Living room, before and (sort of) after

Before:



After (kinda):



I'd been told that the clock above the fireplace was too small, so I moved that into the bathroom and replaced it with the Charlie Harper print from the kitchen. We also got rid of the brass fireplace screen and tools that came with the house (along with the window treatments that we've never bothered to replace). We don't use the fireplaces anyway, so no harm, no foul.

Still up in the air on art for above the fireplace. I have a large Ork poster of Portland in the black and white with a chrome frame that I may try there. If I do, I'll post a photo.

The marble-topped tables in the Before were actually nightstands from Michael's loft-dwelling bachelor days and were no way, no how going to fit in our 1964-sized bedroom. Unless we decided to share a twin bed, which, not so much. The hanging shelves are Elfa from the Container Store (anyone want to take them off my hands?!), and probably one of the more foolish purchases I've made for the house. Sometimes frugal screws up functional, you know?

I'd started thinking that with the ability to work from home, I should really invest in a convenient, uncluttered place to work. Previously, my laptop and assorted recharging doo-dads all lived on the kitchen island, which was a daily visual annoyance and not that comfortable. I'd also noticed that outside of the holidays, we just weren't using the living room. It had become what I sneer at - a visiting priest room. Which is all wrapped up in counter-aspirational class issues for me and fairly pointless since we've only had a priest at our house once, and we hung out in the backyard anyway.

I suspect I initally saw ISS Designs advertised in the back of Atomic Ranch or Dwell. It kept cropping up, though, as a period-appropriate and infinitely customizable, if painfully expensive, solution to both problems. I finally pulled the trigger around Christmas, and finally got the cabinets delivered in February:









Gods bless Michael and his calloused hands for installing it all. I'd forgotten about the tray ceiling when I placed the order for 8' poles. Which meant Michael had to take the poles to his shop to cut 2" off of them. Sorry, hon.

Now we have a much more cohesive look, more storage, and I have a Corner of My Own. I still want to get a bigger rug, something cool to hang above the fireplace, and more color, but that's all superficial. The shelving and can lights were good investments in actual functionality.