before and after // living room

This is one of the only rooms in the whole house that didn't have any structural changes, but it was the room that gave us the hardest time. As you can see, this one wall has a door, a window, and a fireplace. This is how EVERY wall is in this room. We originally wanted (and had) two couches in this room. We wanted to have enough space for all of our friends to sit in the living room, but after re-arraging this space over and over and over again, we nixed one of the couches.

Also, TVs are ugly, so finding the right place to put ours was the second biggest challenge of the room. The only space that was obvious was over the fireplace, and we weren't about to do that, so it's kind of hidden in a corner. It's on a mount so we can pull it out when we need it, but it's not the center of attention... for the most part. I HATED it when we first got it up, but I've gotten used to it. In the beginning, this room had us contemplating a screen and projector as our TV. Kind of glad we ruled that out. Just do me a favor if you come over to our house and ignore the TV!

We were stoked that this living room had a working fireplace and Casey was even more excited to have a mantle. We never knew that it would cause so many problems. Not fire problems, but symmetry problems. This wall is the center of attention in the room, so if something is not lined up with the fireplace, everything is off.

In the end, we decided to semi-cover up the fireplace with two chairs. This is literally the only set-up that we could agree on. Our couch is on wheels, so it is never in the right place and it's pretty annoying, but this is what makes sense. We can watch television from the couch this way AND live a life of symmetry.

Also, a little tidbit about these chairs. We had originally bought them for the porch. We bought them at an estate sale for $5 each. We had found them in the lady's garage and they had something on them resembling blood. We loved the shape so we got them. I mean they were just $5, right? They sat on our porch for a while, blood-ish stains and all until we decided we needed chairs instead of a second couch. They sat in our living room WAY too long before I recovered them, which btw was kind of a disaster. There will be NO DIY of that process. :) We also bought the piano from the same lady for $20.

The piece of wood is something some friends and I made for the beginning days of Hey Wanderer. Now it's just decor and I love it. The "Fight the good fight" piece is something I hand-lettered when I worked at Hatch Show Print and we just framed it. There are a lot of DIYs around our house.

I have dreams of making a custom cabinet for this corner. It's full of wires and plugs and I would like it to look less messy. Get in line!

Side note: This plant is about to not be in our living room. It's almost completely dead. It was so beautiful for a while, but some bugs got a hold of it and we couldn't save it. Casey knows the details and tried to save it, but fiddle leafs are fickle! They will definitely give you a run for your money.

This is where you ignore the TV.

We bought this couch from a local antique store and they told us it had just been returned from a Dierks Bentley music video. That is definitely not why we bought it... the shape is sooooo good. However, I do watch every new Dierks Bentley music video, and I don't think it made the cut. But I'll probably keep watching his videos, just in case she makes an appearance. (Realizing that this couch needs a name...)

This leather shelf was a DIY that I actually did a post on. You can see how to do it here. 

Plants that are troopers... split leaf philodendrons! They are a little unruly, but if you have space for them, they are great.

Thanks for reading!
xo, Savannah

After photos by Amber Ulmer