Phase II: Living Room.d. (update)

Update:
Almost immediately after this incarnation, we re-arranged. Honestly, it's a compulsive trait: once seen, we must change it. In 223, we were made aware of this impulse and soon known by our friends to change the paint colouring in the Living-Room rapidly (although, this compulsion did cease once we found the "perfect" combo's)... like a mood-ring. Not exactly sure why this is... but maybe we are not alone in this habit. Do you re-arrange your furniture manically? How about re-organize the bookcases once you've finished a novel? Or is it your hair cut & colour what this impulse is reserved for? Nevertheless, while blogging about our habitat, this has become a slight nuisance for it's inevitable as soon as a post is aired, we are crackin' a 6-er & overhaulin' the room. Strange strategies have unfolded with this in consideration.

The addition of two swankay MCM chairs (to undergo a re-upholstering) swayed us into this particular furniture placement... along with the semi-completion of the Dining Room and other main floor final-final plans materializing. So, with this post we are testing our resiliance to not change the layout until the next stage is afoot: wainscoting/panels, paint, repairs & addition to crowns, etc. unknowns. What's more remarkable/ambitious is that we have no succinct timeline for when this next stage is going to become active! Yup yup, we're such thrill-seeking cycle-busting daredevils we are ;)

Intermission: Autumn 2013

With the chaos of ripping our house apart & piecing it back together again slower than desired, it's easy to get a little lost, shucked, raw. Then we wake up & see something again as if for the first time, but with the warm comfort of HOME in the mix... and smile. With winter on our coattails, and hunkering down again for the long sleep indoors, there's a few nooks & crannies we want to remember from this dwindling time of season...

Phase II: Living Room.c. (update)

Ah hahahahahaaaaa....heeeeeheeeeeee.... oh sorry... was just browsing through this young and ambitious dreamscape of our Living Room and couldn't stop laughing... hahaha........ yah didn't work out that way. Oh process... you beautiful thing, you.

But... spring-summer has landed here on the great expanse of prairie and with it another tweak to the Living Space (plus a borrowed chair while it waits in cue to get new upholstering). Here's some eye-candy & layout clues:

Intermission: Still life in 619

Wintersleep is seeping into the house life... with the major reno's of our living spaces at a bearable comfortable level of not stripped down to studs completion, we're taking a break to enjoy each others' company, appreciating just how far we've busted ass to get exactly where we are today, and enjoying some well-deserved afterglow.
Hello neighbours! Hello previously-in-storage vinyl collection! Hello 6 precious hours of daylight! Hello reading! Hello nog! We are so pleased to see you again after what seems like a year of the solid-house-grind jitterbug...

Stay in tune... we will continue the journey of house-stuff in the near future (beginning the last "major" living-space project of the Family Bath, finishing the Master Bedroom to resemble human beings living in it, and planning a garden). We've let the Dining Room plans slide, and watched other things we thought we'd want to do over the winter break degrade into meh in favour of loving our life together a little deeper... good for us! Bring on Lou Reed and a teenagers newfound appreciation of vinyl, ubiquitous mimosas + morning snuggles, snowshoes and horror frost, studio organization & fabric lust, the man's island craftsmanship in walnut, late nights of heady philosophy & RISK!... it's on.

Phase II: Living Room.c.

Much like the Dining Room, the Living Room is in a state I am embarrassed to call design... because it is not.

At least we have waltzed into the progress-stage and created a cozy little oasis to snuggle while we plan the garden over Sunday morning coffee... a clear inspiring space for evening meditation & Yoga practice... it is simple, warm, and inviting for winter napping.

Progress: 

Upper portion of walls painted, energy boosting draperies, re-arrangeing the furniture... and coziness commencing.

Next Up:
Wainscoting on the lower half of the walls, and a re-do of crowns & baseboards are coming this wintersleep: adding more architecture to the space. Our efforts in this room will be concentrated on the permanent fixtures.

I've got indigo and neon ideas  for in here... just have to wait for it.

Ohyeah... and still waiting to be blessed with the chair... ahem ahem. 

Phase II: Living Room.b.

Dreams: There is an eclectic range here on the vision-board... hmmmmmm.

Elements of Design: Open space feeling. Clutter is visual: heavy fabric texture and pattern. Storage solutions. Colour is strategic. Rich, thick pile, herringbone, but bitingly streamlined and minimal with firm roots in traditional airs. 

Sacrifices: We are surrendering to the challenges of our tiny budget being eaten whole by the wise investing power of a Kitchen and other essential repairs (btw, the roof got an emergency set of shingles.. the last squeeze out of our fix-it fund), and accepting the even realer reality of compromise for design dreams.
Can't say we are heartbroken as the challenge is a good one and we are just all so very happy to be here and working at it day by day. So... yeah... feel free to send us money if you are interested in seeing a project completed... heh heh ;)

Phase II: Living Room.a.

Features: Original hardwood floors & some mouldings, South & West facing windows, addition space.

Floorplan: Awkward layout with doors on the East & South end. An addition (circa 1970) increased the square footage on the West end but the left a "doorway" effect in the wall, dividing the full potential of the space. We spent our full construction budget on the Kitchen and Dining Room, so these features are now a "delightful quirkiness" to design arond. Yay.

Process: Insofar we've been utilizing this space for a multi-purpose-not-a-flithy-construction-zone room. With the major construction out of the way, we can at last inhabit the Living Room as a Living Room... how quaint! 

Dreams: To have some living space to relax in during the long winter ahead! Without available funds (yet) and some major reconstruction on our plates for the time being, it will prove a challenge.

Elements of Design:
Re-use of the shag rug from 223 (aka "the dog"), vintage-finds, and a mid-century style couch are our trusty staples. I'm thinking tweed-jacket-with-elbow-patches hipster-english-Professor type personality out with his vintage-loving ultra-feminine-smartypants girlfriend at a private book-reading before an evening of contemporary jazz and cool-cat schmoozing + reefer kind of look. Boom.

Next Up: Painting, some deco & textiles (full-length drapes, throw pillows, etc.) in the coming weeks in-between the apple urban harvest and other day-to-dayness.

Future: Hopefully (fingers crossed, peeps!) this coming winter we will complete the custom wainscoting on the lower half of the walls, re-fit the crowns & baseboards (which are in a sad sorry state of DIY from the previous installer), and find that elusive teak chair to re-finish (anyone have one to donate in exchange for organic handmade applecake/applesauce/applepie/applejuice... anyone? call me).

Many other things to occupy this mind in the tender meanwhile... like perhaps the enormous list of tasks to complete the Main Floor Bath, Kitchen, and Dining Room!