I looked back at the poll I posted last week…
…and the results inspired me to play around with a photo of our living room so that Kevin could get a better picture of what I am seeing in my mind.
First though, here’s how the room looked when we moved here in October of 2012:
…and here’s a (zoomed-in) photo of the room right now:
We painted the walls and put up the planks last year, and we’ve been gathering seating and side tables, piece by piece, over the past couple of years, too.
We’d like to add some curtains and shades at some point this year, and then we’ll see about finding a great big rug or some carpet squares. In the meantime, we’ll keep having fun dreaming up fireplace ideas. We’d love to extend it up and out, so that it reaches all the way up to the ceiling, and sits out in front of some built-ins. Maybe sort of (but not necessarily exactly) like this:
We love the idea of adding closed storage on the walls on each side of the fireplace, so that we have a place store/hide “stuff”. Guitars, toys…those kinds of things. I popped these lockers from Pottery Barn in my inspiration picture, but our built-ins wouldn’t necessarily look just like them:
There’s a junction box in the middle of the ceiling, so I’d love to add one of these galvanized ceiling fans from Ballard Designs at some point, too:
But this next inspiration photo is what I really wanted to show Kevin. I wanted to show him that by designing the doors on the built-ins so that they open and retract, we could mount the TV on an arm that extends and pivots behind them. See it peeking out from behind the door on the left in the photo below?
Obviously the doors in the photo aren’t exactly the right kind, and nothing is to scale, but I just wanted him to get a feel for what that kind of layout would (sort of) look like.
Here’s why I like it:
– Symmetry, symmetry, symmetry.
– We don’t have a guest bedroom in this house, so having two sofas (that are as deep as twin beds, or that pull out into queen-size beds) would give us at 2-4 more places for visitors to sleep.
– Right now, our armchairs are to the side of the TV. I’d love for them to face it.
– Everybody would be able to face each other when they’re seated. Music and game nights would be so much more fun! 🙂
– There would be endless possibilities for decorating (and re-decorating!) that planked wall!
(All photos from PotteryBarn.com)
Kevin was pretty hooked on the idea of keeping our entertainment unit on the planked wall until he saw my inspiration photo last night. Now he’s leaning towards the two couches. Yay!
What do you think? One sofa facing the entertainment unit, or two sofas flanking the fireplace? Let’s do another poll, shall we? 😀
[poll id=”5″]
Thanks in advance for throwing your two cents in!
PS- Want to learn how to create your own inspiration photos using Photoshop or Photoshop Elements? Check out my Room Makeover Training Class over at ShootFlyShoot.com!
I’ll post another reminder on Friday in case anyone is interested in signing up to take a peek on Monday. The training video will only be viewable for free on the 16th, but you’ll have full access to the class for those 24 hours, so you can see if it’s something you might want to invest in later! (The class is normally priced at $59)