Mantel and Living Room

January is always a great time to do something new in the living room!

Once all the Christmas decorations and wrappings

are put away, and the room is cleaned,

I seem to want to move the furniture around!

With a new couch in the family room,

the old one moved in here right before the holidays.

I didn't have any time to play with arrangements then,

so now was my chance!

For Christmas, I put the couch facing the fireplace,

with the back facing the entry. This was so the Christmas tree

could still be in the window.

 It worked okay, but it really closed off the living room,

so I tried a new spot after the holidays.

I moved it under the front window and started moving

around the rest of the furniture that I was determined

would stay.

It was a little better, but still feeling pretty crowded,

and the two wing chairs were giving it that closed-off feeling again.

I knew something was going to have to go, whether I liked it or not!

As soon as I moved the table out of the corner by the bookcase,

the room made sense again!

It opened up and felt more spacious.

(I moved the table to the family room, which meant

something had to go in there, too, but that's another story!)

Once I had the furniture figured out, I was able to move on to the mantle,

which is where I usually like to start!

 I loved this new chalkboard so much, I brought it out again!

 This time, I paired it with the usual white pitchers,

as well as silver candlesticks and an ivy wreath.

The final product makes me happy!

A Quick Furniture Reshuffle

We have lived in this house for almost 5 years now, and the living room furniture
has been in pretty much the same place, even when the furniture was different.

1st couple of years.

2nd couple of years.

I decided to move the wing chairs in front of the window

and the table across the room.

This simple difference really opened up the room

and made it feel larger.

It also allowed me to bring in a couple more chairs

and set up a little desk area, something I was really needing.

I also really like have the two chairs close together like this.

It makes for a nice conversation spot.

They coordinate nicely, don't you think?

For detailed instructions on making these slipcovers,

see here

and here

I thought there wasn't any other way to arrange the furniture in this room,

but I am so happy I finally tried something different!

Statement Chairs: A Love Affair!

I think my love affair with chairs began as a teenager, when I went to an exhibit of American Furniture at the De Young Museum in San Francisco. I found many of the chairs to be so beautiful, they could be considered not just functional seating, but ART!

I still feel that way, especially when you have a Statement Chair in your home.
(Or, in my case, several!)

What is a statement chair?
Just what it sounds like: a chair that makes a statement, adds an accent to a room, or maybe is even the centerpiece of a room. It is often the one piece that pulls all of the other elements together.

One of my favorite home decor sights, One King's Lane, has a new feature.
 It's called the Home Decor Resource Guide, and I have found it to be very useful and quite interesting, especially if you love furniture and home decor as I do! You can learn so much about your style, how to achieve a certain look, even the history of your particular furniture piece.

Recently, I used this Resource Guide to learn more about some chairs I have in my home.

I inherited 2 of these chairs from my dad who loved antiques.
I found out that they are from England, late 17th century.

You can tell by the Jacobean legs (spiral-turned) and carved crown on top.
(If you know your English history, you know the crown symbolized a return to the monarchy after Cromwell's Puritan reign in the 1600s.)

This little chair is early 20th century from Mexico. I love the peeling red paint. The seat cover is my own touch of "cottage chic" that makes it work with my style.

But I really love my wing chairs. I have been enamored of wing chairs since I was a child. I love the shape: the high back and "wings" that come out on each side. They are such a comfortable place to sit and read, have a chat, or just think deep thoughts!

 

They bring to mind a past era where people settled in for the evening with a good book by the fire or spent their leisure time in the "library".

Actually, I learned from the Resource Guide that the original purpose of the wings was to protect a person from drafts and trap the heat from the fireplace.
 They were developed in England in the 17th century, a cold and drafty place if there ever was one!

I have 2 of them, both yard sale finds, 20th century reproductions.
I made slipcovers for them from drop cloths.

Each one is a little different; one has blue piping, pleats and buttons,

while the other is a bit simpler, with a blue stripe down the middle.

Although wing chairs were originally made for castles in England over 400 years ago, they can work in my cottage-style living room when I use a fabric like a drop cloth. And that's the great thing about chairs: you can take any style and make it your own, and it will make a statement in your home!

One's King Lane's Home Decor Resource Guide
has all the information and details you need, whatever your style!