Our new big chair in our formerly formal living roomOur new house has a formal living room and dining room, which I wasn't thrilled about when we bought it. Does anyone else have a formal living or dining room that they repurposed for something more practical? A lot of the houses we saw had the formal living/dining set up. The one we decided on also had it and although I wish there was one great room instead of a separate formal living and family room, we liked the house otherwise, so decided to go with it.
Our formal dining roomThe formal dining room was easily taken care of since there was really no where else for all of us to eat. We changed the carpeted floor to hard wood and we now eat in that room for every meal. It's not a formal dining room anymore. Just our regular everyday dining room. If you look closely you can see my curtain problem in there - the sheers hang down below the drapes. I haven't gotten around to fixing that problem yet. I'll get to it...eventually.
Matthew playing a game on the new ottomanThe formal living room was a little harder, but after we changed the dining room floor, there wasn't that much room left - just a patch of carpet. I had a few ideas of what to do with it (none of these ideas involved getting "formal" living room furniture). I thought of another play area for the kids or a little reading area. We decided to go with a reading area. I also thought it would be fun if we had a big chair that was big enough for multiple people to sit on (good for reading stories to little people) so that's what we got. We also got a storage ottoman (which Anna calls "audi-mint") to hold all our board games. The chair was delivered today, and it is big. If we ever get stationed in Japan again, it won't be invited, but it fits nice in our American house here. And it makes what small space was left of our formal living room into a nice reading corner. Done and done.
A view from the big chair. I like that I can see so much from there - both staircases, the dining area and the front door.
Matthew and Anna discovered a hiding place behind the chair. We might have to put an end to hiding back there, but they had fun there for one day.
The chair got delivered while Scott was at work so the kids were excited for him to try it out when he got home. The consensus: we all like the chair!The rest of the house is slowly taking shape. Everyday while Scott is at work I try to tackle a different room (some rooms require multiple days of work) but I have now unpacked all the rooms except the guest room in the basement and the garage. I am very happy about that. Every day I make Scott come admire my unpacking accomplishments and he is happy to oblige. Tomorrow I am going to start on the basement guest room which is VERY full of boxes. I am giving myself five days to get that one unpacked. We'll see how it goes.
8 comments:
Good job Emily! You have accomplished a lot in such a short time! Where do you find the energy while being preganant?! Love the new chair and ottoman! :o)
You are a lot like Scott's Uncle Neil. He would get home from work and start working on unpacking boxes and he liked to see them disappear as quickly as possible! I would do my tasks and he would get those boxes unpacked and gone! I was appreciative of the help! It's hard to take care of kids, especially when going to different schools and be pregnant and unpack boxes!
That looks like a most wonderful chair!
Good idea on the "reading corner" instead of a living room. We have one too, and it's a challenge keeping it a grown-up room since it is right off the kitchen and is the only play Rebecca can play while I cook, so it mostly becomes a play room during the day... although we have most of the toys in another "play room" of the house. I might play around with your reading corner idea, if you don't mind!
I love that you have a reading corner! I hope to have one of my own some day, and I'm totally in LOVE with your storage ottoman - what a great idea! Maybe I'll put one on my birthday list...
I love the living/reading room. I love the curtains in that room, So pretty. I loved how you put that the chair would not be invited to come Japan if you had to go again- made me laugh. You are doing a great job on the house.
The house is looking good! you are doing a great job on getting it all put together! I'm excited to come and see it some day!
I think if you just wait long enough the green curtains will grow and cover the sheers. :-D
Hey Girl, I had just seen this cute things with alternative dining and living rooms yesterday. Thought I would pass it on... http://www.cobblestonerueblog.com/inspiration-room-the-dining-room/
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