Rethinking the Living Room

First off, friends, I didn’t address this in my last post, but thank you so much for your kind comments about my Instagram vs. blogs dilemma and trying to figure out where to best put my time in this busy season.  Y’all had such amazing food for thought and truly made me fall in love with this blog of mine in a new way!  Thank you for sharing and I am so, so thankful each of you is here.

Okay, now onto some changes happening at The Buffalo Stone Cottage.  For those who follow me on Instagram, you may remember awhile back I shared some frustrations with our living room: specifically what the best, most functional layout was and what was prettiest….and where do those meet.  I’m a firm believer that every single space has a solution you can love.  It may just take time to wrestle with each space’s challenges and discover the best option.  And that solution may change as your season of life and needs do!

Now that we’ve finished up the addition, it was time to start settling the house and working on our spaces that didn’t feel right.  First on the list was the living room.  You can check out the living room reveal here, but here’s a reminder.

When we first finished this, I was like, “Yes!  We figured this small space out.”  It felt really functional for the size and so beautiful.  And looking back at photos now, it’s still those things.  But living in it day in and day out felt a bit different.  I’m realizing that it often takes time to get a space where you need it.  Over time, we started to crave a shift.  The couch felt heavy the longer we lived with it, which comes from color and size.  It really felt a bit too big for the space the more we settled in.  

We moved it around and tried some different layouts, but because the couch is so large and deep, it majorly chopped the space up to have it anywhere else.  Replacing it wasn’t an option at this point, so we decided to think differently.  A living room HAS to have a couch…right?  Well, we decided to work with what we have and try something.  This is in no way a reveal.  It’s more of a look at what we’re trying that may totally change again as we live with it!  But I think sharing that process is good.  Too often, we all share the big reveals and don’t show that it really took time to get there and see what worked for us.  So, join me for this crazy ride, y’all!  There’s still some details to add and tweak in here, but it already is a fun change.  

Here’s our living room today.

The other leather chair has to be repaired and once it is, the plan is to put it beside the other and have a circle of four chairs that’s great for conversation, reading, etc.  The lucite coffee table we had is very large, so we’re going without one for now, but if we continue liking this layout, I may look for a smaller oval that’s a better fit.

Who remembers these chairs from our last living room?

Oh it’s fun to take a look back at our last living space.  It was so big and beautiful, but even that one wasn’t without challenges.  Living in so many different spaces has shown me each one will have challenges, but each has the potential to be beautiful and functional.  Let the tweaking begin!

These are custom chairs from Arhaus.  We got them for our last living room and loved their unique shape and print.  I desperately tried to find a spot for them in this house, but they’re large and there was just no way they would fit with a couch in our current living space.  And again, we HAVE to have a couch, right?  So they got put into storage.  But it was so fun to try them in this room!

I’m in love with this blue and white geometric print with the organic pattern of the curtains!  And even though they’re the same size as the couch combined, being able to separate them takes up less visual space.  Right now, we’re trying them out and seeing how they fit.  If we love this layout and keep it awhile we will likely tweak end tables and details. 

I’m really loving the mix of styles in here right now.  We had the cowhide rolled up in our shed from the last house and love the neutral texture it brings.  It combined with the white buffalo print and the antler chandelier mixes so well with the chair and curtain fabric.  Y’all know I love the mix!

The true test will be when we get the other leather chair repaired and bring it back in.  But for now, the smaller imprint of four chairs and being able to move them around compared to a couch is feeling right!

How about that entry wall?  If you’ve followed my stories, you know it’s been bothering me and I’ve been trying to figure it out for awhile.  Here’s where we started with it a year ago.

It’s so funny…seeing it in pictures I do love it.  When I first designed this house, there were so few walls for art and I wanted the statement of this big gallery wall.  But living in this house has changed my style a bit and while I still look at this and think it’s beautiful, I long for a more streamlined look. And this space has taken time to see how we need it to function, so some changes have taken place.  Here’s how this space has looked for the last six months or so.

Just a little crazy.  The plan from day one was to paint the armoire and tweak the art, but then the addition started and we just never got there! But, it’s time to fix this space.  We’re going to take everything from this wall and then carefully add back.  I’m feeling the need for much simpler and streamlined in this area.  So stay tuned for that!

Now, I know some of you are thinking “Where’s the couch?”  When I shared a glimpse of this space on Instagram, I got quite a few of those questions.  Tomorrow, I’ll share how we are re-imagining a different space in the house to provide different function for us and it got the couch!