My Living Room

Hi ladies,

I have been promising showing you my living room for a long time now so here goes!  It isn't completely done, but is so close to getting there.

This was a labor of love, I have to say.  We moved into this home with a lot of big furniture that fit into our last house, but wasn't quite right in this new home.  How many people really need TWO full size leather sofas???  We did in our last house, but not in here!  The BHW in the world had lots of opinions.  He wanted his chair and he didn't like looking at the back of the couch from the foyer.  I configured the couches in every which way!  It was crazy.  We had the t.v. over the mantle, then had the custom piece built.  We knew deep down that we needed to get rid of the couches so I bit the bullet and designed my own sectional at a a local store here.  The best thing is that I bought the armless chairs to go on each side of the built in.  If we ever have lots of company and need to fit lots of people for t.v. viewing, I can but the armless pieces in and my sectional is huge!!!!

I have more detail tweaking to do, but I am loving how it is shaping up so far!

Welcome!!!

The first thing you see when you enter our home is our grandfather clock that we brought back from Germany.  We lived in the Black Forest area and had this piece built especially for us from the House of a 1,000 Grandfather Clocks.  It is down the road from the House of 1, 000 Cuckoo Clocks and the world's largest cuckoo clock.  These are the names.  I am serious!  We love this clock and I love hearing it chime throughout the house.  It was our "we survived Germany" gift to ourselves!

The detail is amazing.  We got to pick out each style that we wanted for the different parts.  The top and bottom have inlaid wood.  Ooooohhhh.... I love this piece!

Our foyer that I have shown before.  Please note... there is no sofa back blocking your view!

 I love the two prints on the left.   We lived in a tiny village called Ottersweier and the bigger "town" was Buehl.  These pictures are handmade by a local artist in our village in Germany.  The first picture is of the town center in Buehl where they have a local market every Saturday morning with fresh fruits, veggies, flowers, and crafts.  We ate bratwurst and berliners every week on the steps of the church.  This is also where the Christmas market was held each year.  I just love it there.  

 

The second print is a castle ruin that was right up the hill from our home in Ottersweier.  The castle was lived in by the assigned person to this area.  It was more of a fortress type castle than where royalty lived.  The restaurant in front is wonderful.  We spent our first Christmas eve eating a fabulous fixed course meal.  We love to climb to the top tower and see the view.  You an see all the way to France.  On a clear day, you can see the church tower in Strasbourg, France.  It was so fun to take Jemma there on this last trip back and share it with her.  

There are walking trails all through the mountain and through the vineyards that you see in the picture.  This was what I could see from my everyday walks.  It was a tough life I led!

Now on to the living room!

Ta da!!!!  I still need a new rug and a few more things need to change, but I am loving it!  

I am so glad I painted this piece white!  I love how clean and crisp it looks.  Thanks to all of you for your help.  We haven't painted the walls yet, but that is coming!  I now have all kinds of places to put my knick knacks and pictures.  The cabinets below hide all of Jemma's toys and things.  It is nice for her to have stuff down here, but we don't have to see it!

I really wanted an area to display my houses that I bought throughout Germany and this does the trick.  The BHW is cutting some wood for me to raise up the back row of houses so they can be seen.  I love all the tiny details.  The church in the second picture below is a handmade replica of the church in Freiburg, Germany.  I love it!  We had the top section of the unit made to fit it!

On each side of the unit we hung a grouping of black and whites that I took in Europe.  I loved the Pottery Barn look and recreated it using black and white frames from Walmart for $10 each and printed my own pictures!

These pictures are a Black Forest village in Gutach,  Santorini, Greece.  The Arc de Triumph, and the Gian'ts Causeway in Northern Ireland.

These are Castle Neuschwanstein in Bavaria, the Eiffel Tower, the Cliffs of Mohr in Ireland, and the same church steeple in Freiburg, Germany like my house in my entertainment unit!

I got these breezy light curtains at Bed, Bath, and Beyond for $40 each.  I am looking for a cute trim to add.

We had the overmantle built and painted it white to look like one solid piece.  This painting above was made by a local artist.  The BHW and I came to Charleston for our 10th wedding anniversary.  We stayed at the lovely Battery Carriage Inn.  As we strolled through town one day, we went into a gallery and he had this picture of our hotel.  I mentioned that I would like the small picture of this so off the BHW went to get it.  He said he just had it shipped so we didn't have to worry about carrying it on the plane.  A few weeks later this huge picture arrived on my doorstep.  It always reminds me of our first time in Charleston, our special trip, and the sweetness of my husband.

The chair... 

My new couch!  I love the shape of it and how it just works in this room!  Plus... it is super comfy!

My lamp that I spray painted!!  It used to be brass, but that is another whole post to come!  I love it!

This is my arrangement on my coffee table right now.  The balls with designs on them are repurposed croquet balls from England.  How cute are they?

So there it is.  I still have a lot to do.  We need to ditch the too small rug, and I am looking at a seagrass.  I want to change out some of the vignettes to more of a coastal feel for summer.  Just taking it step by step, but having fun on the way!  Let me know what you think or if you have any suggestions.  I am open to anything as I want "wow" factor!