There’s something about being nearly a year into living here that makes it feel like we’ve accomplished a fair amount of “evolution” over the last 357 days (not that I’m counting…). I guess it’s because living somewhere for a month isn’t really a lot of time for tweak-age, but twelve of those in a row – well, it’s enough time to get things going. Like living with a floor plan for 11 months (just to be suuuuure) and then knocking out a wall that we’ve wanted gone from day one:
It’s also enough time to make a few furniture and accessory changes as we transition from working with what we have (like random stuff carried over from our first house) and first-instinct choices to a few more thought-out decisions. Yup, these things apparently take time – at least in our experience (remember this post on that subject?). So here’s the story about a pretty sizeable three-fer tweak of epic rug, ottoman, and chair proportions.
We haven’t made any major furniture/accessory purchases since the just-moved-in phase when we got our sectional, our first rug, our bed, and our big dining room table. Then we went on a building/DIY kick for the next almost-year (making our $104 console table and our $124 wall-to-wall double desk and saving nearly 4K by laying our own stone patio and getting a ton of estimates to save 3K on our kitchen wall-opening). We’ve mostly just been picking up super inexpensive secondhand furnishings since moving in (like our $35 desk chairs, $25 dining chairs, and four secondhand kitchen cabinets for our in-progress remodel for under $100).
So after many months of building up the savings account and waiting for things that we loved to come along, it felt nice to actually buy them. And since we had some “store credit” towards Joss & Main from curating a sale with them as a side gig (more on that here), we loved that we could put that towards our living room tweaks, especially because it’s one of our most used rooms, so we’ll definitely notice and appreciate it. But now onto what we tweaked and why…
For the last almost-year we have loved our fluffy green shag rug (it was great for a wiggly crawling baby and a wobbly toddler – and was so thick and inviting that many an adult found themselves sitting/lying on the floor). But there are a few issues that have popped up as Clara has grown.
# 1. Let’s just say that finding milk dripped and goldfish or cheerios crushed into our plush rug was less than pleasing. Yes, we’re one of those casual families who doesn’t have a no-food-in-the-living-room rule (I mean, peanut butter & jelly or a bagel with cream cheese isn’t living-room approved, but dry crackers and a sippy cup of milk are). That’s just how we both grew up and we really appreciate the this-house-is-not-a-museum vibe, so we plan to keep it that way. And although vacuuming or a bit of scrubbing (for spilled milk) got ‘er done (and Burger was awesome about hunting down the occasional goldfish before we even knew it’d gone missing) the rug was still a bit higher maintenance than a lower pile one would be now that we have an energetic toddler.
#2. The size. In our first house both our living room and den rugs were just 5 x 8′ since the rooms there were so small. So although we knew that our new living room was much larger, somehow an 8 x 11’ rug sounded like it had to be big enough for our 25 foot long room. Well… try as we might to “adjust” to it, it always felt a little small (we’re definitely still learning how to decorate a larger space). Like our giant sectional was just baaaarely contained on the boundaries of the rug:
So when I saw this giant (10 x 14!) 100% wool rug for $599 (down from $798) on Joss & Main I got excited. And nervous. That’s not exactly peanuts around here. But it’s a huge rug – and rugs that size that we like are usually 1-2K (which made me fake ugly-cry on at least three occasions). It almost felt impossible to find something extra large, low pile, and our style that didn’t end in three zeros. So $599 started to sound pretty good. At least good enough to contemplate for a little while.
After mulling it over for a few hours, I decided to show John to see what he thought (we have a full agreement agreement, so we don’t buy anything that we don’t both love). That way if he nixed it I could just close the window and stop thinking about it. But when I went to show it to John, he had it up on his screen (he also gets Joss & Main alerts and had clicked on that rug and left it open on his computer to “talk to me about it” a little later). Crazy, huh? We were both secretly mulling over the same rug. It was meant to be. So we gritted our teeth and put in our order. I’m not going to say that we didn’t have sweaty palms, but we went for it.
Since we’d been temporarily using a too-small placeholder-ottoman that didn’t have storage which used to reside in our first bedroom as a side table, we also found ourselves pining after this big tufted leather storage ottoman. Again, it’s not exactly a cheap addition to the room. At all. But nearly fourteen cubic feet of additional hidden storage was a huge draw (it’s almost 3 x 3 x 1.5 with an easy-open hinged top). Of course we also appreciated that it’s a correctly-sized counterpart to our giant sectional (as opposed to looking like a too-small donut hole) and that it isn’t hard and pointy for little toddler heads (but can be used for serving food & drinks with the addition of a nice big tray). Yup, she’s versatile. And we never could have sprung for it at 900 beans, but at over $500 off… well…
And then somehow this $169 chair (down from$339) said “how you doin’?”…
…which was especially convenient since the parson’s chair that we purchased for $70 from Target about four years ago was looking a little rough due to tons of use which led to one side of the faux-leather cracking so it looked like this:
So we waited patiently at the door for everything to arrive, pausing only to eat, sleep, change the baby, work on the kitchen, and blog. When everything arrived pretty much at the same time, it was sorta like Christmas. Literally, it kind of was (we declared these items to be our Christmas gifts to each other for last year, this year, and next year). Psst- pardon the rug wiggles, we still need to get a rug pad. And as for the art swap, I meant to blog about that a while back. It’s actually extra burlap-ish fabric that I used instead of the colorful paper. I love that it has more texture and doesn’t compete with the bright pillows and accessories.
Spending that kind of money on a rug and ottoman was definitely not a drop in the bucket for cheap-os like us. Heck even $169 for a chair isn’t usually our MO (we’re no strangers to spending $20-35 on thrift store or craigslist chairs). But it did feel nice to add up the sale savings ($199 + $521 + $170 = a whopping $890!). And more importantly, since we’ve worked our buns off to DIY so many projects over the last 11 months it meant that we were able to save a pretty nice chunk of change, so our bank account was thankfully just fine with the living room spree (we don’t like to buy anything we can’t immediately pay off – more on that here).
Of course we’re hoping to reuse the old round ottoman and the old living room rug in other still-evolving spaces (you know we’re use-what-you-got fans) and we might even try slipcovering the faux-leather chair in some fun fabric for another spot as well. So we’ll have to keep you posted on those cha-cha-cha-changes too. Of course we still have about a million other working-with-what-we-have items going on, like the wrong sized rug in the office, a too-small TV and media cabinet in the living room (we hope to build a nice media center to balance out our chunky distressed console table) along with many completely-missing elements (like a large buffet/console table with art and a rug in the entryway off of the dining area and an entire playroom and sunroom that have yet to be tackled along with all of our bathrooms). But we’ll get there someday.
Knowing that our first house took us 4.5 years to complete is a great comfort to us, because it takes away the we-want-it-all-done-now pressure. These things take time. But we’re feeling really good with our one-year-in progress (see a lot of that here). How about you? Do you have a “magic number” of months or years after living somewhere when you finally start to feel more settled and “evolved” (after feeling around in the dark for a few months while you get your bearings)?
Psst- To anyone looking to purchase the rug, ottoman, or chair – Joss and Main has flash sales (only lasting a few days) so of course by the time we got this stuff in the mail and took pics they weren’t for sale anymore. But lots of their stuff can be found on wayfair.com (though it’s not usually as heavily discounted over there) or you can get on Joss & Main’s mailing list here (that’s an instant invite, so you don’t have to wait). Hope it helps!
Angela says
The living room looks so much better with the new rug and ottoman. More grown-up.
How much of a store credit did you have from Joss & Main?
YoungHouseLove says
Joss and Main actually asked us not to disclose that info (perhaps because other folks they work with get compensated in different ways?) but it was a nice amount that definitely helped with these purchases! It was one of our first side gigs that involved a credit (most of our side jobs like writing columns for DIY magazine and writing our book are paid out in a more traditional way). Very thankful for it!
xo,
s
Areader says
Didn’t your Mother ever teach you not to ask such questions?
Katie G says
Wow-wee. I liked your living room before, but now you turned it up to 11.
Laura says
I am amazed i thought the original rug was great and i thought the size was good but the bigger rug makes the room look twice as big.
hyzen says
um, it looks awesome, you guys! As much as I loved your other rug (in fact, I just ordered almost the same one in white for our office/guest area), the size of this one is undoubtedly better in your space, and the pattern is lovely, too. All three things were gorgeous, great buys–congratulations!
Kath says
Absolutely LOVE the updates!
Kate S. says
Wow, I am so happy to see these changes. Now your living room is starting to look like the YHL I knew and loved!
Jessica says
I LOOOOOVVVE that office chair…and the switched out artwork! Oh wait, I really like all the changes :) It was good before too, but I like what you’ve done! I can’t wait to see the kitchen updates. I rent where I currently live, and the kitchen isn’t soooo up to date…Guess you can say that I live ‘vicariously’ through other’s kitchen remodels??? lol Are you gonna show Christmas decor soon?
Have a wonderful day :)
~*Jessica
YoungHouseLove says
Yes! We have some stuff up this week and a lot of stuff that we’ll share next week since we’re woefully behind on all things Christmas!
xo,
s
Elle says
Wow. It’s so funny; the changes you made makes me love everything else you’ve got going on in your living room even more. Sometimes I worry that if I add something way nicer to a room I already like that the good-but-not-great pieces will stick out like a sore thumb. But this is proof that when you add upgrades to a room you already like, it elevates everything instead of causing an attack of suddenly-I-want-to-replace-everything-else. Bravo!
And that rug is so gorg. And the ottoman. And the chair. And the… OK, I’ll stop now.
Wrenaria says
I love the new rug way more than the old one and I remember drooling over that same ottoman when it was on Joss and Main. Sooooo jealous. I want it super bad.
Your living room is looking gorgeous!
Amy @ Lovely Nest says
It looks so good! I’m loving the rug and the ottoman! I’d love to have a big one like that someday. I love the whole tray on the ottoman look!
Sarah @ w30 says
Love the changes! It is so posh yet so comfy. :) Also – maybe I should get a Burger – sounds like a great vaccuum system you have going on!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, he’s awesome. I highly recommend a Burger for every household.
xo,
s
Firesparx says
I LOVE the shape and colour of your new chair!
We’ve been in our new (and much bigger) house for nearly a year (we moved in Dec 27th). I had a lot of people saying “I can’t wait to see how you decorate the place” and it really put the pressure on me. I found myself getting overwhelmed (discovering Pinterest made it simultaneously better and worse). I have to keep telling myself that decorating takes time, and that is part of the fun. I’ve now tried to focus my efforts on one room at a time, so that I’d have a better sense of accomplishment and so that my rooms will have better cohesion.
Hillary says
Love love LOVE the changes the room looks amazing especccccially that ottoman! Amazing how these change ups made a room that already looked great about 10x better. So inspiring!
Also I’ve been reading your blog in backwards order ever since you tweeted about it recently and I’m at the part of the nursery makeover in your first house… It is really amazing to see how much your style has evolved between the two houses, you’ve really upped your color game! Thanks for providing so much inspiration and entertainment!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Hillary! So fun to hear that you’re reading from the first post up to the present! Hope you make it out alive- haha.
xo,
s
Lizzy says
holy crap! all those new buys are so awesome!!!
i LOVE the new rug. your previous rug was fun but i always wondered about crumbs and other things getting lost in there. your new rug is super cool – and doesn’t seem as childish (for lack of a better term) as the previous!
i bought a rug from the foundry.com several months ago but am already scouting out a replacement for our living room!
Laura says
Holy smokes that ottoman is SUCH an improvement! the rug too, together they make the whole room so much more proportionate! Its nice to see this room improve, it has been in such a design-limbo since you first moved in! Great job!
Jess says
seriously, SO much better! Looks very upscale but still fun at the same time.
Jyl says
Loooove the new rug and furniture! The larger rug really makes a big difference in the room. I’m interested to see where Big Green ends up though. It’s a shame its not more toddler proof, because it’s so appropriate for a playroom! You guys will come up with a great idea though, you always do!
Also- I loved the advent calender! What a fun, creative idea, And such a nice tradition. D’awwww! Go get your tree up! I’m having warm and fuzzy visions of you carrying Clara to the tree and putting an ornament on it every day :)
Melissa says
You don’t have to justify spending money on nice things!!! Plus you saved a ton of money by buying it on joss and main. The nice things are going to last WAY longer than the crap they sell at Target. You go girl. You guys save tons of pennies and deserve to spend some hard earned money sometimes!!!
Emily says
I LOVVVVEEEEE that ottoman with your dark sofa! it looks awesome and I am jealous of all the natural light you have my family room is like a cave and I hate it!
Maritel says
Love the changes you made! We have the 4 of the Becca chairs for our dining room and LOVE them! Got them for a deal on Overstock. Your living room looks so awesome with all the vivid colors!
Sara says
It looks fabulous! I love the changes!
Sam @ The Junk House says
That rug is a-maz-ing! Seriously, I’m in love! I don’t think the room looked bad before, but it’s gorgeous now! Gah, I’m getting all rug-love flustered writing this!
Barbara says
I wanna buy your old rug!! Think of the money you could use!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, thanks Barbara! We’ll definitely let everyone know if we put it on craigslist or ebay!
xo,
s
Jyl says
Oh, and how it Karl holding up? Seriously? We’re considering a smaller Karl for our den and when I visit him at Ikea, he just seems a little… flimsy? But your Karl still looks good from the photos. Whats the current verdict?
YoungHouseLove says
Great! No complaints at all! Very toddler and dog friendly (comfy, and still looks new).
xo,
s
Lauren @ Around the World Food says
I love the new look! The ottoman is my favorite update, but the new rug also gives the living room a more “rich” look.
Mrs. VJ says
So I always lurk and never post, but just had to for this one…GORGEOUS! That dhurrie is to die for and fits your room to a T. And I love your supersized ottoman – the scale is spot on. Cheers!
Radhika Paruchuri says
love all three purchases that you made. Well worth it. I especially like the rug. It is a stell! It stells the show in the living room and is a stell in terms of price!
Amy says
LOVE the new pieces! Scale is tricky, especially when you’re used to smaller rooms. I love how open and bright this feels now… delish!
Penni McNamara says
Wow! What a difference an “in-scale@ rug makes! Looks amazing and brings your whole room to a new level. The ottoman is also great. I saw that on Joss and Main and tried desperately to find a place in my house for it!
Allyn says
The hubs and I have those moments all of the time. We’re always saying “get outta my head!” It’s a really great thing to be on the same page about so much.
That rug is AMAZING! Seriously love it, and the way it totally anchors your room better. Way to go guys!
elaine says
Gorgeous! Love it ALL! amazing. Your new rug is especially stunning! I love your ‘old’ rug too but this one really works well with Karl. You guys have such great taste! :)
sara v says
EEEEEK I LOOOVE IT!!! It looks so light and airy and fun and cozy and just amazing.
cate says
Love, love, love the new rug…it’s perfect in the room! the size, the color, the pattern – looks great! and the ottoman is such a great fit too!
can’t wait to see the kitchen counters soon!
Jill Stigs says
Super love the changes…..more sophisticated for sure. What I don’t understand is why you feel you have to be apologetic for getting nice new things? You both work super hard and long long hours. You all deserve it!!!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Jill, just keeping it real! We feel genuine guilt and nervousness when we order expensive things since we’re so used to trying to DIY stuff! So we thought we should share all that goes through our heads like we do with other decorating and home improvement projects/purchases, etc.
xo,
s
Meredith says
I noticed the apologetic-ness too; I really appreciate it because whenever I buy something approaching the $100 or more mark it’s a big “uhhhhhhhh—I shouldn’t spend that much money, should I?” for me. It’s hard to pull the trigger, even though I’ve saved the money and can “afford” it in the traditional sense. Thanks for keeping it real!
Melissa says
I really liked your living room before, but these changes are perfection. I’m actually blown away how just a few swaps can have such a big impact on the overall look.
(I first typed “few swamps”…made me laugh) ;-)
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, swamps.
xo,
s
sara v says
OH AND I like how the studs on the new chair match what you did with the rocker a while back
MJB says
I’m a huge fan of ottoman coffee tables: flat enough to hold a tray of drinks, cushy enough to prop the feet on, big enough to balance out a big sectional, sturdy enough for extra seating… plus storage. It will be worth every penny spent.
I have two kids and a bigger much hairier dog (collie) and we would have trashed a shag rug in weeks. At least yours is still functional and can be used somewhere else in the house.
Angela L. says
Shut the front door! This is awesome. Thought I like it before but now I may be in love. You amaze me $herdog ;). Happy holidays to you and your family.
Jennifer says
Reading your blog is like opening presents on Christmas morning! I get giddy from excitement :)
LOVE, love, L-O-V-E the new purchases!
Michelle says
This looks SO great! Very classy, sophisticated and fun at the same time!
We built our media cabinet using Billy components from IKEA, like this one: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S69894040/
We love it!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the link! Looks awesome!
xo,
s
Amanda R says
Love the update, the proportions are so much better now! This is totally inspiring me to really start the hunt for a better proportioned LR rug… my current one is similar to your before here, the proportions aren’t bad but not great either. I need to start looking at my Joss & Main emails more closely now! Didn’t realize the discounts could be so deep!
Rhiannon says
Wow you guys, it looks amazing! The larger rug was definitely needed, and I love the pattern. Everything is perfect, it was worth it!
shara says
SO MUCH BETTER! loving it.
Laura says
Oh WOW! The rug and ottoman have made such a difference – everything looks so much more in-scale. As soon as i saw the photo with all your new stuff in it i thought the room looked so much more “grown-up” (for lack of a better term) than before! It’s amazing what a couple of tweaks can do. Looks like you’re growing into the living room for sure! Can’t wait to see what it looks like when you guys get your Christmas decorations done!
Sara says
Wow, that rug is AMAZING! You definitely made some good investments!
Xo,
Sara
Dana says
Those updates are awesome!
Denise says
WOW!!!! It was beautiful before but now looks so much spacious and clear. The change of the rug and ottoman make more sense. As always, GORGEOUS!!!
Loren says
These updates look great. I was most blown away by the chair. Amazing how switching out something a nice chair that seems relatively minor for a slightly nicer chair would make a big difference. The room feels much lighter now.
BrookeJ says
The addition of the bigger rug makes your living room appear MUCH larger–I think the eye looks at a rug to define a room and has a tendancy to stop at the rug boundries. I was wondering how Karl was holding up, I’m thinking of purchasing him for our family room.
YoungHouseLove says
Still love Karl! No complaints whatsoever!
xo,
s
seriously sassy mama says
The larger rug totally grounds the couch in the room. I love the chair!