Show Us Where You Live - Living Room Edition

I had so much fun browsing through all the kitchens last week on Kelly's home tour, I thought I would join in again this week! This week is Living Room Edition, so....

Welcome to my Living Room!

My floor plan is very open, so all of the rooms kind of run together. This is a view from my hallway, looking into the main area of our home which "houses" the formal dining and living rooms, the kitchen and eating area, and the "hearth" room (which is more of an informal living room).

Note the tassel on the bookshelf! I mentioned in my kitchen post how much I adore tassels and can find a million little places on which to hang a tassel! Case in point!

I just got this bookshelf for this space. My husband always teases me becauswe I buy things new that look old!
It's true, I do... and I love it!

This space used to house an armoir with a TV and therefore, my living room was "kid central" because it's where the DVD player resided (Gasp! Did I actually just admit via the world wide web that I allow my children to watch mindless television?!). We recently finished off our basement and I moved the armoir and DVD player to the PLAYROOM! ALLELUIA!

These rooms (formal living and dining) are now the only rooms in my home that are not kid-friendly and therefore, always usually picked up!

Again... ALLELUIA!

This is the "formal" living room. When we lived in Texas, we didn't have both a "formal" and an "informal" living space - just one big open space (which I loved). Anyway, I bought my furniture for that one big space. When we moved into this house, I had to split up the furniture. I wanted to find a way to "dress up" the couch for the "formal" room, so I bought dressier end tables and an armchair in a dressier style. I like the way it turned out. You will see the "dressed down" version in my hearth (informal) room in a moment.

A close up of one of the bookcase shelves (I love mixing stained wood with painted wood!). My Southern Living At HOME team member came up with this cute idea for dressing up hurricanes for Spring and I love it! Everything came from Hobby Lobby and it looks so real (the green stuff is called Reindeer Moss). I also got that plaque at Hobby Lobby for $5! It sits atop two of my favorite books - The Chronicles of Narnia and The Tale of Three Trees.

The view from the staircase leading to the basement.

I got this "decal" from Uppercase Living and my husband thought I was coo-coo for putting it above my door! I happen to like it there and it fills up a large wall space that would otherwise stay empty!

One of my favorite things to decorate with is old books. They make great risers and add color to bookshelves or table decorations. And here is another hurricane with the Spring theme!

More books!

And Now....

Welcome to my Hearth Room!

The view when standing behind my kitchen island. We do have a TV in this room and we ultimately spend the majority of our time in this room (see the buckets of toys)!

Does that love seat pattern look familiar? Yep, it's the same as in my formal living room!

Another view from a different location. I think I was trying to show my two lamps. I love lamps and have them everywhere in my home! And I really adore the ones with fun trim and beading fringe.

An old antique cabinet that was painted black and distressed. I love it! I recently installed some lighting in the top of the cabinet that really brightens it up! And the best part about it... I can keep all kinds of TOYS in the bottom! And look... another tassel!

This is our fireplace and TV area in the hearth room. I really didn't care for the flat-front style of this fireplace. I prefer a fireplace with a hearth. But, I added this lovely firescreen (courtesy of Southern Living at HOME) and it completely changed the look of the fireplace! It added much needed dimension and dressed it up!

And finally, one of my most favorite decor items are my Renaissance Hurricanes (also courtesy of Southern Living at HOME - note this is not a shameless attempt at self-promotion, I just LOVE all of my SLAH products and use them all over my home!). Anyway, I love the height of these hurricanes and I change out the insides all the time to reflect the season or holiday. Right now, they need a bit of updating for spring, so I'll be anxious to see if I find some new ideas as I browse every one else's living rooms this week!

And by george, what do you see? Yep! More old books and of course, a tassel!

Thanks for browsing and have fun on the Living Room Edition of "Show us Where you Live Friday"! Hop on over to Kelly's blog to see all of the participators!

Happy Friday!

And now I'll go back to my more traditional "blogging"...