living room ~ a progress report

i want to show you how our living room is coming along.
you may remember that we moved last month and are currently renting.
we are slowly getting settled and figuring out how to live in a new space.

here's a picture of the living room from before we moved in.

the wood paneling is now painted faded burlap {Olympic premium paint} & trim painted white.

i finally got all the cabinets painted & aj installed them.
this was a happy, happy day.
i was able to unpack the last of the boxes {okay i actually have a couple more, but i'm currently ignoring them} and that felt so good.
these cabinets are giving us some much needed storage underneath as well as housing the electrical components for the tv.

so currently our furniture situation is pretty sad.
we have one lonely couch & a coffee table.
i have been scouring thrift stores for some really fun/funky chairs, but haven't found the perfect thing yet.
i've also been looking online at target, overstock, wal-mart, craig's list, etc.
i'm trying not to spend too much money, but i would like to find some chairs that will last us for a long time.
the couch is a pottery barn slipcovered sofa that i scored off craig's list. woo to the hoo.

also i need to figure out what to do with that big expanse of wall to the left of the cabs.
i don't want to do anything too busy because the shelves are already really busy.

speaking of the shelves....they probably will not remain this way for long.
i really didn't know what to do with them.
right now i feel like they look a little knick-knacky.
here are some close ups.... and by the way this is basically every decorative item i own, all shoved up on these shelves.

those 3 pictures on the bottom shelf of this last picture are each of my 3 boys at 6 months wearing the same overalls. :)

so i'm thinking i want to get some big baskets to disperse throughout to streamline it a bit and I may add in some more books.

and a close up of the mantel. . .

so far i am really happy with this room.
it's definitely a work in progress.

list of to-do's for this room:

1. get some dad-gum curtains
2. paint the wardrobe {not seen, it's behind the couch along the back wall}
3. find chairs
4. find end table
5. put wall art up
6. put up coat hooks by the door
7. get a trunk to coral the boys' shoes
8. get knobs for the cabinet doors
9. update photos
10. whatever else i think of along the way. :) Pin It