Inspriation Tuesday

So for Inspiration Tuesday I decided to make my basement movie room inspiration board.  Here it is...

I LOVE it!  It's gonna be so pretty.  The walls are going to be all charcoal.  It's going to have a gallery wall with B&W prints we have taken.  The Ektorp sectional from Ikea.  The entertainment center from Ikea.  My favorite zebra West Elm rug.  Ahhhhhhh...I just love this room.  Can't wait till I can start on it. 

Reading Nooks...

I love a good reading nook.

I'm going to be adding one to my living room.  And here are some inspiration pictures.

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Coffee...or Cocktail...Tables...

So before the Princess was born we had a coffee table.  

Is it coffee table or cocktail table officially?  The Hubs and I can never agree...

ANYWHOO!  So when the Princess started pulling herself up on things we had to get rid of it.  My little heart couldn't take the anxiety that she might fall and whack her head on the hard wood corners.  

Heck...not even the corners.  She could have whacked her head on any part of the thing and come away with a huge gash.  If not a concussion.  

So we made the sacrifice and donated it to my brother and his new wife.  

Well...I desperately miss having a coffee (or cocktail...whatever floats your boat) table in my front room.  It just feels like something is missing.  Now that the Princess is running...not toddling...around I want it back.  

BUT!  We're gonna have more babies (eventually...this is not an announcement.  haha!) and I don't want to invest my love into something only to have it leave again.  I can't handle it.  When I love something...I LOVE something and feel rather possessive of it.

Um...I think I just may have found a solution to my dilemma.

A beautiful tufted ottomen.  

Like this one...

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Yum.

I love that it adds more texture and color to the room.

But most importantly...it's nice and stuffed so no little heads would gets hurt if accidentally falling while learning to toddle around.

Best idea ever.

Really.

Who invented these things?

They should get a prize.

Big downside though.  They are HORRIBLY expensive!

Um...LOTS of money.

This gave me a moment of concern and consternation.

It only lasted a moment though because then I found this...

a tutorial to make your own...

Um...I can make my own?

Thank you Kara...whoever you are.  I will be singing your praises for a long while to come.

So I'm off to buy fabric and some wood.

Or see what kind of coffee (or cocktail...this is getting confusing folks) tables I can find at a thrift store to use as my top.  And maybe legs. 

So I will leave you with some other lovely tufted (what a great word...tufted...) and some just upholstered ottoman pictures.

Enjoy!

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Gallery Art

So I'm re-doing the wall art in our living room and figuring out what to do in our bedroom.  I LOVE gallery walls.  So pretty.

This one...?  My favorite. 

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I love the frames and pair them with the B&W prints...?  Yeah, totally clean lines and so pretty.  BUT!  The set is $349 for all of them.  Um, not pretty pricing.  I'm thinking these IKEA frames are a pretty good replacement...

and for $9.99 per frame...I'm thinking it's a BIT more affordable!  

They come in all of the sizes in the collage...

Yup...I'm thinking this is the way to go.

And here are some gallery art wall inspiration pictures for our living room.

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So I'm sure you all remember THIS post.  The one where I talk about our "dungeon?"  It's the post that Design Mom mentioned in her blog so I'm just SURE (wink, wink) you've all read it.

I read through all of the comments on her post and one thing stood out.  People commented that the owner of that room must not have children with their white couches or else they wouldn't have gotten white.  I had some friends and family tell me the same thing when I showed them the picture the first time.

If you look at the couch however, you notice that it is actually a slipcovered sectional.  Tailored slipcovers are something that I have become a HUGE fan of.  They're actually the PERFECT couches to get with children because if there's a spill...or any other kind of disaster...you take them off and throw them in the washing machine (or the dry cleaners...whichever your slipcover needs).  All of the interior design blogs I love so much actually recommend white slipcovered couches for families.

SO!  In honor of my love of slipcovered white couches...here are some of my favorites.  I won't repost my basement inspiration picture...you've all seen that...but here are some new ones.

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There are our examples!  I think the picture with the little boy actually jumping on the couch is very appropriate.  :)  Shows how durable these slipcovers are.  What do you think?  Would you do white? 

Our house has a dungeon. 

Really.

The people who "updated" our house decided that only short people would live in it and created a family room dungeon.

There are no windows.

The ceiling is 6 feet.  

The Hubs stuck his head up through the ceiling to see what was up there.

Lots of heating ducts.

I don't know how to re-route heating ducts and frankly...it doesn't really sound like fun.

We've been debating what to do about it.

My thought is even if we could just raise the ceiling just a few inches...it would make a huge difference.

But what to do with an insanely dark room...

And then inspiration in the form of a photograph...

Ah....pure genious.

I LOVE the colors...or rather lack of color.

The ceiling isn't very tall in this room either.

I love painted cement.

I love the painted brick.

I love the wrap-around sectional.

I love the can lighting.

I love the modern urban mixed with the antique suitcases and trunks. 

I would probably add a rug...

Basically...I LOVE this room!

It's exactly what I'm going for.

Exactly.

It would make me happy.....

I am totally loving yellow and gray decor lately.  Hmmmmm, kind of like my blog colors.  Funny!

I think the gray is soothing and the yellow adds a pop of life to the room.

I'm thinking those are the colors we're going to decorate the master with...

Here are some examples.

#1.

Image found HERE

#2.

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#3.

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#4.

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#5.

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Mmmmmmmmmm...I just love how they complement each other!

Wood floors.  We have 'em...but they're kinda hidden underneath 4 different carpets that cover our main floor.

Yes.

You read that right.

Instead of getting the SAME carpet so that you have a lovely, coheasive look...the people before us in this house covered the upstairs in 4 different carpets.

Now...it is not a big house.  1600 sq. feet which includes the basement...800 on top, 800 on the bottom.  4 carpets and 2 linoliums cover my upstairs.  OUY!

So wood floors.  We're going back to the lovely originals. And the advantage with older wood floors (yes, I call this an advantage) is that I get to stain them whatever I want.

Ahhhhhhhhh....

Sigh of happiness.

Want to see some of the colors I'm thinking of?  Here they are!!!

First...this beauty.

Picture found HERE

Love this color but it might have a bit too much red in it for my taste.  I love dark...but I want one that is 100% brown.  I don't know...now that I look at it again, it might be my monitor calibration...but onto some other examples.   

Second...

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Lovely.  Really.  I think it's very pretty.

Third...and my favorite...

 

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Um...love the dark, rich color.  Love.  And if you live in the Alberta area...this chair is for sale.  Adorable.   

So there are 3 examples.  I just love dark.  The darker...the better.  Not black wood...but almost.  :)  So pretty...