This post is part of a 31 day series – 31 days to Love the Home You Have. I am blogging through the 31 day challenge in the back of the book “Love the Home You Have” by Melissa Michaels of The Inspired Room. You can read all the posts in the series so far here. And to make sure you don’t miss a post you can sign up to have every post delivered to your inbox , or follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or Instagram to get even more home decorating ideas and inspiration to help you fall in love with your home.
So our living room is probably the one room that we haven’t really changed much about it over the years. When we moved in our house we really didn’t own any living room furniture. We had a hand me down loveseat we had used in our first apartment that I think we gave away before we moved back to GA. So we moved into our house with an old tv on a bachelor tv stand and that is IT for our living room. 
We had saved up a little money and being newly married and not really knowing much about furniture buying, we headed to the local furniture store and bought “the whole room” – you know what I mean – matching couch and loveseat and a 3 piece table set – 2 end tables and 1 coffee table. That was probably the worst home/financial decision we have made in our entire life (in our opinion) – we will NEVER walk into a furniture store again and buy “a room” of furniture and put the majority of it on credit. Our financial goals/knowledge as well our decorating style has changed much over the years
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I grew tired of the glass/marble looking coffee table very quickly. It was hard to keep clean, easy to scratch and didn’t allow any storage underneath it. Eventually I found the current coffee table for $3.00 at a yard sale and refinished it and surprised my hubby by replacing the store-bought, much more expensive one with my $3 coffee table. We actually are still using the end table but I have measurements in my phone and look all the time for a wood one that I can replace it with.
As for the couch and loveseat it is super comfy but totally not my style at all anymore and also showing a LOT of wear. I feel like my living room is drowning in tan but not much I can do about it. I am glad that we went with leather as it has been easy to wipe down. BUT the cat and his claws have not been kind to it either.
So… when we move eventually we will gradually replace everything in the living room. I have some money already set aside that I would like to use to purchase a white slipcovered Ektorp sofa/loveseat or maybe even a sectional depending on how our future living room is set up. I am already looking for a wood end table to use and eventually would like to either put different top on our current coffee table or actually build our own coffee table. If we have a basement or some kind of room that we can use our current couch/loveseat in we would like to keep it as it would be great in a second room like that.
So, let’s talk about what my dream living room would be! First I would like our living room to be larger. We have felt limited over the years hosting larger parties/events since there is very little room to even add any folding chairs to our living room.
And my dream is to have white or very light linen looking couches. I also love that coffee table – would love to build something like that just longer.
And here’s another living room and coffee table that I love (but I would do a different color curtains)
I would love to have a side chair like this in our living room. It would fulfill my “cozy spot” that I want and also provide additional seating. I actually love this exact chair or one like it from the IKEA Ektorp collection.
I also LOVE my mantel in my living room and really hope that we will have a fireplace/mantel in our future house. IF we do I would love to add more wood detail and trim up above the mantel like this.
If the space allowed it, I would LOVE to have built in bookshelves on either side of the fireplace like this and you know I am itching to DIY them myself! And I will take that rug and light fixture while I am at it
It’s fun to sometimes dream about rooms… what you would do differently, things you would to change. I am completely content with the living room that we have now but once we move and as the space and budget allows we would like to make some changes. I am very much a planner/saver so even now setting money aside so that we could start with buying some new living room furniture helps! We will pay completely cash this time and only buy pieces when we can afford them. Then we can add in other smaller pieces, possibly build some pieces, add a rug, and smaller décor over time as we find what we like and the budget affords.
What is one room you would like to update or change? Maybe think about one thing you could add or do that would make a difference. Then save some money for it, if it is something that could be found thrifting or at yard sales take detailed measurements and carry them with you or even browse online resale sites such as Craigslist, Everything But the House, or facebook yard sales.
Challenge for today: Make a list of some things you would like to update or change in your living room. Take measurements. Browse Pinterest for ideas and nail down your décor style for what you are wanting. Then start saving or looking for that piece.
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