This is where we live...

I have dreams...big dreams...and most of them surround around my living room. Right now I feel like my living room is a little too "model home." It's very matchy matchy, which sometimes can be good but also can be stale. It doesn't have that "collected over time" look that I love, mostly because we've  only lived here for 3+ years and bought most of our furniture at the same time....Oh, and I'm 24 so there's been no time to collect. I definitely need a shot of inspiration to make this space more "us."  I have been very drawn to Emily Henderson's style lately, she's eclectic and vintage, with a little quirkiness that I love..
So, without further ado, this is my living room as it stands today...Remember that these are "in progress" photos, that happen to also be very bad quality pictures...I'm actually extremely embarrassed to be publicly posting these awful pictures, and considered waiting until I had better ones, but I had already picked up the room and taken the time to take them so you are GOING to see them...But I promise as soon as I can I will take new ones with a good quality camera, and those can go on my home tour page....Okay, it's time for all of you annoyingly judgmental people to leave now...

 

 And just to show you I really tried, a couple pictures at night, if anything I think you can see the colors more accurately...

 

                    

I love the high ceilings, white molding, and large patio doors. For the most part I love how this rooms coming along, but I really wish it reflected me and Race more, it's a pretty straightforward space. With the exception of a couple small animal print pillows and the backing on my bookcase (that's more me not Race BTW), it really doesn't reflect our quirkiness or personality as a couple. There are several things I'd like to do in this space..
1. I need to get rid of the slowly dying plant in the corner, more than anything because my very large, clumsy, lab knocks it over with his tail on a weekly basis. I'd love to find a small, fun round table for that corner.

2. We have extremely high ceilings, but right now I feel like your eye kind of stops at the top of the fireplace or the top of the tiles, so I'd love to hang something over the fireplace (and over those metal tiles) that will bring your eye up...and since I'm completely obsessed with the new white ceramic animal head fad, if anyone wants to send me a ceramic deer head for that spot I'd be eternally grateful... you might want to send a super tall ladder too, since I have no idea how to get it up there :)
3. I definitely want some new throw pillows, something with more color and pattern...I need to find a new fabric store, since my favorite one in downtown Lawrence is sadly going out of business..Let's take a moment to grieve..
4. Make some art for our dining area..I'm no artist but I also can't spent $300 on a painting I don't really understand, so DIY art is the way to go for us..
5.We will eventually need a new sofa..I love this one, but it's almost 7 years old and starting to show some serious wear, part of me wants to go buy the exact same one again, it's a perfect scale for our living room and gives us plenty of seating. I wouldn't mind a different color though, maybe a gray even..
6. A rug.. I go back and forth on how I feel about rugs on top of carpet. Usually, I'd say ugh..no..that's so cheesy, but lately I've been seeing it all over the blog world and am kind of loving it. Besides, I need a new rug in my dining area, so if all else fails I can move it there.
Notes worth noting...
Yes, I know from a design point, all of my wedding and vacation pictures are probably not the best choice. And I know, from my couple months of design classes, that family pictures in the living room are usually considered tacky or cheesy...but guess what I don't give a rats patoote (I don't know how to spell that word so I'm going to just say I don't give a rats ass)... So all of you designers and Kourtney Kardashian can bite me (I'm just kidding I love you Kourtney Kardashian). This is my home and I want to surround myself with things and people I love. Someday I will have a separate living and family room, and then I will hang beautiful art in the living room but for now there is a picture on my bookshelf of my two best friends kissing my husband on the cheek and that makes me happy...

P.S. I am really not this bad of a photographer, these pictures were taken on my old point and shoot digital camera on a rainy day..Sadly my old DSLR went to camera heaven a few weeks ago...enter sad, whimpering face here...and then a moment of silence...