living room

After living here a couple weeks and finishing unpacking the last few boxes, Nick and I were ready to start adding some touches that made this house feel more like our home. Namely, we hung up a lot of our art and pictures and added some curtains and blinds. The living room saw the most significant change.  Here's what it looked like up until last weekend, sans curtains: 

 Nick's job requires him to travel overnight sometimes and with two trips coming up this month, window coverings were a priority. I don't mind being home alone at night but prefer to have the windows covered when I'm by myself. We're a fan of bamboo shades because they are natural and made from renewable resource and I don't have the urge to cover them up like regular blinds. I picked up four packages of bamboo shades at Home Depot, two for the living room and two for the dining room. Nick hung them all up on Saturday night.

Because the windows still looked a little naked, I wanted to add floor length white curtains to the windows and the sliding glass door. We had several curtain rods and two of the three sets of curtains that we needed left over from our last apartment. (All the curtains and rods came from Ikea.) The curtains + bamboo shades created a breezy laid-back look that we definitely love. 

 In the middle of the fireplace, Nick hung our big blue painting as a stand-in for the time being. On our to-do list is a mantle/wood surround for the fireplace but for now we are appreciating the art. 

Last but not least, I added some interest to the fireplace. Since we definitely won't be using this guy for at least eight months, I added a mirror and a platter of candles to have a little something going on down there.

 Every little thing we do is making this house feel more homey. I even mind the paint color much less now that there is art and pictures on the wall to break things up a bit!