Latest State of Living Room - with NEW furniture!

I wanted to share the current state of our living room - as some of you who regularly read this blog know, I move my furniture around ALL the time!! BUT - get ready now... I am very happy to announce that I finally LOVE the layout of the furniture in my house! I must admit it's in large part due to my mom redoing her entire house (Shaun Smith Home is doing the complete design of course! Fun job!) and me getting my pick of any furniture she was going to sell -thanks mom!

So, I'll start with our living room. I first need to show y'all my current Craigslist score - a new (used) sofa!!! yippeeeee!! I couldn't believe it when I saw it online. It wasn't super cheap - bought it for $500 BUT it's exactly what I've wanted my current sofa to be - a single bench seat, and 2 simple pillows on the back so I can switch small accent pillows as I wish. My current awful sofa has 3 seat cushions and FIVE pillows on the back. TOO MANY PILLOWS!!! That sofa is now in our new TV room. Anyway, here's the down sofa:

Now, use your imagination people! The sofa had an awful micro suede diamond patterned slip cover that is SO not me - I plan on getting it slip covered in a great linen but until then my crazy ass has draped linen over that micro suede! I love the lines of it though. Here's the type of slip cover look I'll do:

via EST Magazine

Can you see my vision now!? OK... now moving on to the room...

My big sexy console on the opposite wall from the new sofa. Loving my estate sale painting with the spooky faces over the console. 

One of my two new antique chairs everyone hates but me! I'll show them once I recover this seat and give these guys some love!

Above are my two new chairs from momma! These chairs are from the 50's and I have a little attachment to them - they were in my bedroom in high school but covered in a cow print fabric! You can see from this picture I still need a rug to ground the room. I'm planning on getting a chunky sisal... maybe with a hint of grey in it over tan. And everything in the room is square or rectangle. Eventually a new coffee table or round side table will be nice. 

Close up of the chair. These will eventually get recovered but I'm not a money tree and these things need to happen in phases! 

Another view of the room. That black dining table is going to be sold.

Current state of my chrome & brass etarge. It's a hot mess... baby steps people!

Here's the "foyer" to the left when you enter the house. That lamp is another new member to our house. It's solid marble. I need a new shade but I got a steal of a deal on it so a new shade isn't a biggie...

SO there ya have it! Our new "formal" living room :) There's a lot that still needs to be done but the big pieces are in which makes me happy! 

Here's my to buy/make list:

- new slip cover

- chunky sisal rug

- new fabric on slipper chairs

- new fabric on antique chair

- new lamp shade

- new round little table to replace coffee table

- new floor lamps for either side of sofa 

Yikes! Seems like more now that I've typed it out! A design tip I recommend to all of you slowly acquiring your "grown up" furniture - it helps to make a list and know what you're looking for. SAVE your money for what you really want and don't cheap out. It's better to wait a month or two and save more money and buy the something fabulous you've been eyeing over something that "will do".  

I had been searching for a new sofa off and on for years and knew exactly what I wanted. I wasn't planning on buying a used one from Criagslist but hey, even after getting a slipcover made it'll still be a fraction of the cost of a new one. SO, my point is if you have a clear idea of what you need - once you find it, there's no second guessing if it'll work. Hopefully you've analyzed it enough beforehand you can pounce on it! 

Geesh... were you expecting design tips from Boo today or what!? ;) 

What do y'all think of that advice? Are you looking for *perfect* pieces to add to your home? Do tell!! 

The Marigny Home Tour...

The Fauburg Marigny or "The Marigny" as the locals call it, is the neighborhood between Bywater and the French Quarter. All three neighborhoods run along the Mississippi River and technically where we live is only two blocks from the Marigny - so a lot of my posts have to do with that area as well.

This past weekend was the Fauburg Marigny's Home Tour. I got some shots of cool, quirky and quintessential New Orleans that I thought I'd share!

What?! You know you'd love a creepy old doll collection!

This was the second floor balcony facing the street. I could spend hours upon hours up here! Don't you love the stripes?!

Old New Orleans homes are famous for the side gallerys. The idea of a side gallery is that all of the rooms open onto a open air covered gallery running the length of the home while all of the interior rooms connect to one another shotgun-style.

I thought this tapestry was just amazing!! Adds such a dramatic look to an otherwise normal living room.

I would of done something much more dramatic to this space if I put up a huge circus tent tapestry along the whole wall! But it looks cool nonetheless.

Below is a perfect example of adding some personality to a space! These sheep are quirky, unexpected but fun. You know when walking through the homeowners gate that they are not too stuffy and know how to have a good time.  

They have plastic sheep feeding on real grass for cryin' out loud! I wanna go to their house for Mardi Gras!

This was their backyard. The shadows make it difficult to see but a Jazz band was playing and wine was served... The Marigny knows how to throw a home tour!

Views of the garden...

View of The Hubs enjoying his wine and cheese at the pool...

Another home we toured was quintessential New Orleans - yes, it had a Voodoo Altar! But what I really loved were all the tiny quirky details throughout the home...

This shot below is my favorite!

Below is a baby doll head he must of cut off and spray painted gold and stuck it on a book shelf. LOVE! Yes, I love the strange and unusual...

Which makes me really want to share this clip in honor of this house... and a design philosophy I live by  ;)

Flying little dudes under the fireplace mantle...

Patio fence art...

The next home was definitely more of a look I am drawn to for my own house. Simple and white... very calming and relaxing to come home to.

Sorry for the overexposed images, we were playing with the settings on the camera - but you get the idea!!

I wish I could be this minimal - Ha! Maybe one day...

On our way out, observant Hubs noticed some high tops thrown over the electrical line perfectly matching the home below!

And yeah, I don't think these are a sign of gang activity... unless they're warning you they're a very hip and stylish gang...

Another home had a second kitchen with brick floors - I got a shot of these because we're thinking of doing a brick floor in our kitchen. Black herringbone brick! Yeah baby! Although a woman at a flooring showroom looked at me like I'm nuts... I says think outside the Travertine box lady!

I digress...

The last home was totally WILD! Filled to the brim with STUFF! Fun to look at but I could never live here...

Now, every New Orleanian knows a night out on Bourbon Street isn't complete without a Hand Grenade but to reuse them as part of a chandelier is genius!

Artwork I liked...

Hope you enjoyed the home tour! Any favorites??

- BOO

Bywater Home Tour...

This past weekend was the Bywater Home Tour. Seven homes were featured - 3 of which are definitely worth mentioning.

  

(I was really only taking pictures for future ideas so you probably will not see much of some of the homes - just close ups of things I like - sorry!)

The first was an adorable (sometimes I hate that word but really - this place was just adorable!) cottage...

They took two corbels and turned them on their side to make a headboard. Cleva!

OK, this was the showstopper at their home. The house was made from barge board (like ours) and they were able to strip the years of wallpaper and paint off the boards and expose the beauty underneath!!

I wish we could do something like this but our bargeboard is under sheetrock and lath and I am not about to mess with all that!

It reminded me of something you would see in the French Quarter. 

Oh, and their garden was spectacular!

I loved the little details in the yard.

The next home was owned by Pres Kabakoff and Sally Glassman. I mentioned their home before - CLICK HERE to see the professional pictures.

The third, tiniest and my favorite of all was owned by a young architect - I didn't get her name! Oops... Anyway, she took a TINY - maybe 700 square feet - shotgun home and completely opened it up.

Notice in the picture above the built out loft over the kitchen - it is the bedroom. There are stairs in the back to reach it.

Cool light fixture - possible inspiration for a future DIY?!

This is a view to the "loft" over the front door. She has not done anything with this space yet but I don't doubt she will!

This is the loft that she uses as her bedroom. She has used every square inch of her home!

I got major inspiration for our upstairs unfinished attic. She just has the subfloors down and coated them with a couple of coats of polyurethane. Our subfloors are that gross chip board though so we might want to put a nicer layer of plywood over them and then either polyurethane or paint them.

She even stores her things in a beautiful way.

I love how raw it is. she stripped all the frames around the windows and doors and it actually looks really cool. The home definitely has an industrial look to it.

The most inspiring part of her home was that the materials were inexpensive and everything was consistent - so it had a great flow. (every window was stripped, no molding anywhere, unfinished sheetrocked walls, plywood used predominantly - it sounds unattractive I know but it looked fantastic!)

I guess the moral to the shotgun story is keep your home consistent and it will look fabulous! -- Unless your consistency is "dorm room chic"!  :)

- BOO