It felt good to get the Christmas decor packed away (mostly) and start with a clean slate. Transform our living room to our Winter Living Room. All through the year I refluff here and there for a season or just to mix things up and redo. By Christmas I have the place decked out from floor to ceiling. Come January I pack it all away and start out about as minimalistic as I ever get. As the year goes on I’ll add more back into my decor because I’m really not cut out to be a complete minimalist. I’ve tried. Really I have. It just isn’t me!
I left the silver garland and the lights on my shelf. I just couldn’t bring myself to put the twinkle lights all away yet. When the evenings starts staying light longer I’ll pack them away till November 🙂
Here is the shelf all decked out for Christmas.
Here it is now. I took the nativity down and removed the white ornaments. Added David back to the mix and placed my rope knots in the brandy snuffer. The vintage framed print I got for Christmas – I picked it out at an antique shop and text my Mom to see if she needed something to give me for Christmas 😀 I need to get a close-up of it – it’s word art – and is written in German.
I also had my Mom give me the pillow cover with the deer on it. My friend Lucy painted that beautiful print and you can buy one for yourself here. You should also browse all her other great stuff! I just love the work she does – she paints all those great prints herself – go check it out!
Did you notice my new lamp in the corner? I just got it at IKEA and I just love it!
It’s so perfectly industrial, white and perfect!
This is what the piano side of the living room looked like for Christmas.
Now it looks like this. The tv was our Christmas gift to ourselves and the girls this year. The tree got packed away for the year and I gave the white bench to my sister. The dresser came down from upstairs so I would have something to store dvd’s in. The top 2 drawers hold items for Sew a Fine Seam. The basket on top of the dresser I bought at Home Goods on the same shopping trip I got the IKEA lamp. I put all our piano music in it since we still don’t have a piano bench that will hold music. The tree was also a Home Goods find – marked down to $10.
So it’s functional and it looks ok I guess. But I really think the dresser looks way too small beside the piano and under the basket. So it won’t stay this way for long most likely. Just till I find something that works better!
What do you use to hide all your dvds and cords and antennae?
Jill
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I love everything! That light from Ikea is wonderful. Just love that store. I like how you placed your tv on top of the piano too. That’s a great idea. Our tv is inside a cabinet. We store our movies in the lower half. I like the industrial style chair at the piano as well. Love the cute deer pillow and artwork you got for Christmas. They show up nicely against all the white. Isn’t it fun to get a clean slate and start over at the beginning of the year?
Thanks Kelly, yes it is great to start fresh in the new year and just add and change all year long. and then start all over again the next year! I want a cupboard for the tv someday but for now this is working!
I like it all, which I always do! You could leave the dresser but find a large branch of some sort, pussy willow, etc and place in a vessel, jar, etc and set on the dresser. This would add some height and balance. Could set basket on floor beside dresser to keep that color there and find another spot for tree. Like that tree! It really looks fine the way it is!
I would put something green and living in that corner. But I kill all house plants so that would be a no go for me. I, too, love the industrial chair at the piano. I know it doesn’t help with the sheet music situation but I like it. We put all of our DVDs in a 3 ring binder with CD pages, we store the cases in the basement. We started doing this about 6 years ago when a certain little boy thought it was fun to take all the DVDs out of their cases all.day.long. It’s much easier to store. As for cords, our monitor (we use our TV as the monitor for our computer) sits in a cabinet so the cords are behind it.
Hi Jill, I love your twig tree! It looks great on that little grey dresser, I wouldn’t change a thing. I have found its easier to get rid of the DVD’s. We subscribe to services such as Netflix and to Gamefly. We have found almost every movie/game/tv show is available online in some form or another, so we sold all our DVD’s. I don’t miss having them laying around.
Thanks Jessica! I’m sure at some point we will get rid of all the dvd’s but for now I still like them – we do keep most of them in smaller cd cases instead of the big plastic dvd cases so that helps. Right now everything fits in just the one bottom drawer of the dresser.
Your home is so pretty Jill! Love your deer pillow…
Blessings,
Cindy
We used to have a low top dresser with one drawer hinged so it would flip down to store the DVD player, etc. and the other drawers housed the DVDs, but a couple of years ago we decided to have a unit custom built in the corner adjacent to our fireplace. It’s floor to ceiling and houses the TV, cable box, DVD player, etc., plus all the DVDs, remotes, VHS tapes – yes, I still have those and a VHS player. It was a pricey endeavor, but I really love the look – I’m one of those people who doesn’t much care for electronics – except when in use!
I love your Ikea lamp and the twig tree. My cords, and cables reside in an old, wood French tool box. It moves around a lot these days as nothing has a permanent home yet. I’ve been looking for a reasonably priced Swedish Mora clock (my MIL was from Sweden and we went there on our honeymoon to meet her extended family). Some day I’ll find one. Be patient and don’t give up…the “perfect” piece will find you when the time is right…in the mean time, enjoy the beautiful space that you’ve created! IMHO, the only thing missing from that photo is someone playing the piano! xo
Awwww, thanks Kimberly! I am trying to get all of us back into our piano practicing! I love those clocks so much too and if I ever find one at a reasonable price or win the lottery or something I’m getting one! Of course to win the lottery I better start playing! LOL!
I adore your home.. So delightful to look at!
Thank you pam! I enjoy sitting in my living room and marveling at how far it has come – I need to dig deep and find some ‘before’ pics from years ago and show you just what it used to look like!
Just love it, Jill! So much warmth and character…and just enough…not too much!! My grandmother was an interior designer, and she had a phrase for the overdone spaces, “Too much of a muchness”. Just love it! I am turning into more of a minimalist, but could never be hard core about it, either!!
Hugs,
becky
Thanks SO much Becky! I am liking it more the longer I look at it – I’m satisfied till I find something better! Always fun to change things out anyway 🙂
the living room looks so beautiful. I love the chiar instead of the piano bench, as well as the dresser beside it. We use a large dresser as entertainment center, so the drawers hold our dvds and the side cabinets hold dvd player, cd’s and all the other electronics.
Oh I saw that lamp on the IKEA website and fell in love…it looks perfect on your table! Everything looks so pretty and it’s obvious that you love your home. Hope you are keeping warm!
So pretty and charming, Jill! It’s pared down but still warm and cozy. Great lamp – I’d love it for Maine. Will check out Ikea, and maybe enjoy their apple cake, too 🙂
Warm greetings,
L
I need to get to IKEA stat! That lamp= swoon. Of course I am forbidden to buy any new house stuff since we will soon be moving. 🙂 Maybe he wouldn’t notice. 🙂
Jill, your living room looks great! I hate cords-I can never find a good way to hide them!
Susan
I love going minimalist after Christmas but like you, it doesn’t stay minimal for very long!
Love Lucy’s pillow – I have the deer wearing a tartan scarf!
Kelly
We just aren’t minimalists at heart Kelly! I loved that painting of Lucy’s too – she is so talented 🙂
Hi Jill, I just stumbled upon your blog and it looks very promising! As for the word-art picture, I am actually German and the picture says “My house and I want to serve the Lord”. I’m sure you have seen modern versions of this (As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord) in stores. I guess it’s been around for a while.
Iris
Thanks Iris – there was a note on the picture when I bought it that said the translation was ‘me and my house will serve the Lord’ – that was the clincher that kept me from leaving it there!
Beautiful room. I love that the TV is on the piano and I hardly noticed. Loved the deer pillow too.
Thanks Ginger. I was pleasantly surprised at how well the TV blended in! I was so afraid it would be this huge conglomeration of cords and boxes and look so ugly but it’s so streamlined and the door I put against the wall hides where the cords go to the outlet! Thanks so much for coming by!
and is that a rug painted on the floor? I can’t tell?
Ginger, the rug is an actual rug. It is bamboo and the alphabet is printed on it. I bought it from a friend who owns a shop. Decor Steals offers them sometimes. If you don’t know what Decor Steals is you should check it out! They offer one deal a day and in a limited amount. They have some really cool stuff and the stuff that is the most popular they usually try to offer again. They have offered several different sizes of this rug at different times and I’m sure they will offer it again!
Thanks so much Jill for your response. The first pics looked like a rug but the last one it lays so flat I thought it might be a painted floor! Thank you for the tip! I will check out Decor Steals, it sounds awesome and no, I had never heard of it. 🙂
You will love Decor Steals!
I love the slipcover on the overstuffed chair. It looks so cozy. I really love the grey dresser too. It is distressed in all the right places. Your home looks very inviting.
Thanks Deana! I am in love with the sofa pictured in your header on your blog! Love the way you show the before and after 🙂