House Tour: Living Room

Our living room is the beating heart of our petite little home. It's a fairly large room that you walk into as soon as you enter the front door. It's a lounging space, a writing area, an entryway, a waiting room for students and parents, a library, and a hangout/conversation space for guests and visitors. We love this room and its many purposes and the great light it gets (hard to tell from my photos, but it's been an overcast few days) and its overall comfort and coziness.

One thing that I'll mention only because it's something a lot of guests have noticed: there's no TV in this room or anywhere else in the Harvey household! A little known fact about me (on Something Ivory anyway) is that I grew up without a TV. My parents are not extremists and I had a very normal childhood, they just decided that they wanted to raise their kids sans TV and believed strongly that it was a healthier way for us to grow up.

As a result I've never had any interest in having a TV. Interestingly enough, while my husband did grow up with a TV he's never had one of his own in his adult life either, not in college or afterward when living by himself. We use our computers to watch shows and even have an awesome projector screen setup in our basement for movie nights. So while it might seem weird to some, we've both arrived at our TV-less state in a very natural and organic way and we never even needed to have much of a conversation about it (by that I mean that I didn't have to convince him of anything or lead him over to my side of the tracks). We both believe that our home is healthier and more wholesome without a TV, and our computers provide all the digital entertainment we need (thanks, Netflix!).

Because we didn't have to design around a TV we were able to put this room together in a way that really encourages conversation, intimacy, connection. We're lucky enough to have two couches and putting them opposite each other makes for a great chatting setup when friends, family, or potential students of mine come over. I love having our books displayed and within easy reach in the corner, and of course you know how I feel about my writing nook.

There are so many stories to the things in this room, so many personal and familiar elements and it would take far too long to talk about them all. Suffice it to say that everywhere I look in here I'm reminded of a family member, a friend, a memory, a fun project, a specific moment in our lives, a funny story, a loving gesture. This room makes me happy.

  

(As much as I love it I do have two small wishes for our living room: a working fireplace and white walls!)

Thanks for letting me share. What's your favorite element of your main living space?

Old Project, New Home

In the few years (!) that I've been blogging I've published my fair share of DIY posts. These posts have been some of my favorites to write up. One of my girlfriends recently asked how I find the energy for the projects I do (she was looking at this as she said it) and I surprised myself by answering that on the contrary, creating things gives me energy. I wasn't expecting that response to come out of my mouth but it's actually spot on. Making things lends me creative energy.

Anyway, I thought it would be fun to show you where some of my past projects ended up in our new home. Shall we take a little tour? 

My hanging bird mirror has found a lovely little home on this tiny rectangle of wall in our hallway. There was no question this is where it belonged and we didn't try it anywhere else!

Painted Jewelry Case

Last week I had a burst of creative energy and inspiration, so this week I'll be showing you some of the fun projects I worked on! Our home is feeling so cozy and so "us," which is exactly the quality I most want it to have.

All About Plants

In Alabama my husband and I had two plants and they both had names. Allie and Audrey both survived the move--amazingly--and have since been joined by quite a few other plant friends, too many to even name. Our new house just begs to be filled with fresh green plants. The street we live on has these incredible old trees and wild day lilies that spring up out of nowhere and there's lots of thick foliage surrounding us. Our neighbors' houses are positioned pretty close by but our house and yard feel private because of all the greenery. Even though we live five minutes from downtown, in the heart of Charlottesville, we lovingly refer to our home as our little cottage in the forest. It just has that feel.

A Writing Nook Among Bookcases

I'm about to share with you a part of our house that I'm head over heels for, a dreamy little spot carved out in a corner of our living room for a girl who loves reading and writing and cozy, miniature spaces. Meet my sweet little writing nook!

It was a multi-step process for how this area was dreamed up and how it came together. We have a good amount of books so I knew I would need to store them somehow, preferably in a pretty way. When my parents were here my Dad helped us choose this corner (I initially thought I wanted wall-mounted shelves but my Dad rightly convinced me that traditional standing bookcases were the way to go) and we decided on two tallish bookcases in a V shape. This configuration fit the room well and provided a lot of storage and some visual interest.

We didn't want to spend a lot of money on the bookcases--we were after basic white modern shelves with a streamlined design, nothing fancy, so we ordered two of these from Home Depot. They're certainly basic and won't last forever but for price and functionality and simplicity they're just what we were looking for. 

One thing I didn't love was the backing. While the shelves and tops and sides are pretty sturdy the backing is a flimsy piece of white cardboard, essentially, and it came folded in thirds so that it fit in the box. When we held up the backing it looked really cheap, the lines were obvious, and it was just utterly boring. 

I mulled over different options--going to Lowe's and having a piece of plywood or beadboard cut to fit, leaving the shelves backless (you can see that in one of the photos below), or painting the flimsy cardboard. 

You can see which option we picked! After trying several colors we chose this gorgeous deep green/blue. I think the dark paint gives the bookcases depth and sophistication, it mostly hides the folded lines, and it provides a bit of a custom touch to our pre-fab bookshelves. I'm so happy I put in this extra bit of work and energy.

Once the bookshelves were finished I moved this antique square table into place. This is something I already had (from my parents) and I love how the shape mirrors the angular configuration of the bookshelves.

While there's plenty of room to sit here and it doesn't feel cramped it was a bit tricky finding a chair that worked. Traditional chairs looked bulky and out of place and took up too much space. This chair looked cute here but it isn't super comfortable and I wanted this spot to be a functional place for me to sit at my computer.

We made a stop at Ikea in Pittsburgh last weekend and on my way out I saw this folding chair in the "As Is" section and I just had a feeling it would be perfect. It's narrow and petite but still very cozy to sit in, and the criss-cross metal legs make it look delicate and light. The opposite of bulky. And it was only $15!

With this chair it all came together and I couldn't be happier. There is a window on either side of each bookcase and the afternoon light that streams in is glorious. I can look out the window at the trees and foliage on the side of our house, and I love that I no longer have to blog from the couch. It's also so fun to look up and see all of our books. Such an inspiring environment for a writer!

DIY Milk-Painted Bathroom Table

Our house has two bathrooms--one that's old and one that's newer. (If you're a regular reader I bet you can guess which one I love most!) The older bathroom has tons of charm and character. Pine wainscoting, original hardwood floors, a clawfoot tub, brass faucets and doorknobs. If this were my house I would probably paint the wainscoting a creamy white but I've grown to love it as it is. It reminds me of a cozy ski lodge with all that warm, knotty pine.

The only problem with this bathroom is that it has zero built-in storage. Unless you count the top of the toilet, I really do mean zero. I've had to get creative with baskets and trays and my Dad hung a medicine cabinet on one wall when he was here a few weekends ago. This little table doesn't provide a ton of storage, but it's something I already had and when I tried it here it just fit so beautifully in this little nook between the door and the radiator. The cherry finish was in tough shape, though, and I didn't love how it blended into the wainscoting. That could be seen as a positive but I wanted it to pop against the warm wood.

I've been itching to try milk paint again and I knew this rich navy blue shade would look lovely with all of that wood and with the white tub and shower curtain. I applied two coats, both with the bonding agent, and then I did a super light distressing on just the edges and corners to give it a bit of an aged look. The knob came from Anthropologie, a place I rarely go to for hardware but since I needed just one knob I could afford to splurge a little. I like that the brass on the edges echoes the brass doorknob and the center almost looks like bone or ivory. It's so pretty in person.

This is my second time using milk paint and it's delightful to work with, so forgiving. Mixing it up using the powder and water is a little messy but I think it's worth it to end up with this really natural looking finish that almost looks like a stain. I wouldn't use it on everything but for the right piece of furniture it's definitely the way to go. And--no sanding required!

This was a quick and easy project but the difference it made in our bathroom is huge! It's so satisfying when just a few hours of work ends up completely transforming a piece, don't you think?

Family Heirlooms

We've only lived in this little house of ours for 26 days but when I walk through its rooms it doesn't feel new, it feels deep and familiar. My childhood nightstand fills a perfect little nook in the bathroom. The china cabinet that my Mom had in her home for her entire married life is in our kitchen, doing double duty as both a wonderful storage piece and a hundred-year-old work of art. The ivory keys that felt hours of practice by my much-younger hands are steps from where I sit, timeless and un-aged and loyal as ever.

The passing on of special things has always meant so much to me. I come from a family in which this is a very big tradition and I try to never take it for granted. How much more lovely it is to serve Christmas dinner on Grandma's Wedgwood china than anything new I could find! How wonderful to hang a painting in our home that was picked out by Dad as a gift for Mom. There's a history to the things that fill these rooms. These family gifts have helped make our house a home.

As a small thank-you to my parents I designed this card to send to them. I wanted to feature one of their hand-me-downs and this gorgeous pottery teacup is just so photogenic (despite my limited photography skills!).



Mom and Dad, we're so thankful! We love it all, down to every last teacup.



card c/o Treat

DIY Upholstered Side Table

I promise--I'm not going crazy upholstering everything in our house! It just seemed more efficient to conquer both of these jobs together at the same time while I had the supplies out, and I'm so so pleased with their new and improved selves. These two projects have given me lots of hope for future upholstering--but for now, I really am putting away the staple gun away for a while.

This cute little table was a hand-me-down from my parents and as you can see, the woven top was in really rough shape. The bamboo legs, however, while not perfect are sturdy enough and to me, look rustic in a good way. I knew this table would be on our screened porch so the fabric I chose needed to be durable, and preferably in a pattern or a darker shade so that we could put drinks on it without worrying too much about rings or stains.

The fabric I picked (like the velvet I used on the chair) was a remnant and highly discounted. When I saw this funky patterned fabric I fell in love. It's just the look I wanted for this piece. The colors brings a little life back into the table and it looks both modern and a little bohemian.

The process was easy--just me and a staple gun, making sure everything stayed nice and taut as I went along. The fabric is thick and heavy and you can see the extra fabric bunched underneath each corner, but that doesn't bug me. I could have cut some of it away if it had but I decided to leave it as is.

I love a good involved project but sometimes the simplest DIYs really are the best. This one took about 15 minutes, not including the time spent choosing fabric, and I wouldn't change a thing about the end result! This table is going to see lots of icy cold glasses of lemonade this summer, that I know for sure.