared it on the blog.i had to get rid of a chair that looks astoundingly similar to yours above in order to pull it all off but everything is so much calmer and nice now. and i'm totally living vicariously through you and that incredible sofa— nick won't let me have a floral one but that doesn't mean i can't drool over yours!

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    1. I nipped over to your blog to see your new baking area...oh! So pretty! Functional and yet adorable, plus I love what you did with the pale colored shelves. Also, that tea/flour/sugar thing is killing me. So mod!

      I'm so glad to hear your words of support on the book-purge, too. It was so hard! But, like with your de-cluttering efforts on that and the kitchen front, you realize you just want to not worry about storing all these things MORE than you want to have the things themselves. #ihatebeingagrownupsometimes But I'm working on it! :)

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  6. thinking about all those books going to mckays has me clutching at my pearls in horror! i'm trying to declutter over here too but i haven't gotten as far as you yet! i bet it feels great to have all that room! (i'm giving my two crappy bookcases CRAMMED FULL the side eye over here....)

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    1. Dude, I'm telling you. See the comment I made above about that guy from Hoarders. I had a physical reaction, something like panic, to getting rid of them all, but I kept thinking how happy I would be with less, less, LESS! And I still have a freakin' ton of books, just with the possibility of SOMEDAY getting a reign on them, rather than never. Whooo! Hard weekend, but it really does feel better not to have all this stuff crampin' me! (you know I'll eventually just replace it with more, too, haha)

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  7. Nice purge! It's a hard thing to do, I tell ya! But in the end, you feel so free! I LURVE that painting! Where do all you people find these things??? Seriously, it's all hunting dogs and cows over here!!! I adore the colour of those walls, but I think you're on the right track about repainting them. It'll really make that killer furniture 'pop'. I have the same type TV set up as you do. Do I love it? Not really. Do I hate it? Not really. It works. There was a post on Retro Renovation a while back where people sent in pics of their TV set ups to give ideas of how to incorporate them into a vintage setting. To be fair, most people had gone same route as we and used a vintage stereo console as a stand. I've got a photo somewhere of a 'false' vintage, atomic legged flatscreen somewhere. It was still flatish on the sides, but straight on, it looked like an old telly. I'll have to see if I can find it. They were asking an arm and a leg for the custom job, but I showed it to my dad and he was all, "I can make that!" So, I'll likely let him at least try!
    I'm trying to finish up my own living room at the mo. Bought the loverliest Brasilia-esque rug today. And found the fabric (your sofa and another blog friend's sofa both convinced me to go for leopard print!) for the back pillows of the 9ft Wilt The Stilt sofa.

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    1. Thanks for the support on the tv thing. It's weird how I feel on the one hand, I need the tv to be functional so I can watch shows on it, and actually hang out in my living room, but I also feel like those fifties' older women must have felt about "OH, that style-less monstrosity in the living room!" I need to look up that false front you were talking about, that's so neat your dad could make you one up! You should do it!

      Yay for the rug and yay for the leopard pillows! You can't go wrong with animal print as a neutral! (Well, you can, but ladies of style such as we have a much better chance of success). Looking forward to seeing pictures!

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  8. Doesn't a trip to McKays to drop things off feel magically cleansing...unless you are week like me and cannot resist store credit!!

    Also my boyfriend was looking at these pictures and wanted to know what the little man was next to your couch....and now I am wondering.

    As for wall color. I vote maybe a soft gold. it would set off the couches and wood yet still be a color.

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    1. Haha, it's Bob Hope! My parents bought it in the early eighties' for my grandma, and then my grandma gave it to me. I always loved it as a child so it's neat for him to get a new home with me in the 10's!

      Soft gold! Now there's an idea. I'll have to keep you posted on what I end up with, I'm hearing a lot of support for a yellow-based color or a (much much paler) pale turquoise. Decisions, decisions!

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  9. Just the thought of picking a paint color has me curling up in a ball and rocking in a corner. But GET IT GURL on the decluttering--you did a great job! Am very impressed! So...tell me about the worst estate sale of all time, will ya?

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    1. Oh, I know. Especially after the trauma of losing all my little books. But I'm trying to power through it! Check out today's post for that estate sale horror and tell me what you think from a dealer's perspective! I keep worrying if I come off like I'm just burnt up about not getting the goods, but it's really the principle of that whole experience that makes me mad as a shopper.

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  10. I love your style! And I shudder at the thought of painting those lovely walls off-white. Maybe a soft buttery yellow instead? Cheery and light? If you really want to change the color, that is. I adore that color green myself, but I imagine it's different to live with than to gaze at adoringly miles away.

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    1. I'm on the fence about all white now! I'm thinking about color options now that I've heard back from some of you guys about possible solutions that don't involve whitewashin' the whole joint. And buttery yellow/ gold might be just the ticket! Or maybe white walls with ONE wall yellow. I can't decide. Will definitely keep you guys up to date on what ends up going up. Thanks for reading!

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