Armoire, found!

This post begins the saga of striving to solve the problem of the TV over the fireplace.

My post here told why we ended up with a blank wall space, 

which had my mind's little wheels spinning.

My post here told how we thought we'd solved the empty wall dilemma.

A few weeks ago I wrote this post, almost at my wit's end with looking for an armoire. 

I am so thrilled that now my post today is to tell you that I FOUND IT!

THE PERFECT ARMOIRE!

 It took lots, lots, lots, and lots more patience, but C-List came through again!

I checked it every day, at least once, sometimes twice, and maybe three times if I was feeling desperate!

I had seen an add for this armoire a couple of weeks ago and they were asking 3x my budget.

Last week, I started noticing that each day they dropped the price little by little.

1,000

750

650

500

375

Finally, on Friday the add said 

"$350 or best offer. Pick it up today because the lease on our storage unit ends tomorrow."

They were des-per-ate!

I offered $300 and they accepted!

Hubby took off work early so he could pick up a friend's truck and it was in our house that night!

I breathed a huge sigh of relief, until...

It was WAY too big for this wall.

I wish I'd had a camera for you to see hubby's face.

priceless.

And honestly, I didn't even take a picture of it in that space because I thought I'd made the 

biggest decorating mistake ever.

My mind was racing. What are we going to do with my "dream" armoire?

Now what's going to fill this huge empty wall space?  Maybe I'll get used to this monstrosity. 

What am I going to write about on the blog? Will I even admit that I did this?

PANIC!

Hubby could tell I was losing it, along with being so so super disappointed.

He brilliantly suggested trying it on another wall.

Amazing how your mind can freeze dead in it's tracks when you enter panic mode.

Why hadn't I thought of that?

So we scooted it over to the wall where the loveseat had previously been.

What do we do with the loveseat?

So we moved the couch into the area between the living room & the kitchen,

and put the loveseat in front of the windows.

The poor little thing looked dwarfed.

Here is my disappointed Hubby.

He was googling "flat screen armoires"

Then we moved the couch back to the window wall.

Like.

And we moved the loveseat onto the empty wall.

Like.

Now the plan is to purchase a sofa table for behind the loveseat, 

place two lamps atop, and hang a sunburst mirror on the wall!

In case you're wondering about my chairs-to-be-bleached,

they went one on each side of the white couch.

Truth be told, I hadn't been thrilled with our living room arrangement before,

and now I am so much more in l.o.v.e.

It's cozier and more inviting. 

Along with looking for the sofa table, I am also on the lookout for a new coffee table. 

There is a lot of wood in that room, and I want to break it up with one 

similar to this...

source

Love how one piece of furniture, in our case very large furniture,

has the ability to dramatically change a room!

Sharing my thrifty find over at Shabby Nest's Frugal Friday and Cottage and Vine

Don't forget to enter the Home Goods giveaway and share the news!

where are you, armoire?

Ever since this post, I have been searching, searching, searching, for the perfect armoire! 

I couldn't be more eager to remove the tv from the wall, hide it away in a beautiful armoire, and 

create a fabulous display above the mantle.

I have been searching C-List for months and haven't found the perfect one. 

I am craving a classic, dark wood piece with clean lines.
Similiar to this one... but it also has to be within my budget.

If I come across one that I like, they're usually not wide enough for our tv.

I secretly want to sell the tv and buy one that fits, but I doubt hubby will give it up.

He compromised a lot to agree the tv could come down from the wall. 

I don't want to push my luck!

Usually, after a few weeks I can find what I am looking for,

 but finding the perfect armoire has been quite the challenge!

It's time to put the petal to the metal and get out and find what I'm looking for!

Watch out consignment shops. I'm coming, & I'm on a serious mission!

project::office switch it, change it, rearrange it

this particle board bookshelf has been used in hubby's office as a storage spot for all of his junk things :)

it was free...but i am not its biggest fan.

 this piece seems to throw off the traditional decor of the room

enter: solid wood bookshelf from family room

we purchased this bookshelf after we were married, 

and it's always been in our family room....

but our little guy can reach everything on two of the shelves,
and in the bottom sets of drawers.
 i would venture to say it no longer works best for our family in that spot.

it's looks so sad with decor on only 2 shelves.

guess where it's going...

hubby's office.

 it's time to switch it, change it, rearrange it!

i can't wait to see how it changes up both rooms.


office:

the bookshelf is so much happier in its new home, full of hubby's organized things

family room:

yeah, that's right. a blank wall 

now with an empty wall, i'm on the lookout for a beautiful tv armoire...
yes. that definitely means the tv is coming down from the mantle!

it's obviously difficult to decorate with...

i'm glad i never spent too much time answering this question regarding our tv.


sweet hubby has finally agreed that an armoire is the best place for it.
{1} we decided that having it above the fireplace makes it a focal point,
which it's really not. we hardly ever watch tv.
{2} it's incredibly difficult to decorate with/ around
{3} the room will feel much warmer and inviting without a big, black box on the wall

watch out craigslist, here i come! 

simplifying.

I'm sure many of you have read Nester's simplifying posts these past few days.

I think they were just what I needed.

Sometimes I look at a space and just have a crazy urge to fill it with something, anything.

Then later I look around and I don't like the flow of all the "randoms" mixed together.

I desire for my rooms to be purposeful.

Which is why I cleared the mantle, the sofa table, and other areas of our family room.

My decorating mind needed to take a deep breath before deciding what I want in each space.

Here are a few things that I know now...

I want to add more natural color to our family room. 

The colors need to come from nature, in plants and colors from botanical prints, for starters.

I would love a boxwood wreath for the side of the armoire.

source

Botanical prints in simple gold frames, 2 or 3 on each side of the armoire.

Emily A. Clark found a book full of them and they look fabulous in her dining room!

source

source

That's where I am currently. I love nature and all of its beautiful elements.

My new mission is to incorporate more of it into our home!

And I am sure there will be more to come on this later...

mantle inspiration

My first dream was to remove the tv and hide it away in a beautiful armoire. done.

Now my dream is to create a simple yet fabulous mantle-scape.

Here are some pictures that I found this morning. They're my inspiration!

traditional living room design by san francisco architect Barbara Chambers

love the sconces and collection of white vases.

traditional family room design by birmingham interior designer Tracery Interiors

love the stacked mirrors, natural addition of willow branches, and antique books.

decorpad

again, loving the double stacked mirrors.

pottery barn

love the mirror and addition of the glass hurricane.

not sure where I found this image

Love the different scale of the objects in that fall mantle.

From these photos it would appear as though I'm a fan of mirrors above the fireplace! I love how they add height and depth to the room. I plan on starting there and adding additional touches. 

My goal: at least 50% of the mantle decor will come from things I already own!

I'll be sure to keep you updated!

credenza here or there

once we moved our bookshelf into the office we were left with a nice empty wall.

at that point, hubby hadn't agreed to move the t.v. down from the fireplace.

so i went in search of something that would nicely fill the space & that allowed for creative decorating.

i found this beautiful credenza for a great deal on the c-list. 100 bucs to be exact!

i loved the legs and the detail. 

and it fit perfectly in the space...

but one night i was the only awake and was piddling around
when i decided to try placing furniture in different spots around the house.

i slid our credenza from the family room to the breakfast room.

i squealed outloud at how perfectly it fit! our credenza had a new home.

sorry for the weird coloring...it was 12am but i realllly wanted a pic of it!

the plates had been hung at the perfect level, just waiting for credenza to arrive!

i. love. it.

but that's what left us with this...

so i'm scouring the c-list daily to find the perfect armoire for the yet again empty wall spot.

it's amazing how rearranging furniture can completely transform a space!