A Corner in the Living Room

 For a while now I've been gradually working on a corner in our living room.  You may remember the shelves we recently hung to give some structure to a large bare wall.  Adjacent to the wall with the shelves was yet another space I needed to fill. 

 Our living room updates have included a new ceiling, new trim, new ceiling light fixture, new drapery and fresh paint.  I've tried to keep the rest of the updates minimal and inexpensive.  With that in mind, I needed to make our existing furniture work.  After finding a furniture arrangement that I liked, I brought our originally black console table over to this wall.

BEFORE:

 I knew the right piece to hang above the table would be a mirror, so I took a trip to our local antique mall to take a look.  I found this mirror for $20.  It was heavy, obviously old with a solid wood frame and back.  I knew I would have to paint the frame so that it stood out against the wood walls, but after thinking about it for a few days, I realized it would be perfect and went back to buy it. 

 I first painted a light coat of BM Titanium (the same gray I used for the shelves), then a light coat of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Coco, lightly sanded and finished with clear ASCP wax.  I was so pleased with how it turned out and was thrilled that my husband had to agree (especially since he tried to talk me out of buying it - smile).  

BEFORE:

The following week I went to work on our generic console table, which we purchased as newlyweds.

 The truth is... I painted too many coats on this piece to count.  I just could not get it to look right!  Finally I ended up painting BM Titanium over ASCP Coco, and finished with both ASCP dark wax and ASCP clear wax. 

 The neutral colors really pop against the wood walls and hopefully help to create a look that is soothing and cohesive.  You may have heard me mention before that the wood walls are original to our home... as hard as it has been for me to decorate this room, I really wanted to try and embrace that rustic element.

 Originally I had planned on buying a couple lamps to set on either side of the mirror, but Justus had the suggestion of buying oil lamps, and I was instantly smitten with the idea.  In our old house, we don't have many outlets and it's also nice to have a source of light when the power goes out.  I bought these nearly identical lamps at our local antique store.  All we had to do was add lamp oil - fun!

 Slowly the corner was coming together.  Then last week my dad came over and brought me some antlers he had found on their farm.  I knew immediately they would complete the look I was going for and hung them above the mirror. 

 In actuality, our sofa sits in front of the console table.  We've had this red sofa for nearly nine years (another newlywed purchase) and will likely have it for another nine (smile), so that was certainly another reason for opting to keep the background decor simple and neutral.  

Sometimes I feel like there is still so much to be done in our home, but tonight when I happened across "before" photos of our living room and our entire house, it was so rewarding to see that we actually have accomplished a lot.  Yes, there are still many improvements that need to be made, but I feel like I need to be more thankful for what we do have and recognize that it doesn't all happen overnight.  

With that being said, we're looking forward to starting on some outdoor projects tomorrow we hope to accomplish before spring, and one of those is a chicken coop!  Today was rainy and overcast (hence the bad photos), but if we see sunny skies, we'll be getting started.  

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

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