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?