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!
MichelleLG says
you may have answered this in another post or comment, but i was wondering, how does your 1-year progress in this house compare to your 1-year progress in the first house? do you feel like you’re progress on this house is fast-tracking due to the full-time blog gig (which you didn’t have the first time around) or due to the efficiency and hindsight you gained in DIY/reno-ing a previous home?
ps: If you’re planning to answer these questions in an upcoming “1 year houseiversary” blog post OR if you already answered similar questions someplace else, just say so and i’ll either wait or track em down! no need to waste precious key-strokes repeating yourself! ;o)
YoungHouseLove says
I think it’s definitely coming together more quickly than our first house just due to experience (a year into owning our first home at 24 years old we just were still learning about what colors and materials we liked and what we could agree on and what we didn’t like, etc). So we had all of that knowledge going into this house (along with a lot more furniture that we amassed over the years) but of course we’re still leaning and tweaking so it’s still not an overnight thing! Here’s a post that might help about being eight months into our first house for ya: https://www.younghouselove.com/2011/08/the-eight-month-difference/
Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Kelly M. says
What an improvement!!! The new rug, ottoman and chair make the space look elegant and lovely! Looks great guys! Glad you splurged.
Ashlee says
I love it all! It looks very posh and polished and Domino-esque. I’m also digging the burlap in the frames. My favorite, though, might be the ottoman. Love how gorgeous AND functional it is!
Does it get weird having everyone know how much you spend on things?
Either way, thanks for sharing it all with us!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, nah! We’re over-sharers by nature, so other than restraining ourselves from talking about our address (for safety reasons), politics (for no-drama reasons), and how much we make as a whole (since we don’t even tell our friends and family that info), it’s completely fun for us to dish about how much we spend and save on individual projects and purchases!
xo,
s
Laura says
The new rug looks awesome! I can’t believe the difference! I was wondering how Clara likes the new rug…? I’ve been looking at these low ply dhurries for a while but they dont seem like a lot of support for a baby crawling around (I have the same reservations about natural fiber rugs). I suppose that’s the trade off, but just curious what your opinion is!? Please, convince me it’s okay!
Also – didn’t Katie Bower write a blog post about how her dhurrie-type rug in her living room wan’t holding up for her “boys”? Just curious if you two BFFs discussed!
YoungHouseLove says
She seems to love it just as much! Still plays on it and even has better luck rolling her cars and toys across it since it’s not as lumpy. Katie’s rug is a bit thinner I think (I remember seeing it in person and their issue was with the ottomans that they slide around on it). Maybe since we just have one big fixed ottoman and a u-shaped sofa sitting on ours it’s not as wiggly? So far we haven’t had any moving or pulling issues!
xo,
s
Reenie says
Love it ~ Karl looks sooooo much bigger!!!
Penny says
Wow, I didn’t even realize how the green rug was too small until you got your new one! Then it’s like, of course, it was too small. Absolutely love all three of your new pieces.
And I’m so glad you don’t let us know what’s going on until it’s done. As I was scrolling down your post, I had this dread that you were showing us the stuff you had ordered, and then we would have to wait. And you KNOW we don’t like to wait:)
Katie says
It looks amazing!
Robin says
I love posts about when and how you guys spend the big bucks. All three pieces have really added to the space!
Anna says
I love love LOVE that ottoman.
Mandy says
Rug looks great! The space is much less fragmented and is warming up quite beautifully! Since I have a 2 year old and I’m looking for a new sectional, was wondering how Karl’s fabric is holding up? I loose patience with constantly sagging/deflating cushions so wasn’t sure if this was a problem y’all are seeing?..would love your opinion! Anyhoo, awesome update :)
YoungHouseLove says
His fabric is awesome! It’s the dark sivik gray kind (some other types of fabric seem more pilly or easily snagged, but the dark sivik gray is like denim- it holds up awesomely).
xo,
s
Rachel says
WOW, what an incredible difference!! I thought it looked great before but this is AMAZING. It really shows the importance of scale in a big room. Awesome, awesome stuff.
Katie says
Looks like a million bucks. (Which is approximately 10^3 times what you spent on your tweaks, so that’s money well spent, right?)
•k• says
Wow! What an amazing difference the size of that rug makes. The room looks so much more grand and put together. Great purchases.
Is it wrong that I’m already contemplating replacing the sofa we bought for our new house about a year and a half ago?
YoungHouseLove says
Haha- nope. It’s totally normal! Don’t get down on yourself, it’s such a learn as you go thing! Hopefully you can craigslist your existing one to put money towards the next one?
xo,
s
holly says
k, here’s a story that will make you feel better: last month we bought a non-returnable dove-grey sofa. it was delivered on a saturday, put up on craigslist the very next day and sold that wednesday. i was only out the delivery charge ($85) after the sale. we all make mistakes!
http://shootingallens.posterous.com/oops
YoungHouseLove says
Aw, so sad for you- but happy you made your money back! It was a gorgeous sofa!
xo,
s
debbie c says
LOOOVVVEEE the rug!!! Wow-looks awesome in that room-(I liked the other one too) but this looks better with the new ottoman too!! Course I love that green color anyway…..
Looking forward to seeing the counters tomorrow!!
Carly G says
I’m so excited that you bought these items. I saw them all on Joss & Main and they just screamed YHL at me! Love how the room looks.
Emilee says
I love the new rug and ottoman–so fantastic. I’m bookmarking the look for when we move again. Love it. However, and this is just because I’m a math nerd, I think you mean that the ottoman has nearly 14 *cubic* feet of storage space, rather than square feet. Don’t you just love nitpicky commenters? Sorry.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha thanks Emilee! All fixed!
xo,
s
SM says
Duuuude, you guys need a bigger TV now. Just to balance everything out.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, that’s what I say! Isn’t it funny that the wife wants the bigger TV and the hubby wants to wait? Too funny.
xo,
s
Teresa says
haha!! I thought the same thing…
you can get bigger TVs at some good prices nowadays! :)
dinah says
wow never thought i say this but the new chair looks sexy!
Barb says
Stunning says B.
julie g. says
Hi! I’m checking back in with an emergency paint question because we are trying to catch our primer while still tacky. I’m using your tutorial and used oil-based primer but was going to follow up with our regular latex semi-gloss. I have seen where some suggested using an oil-based finish paint as well? Can I stick with my semi-glass or must I use oil-based. I’m looking for this to last about 3-5 years! Thank you in advance!!!
YoungHouseLove says
Your paint can be latex as long as the primer is oil-based (either one can follow it, and in our experience latex paint dries faster and is less fumey than oil).
xo,
s
julie g. says
Thank you for the fast answer! My husband was standing in the middle of Home Depot awaiting your reply. Carry on….
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, good luck!
xo,
s
Julie says
Love the ottoman, chair, and rug!
Miss the paper in the frames, though. I felt like they were so bright and fun. The burlap is nice too, but the paper had my number . . . .
Ashley @ Lewis in Love says
That rug is PERFECT in your living room!!! I always liked the old one, and never really thought about how it might be inconvenient to clean. But truthfully, this new rug looks WAY more polished. It’s so great in that space. Great find!!
Melissa @ HOUSEography says
Love Love Love it all! Was never a HUGE fan of the old rug and I could only imagine the spill factor. This one is fantastic. Did you use a rug pad?
YoungHouseLove says
We need to get one (hence the wiggles). Keeping an eye out for a nice sale since we’ll need such a huge one!
xo,
s
Larissa says
I found some rug tape that you tape to the bottom of your rug to give it some traction at Lowe’s or Home Depot, one. Waaaayy cheaper than a pad. Maybe a quick fix?
YoungHouseLove says
Great tip! We’ll have to check it out!
xo,
s
sarah (sarah learns) says
everything looks great! the new pieces are definitely an upgrade for the room (although i loved the before as well!).
do i spy new green & blue vases (with holes in them?) on the table over by the new chair?
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, those are from HomeGoods a little while back!
xo,
s
Susan says
Wow. You know, I never realized how big your living room was until you got furniture that was the correct scale for the space. This all looks amazing. Your living room was never my favorite room (not that MY opinion matters!) but now I think it looks awesome. And, good for you for knowing when you can/should DIY and when you should pull the trigger on quality items you love.
Melissa Stottmann says
WOW! Looks great! It makes the room feel bigger. We’ve been in our house for 3 years this past August and it still feels like we have ages to go – BUT it’s a completely different house nonetheless <3 Love you guys!
Katie Miller says
i absolutely love the changes–you both truly have an eye for this and i am so thrilled you share all of it with us :) well done, bravo!
liz says
Love it! Those were some great purchases. Nice job!
Jenny H says
I don’t usually comment on here but I have to tell you that room looks a million times better!
Christine says
Your living room looks FABULOUS! Like a lot of other people, I thought the room looked great before so I was giddy with anticipation as I read through waiting to see the pictures of it now! I absolutely love the stool/ottomans on each end of Karl; not only convenient for late night “computering” with a drink but they look great!
Ashley says
Love all the changes. I’m curious how the white leather ottoman will hold up with kids. I have three boys and would never be so brave. Love you site and the regular updates, can’t wait to see the kitchen finished.
YoungHouseLove says
We’ll definitely keep you posted! We figure since it’s leather it’s nice and wipe-able and if anything catastrophic happens (a small rip or something) we can always put a stack of books or a tray over it- haha.
xo,
s
Suzi says
When I started reading the post I was thinking “Nooooooo……” because I’ve always loved the plush green rug. I had the same reaction when you posted about the bedroom comforter switch up too, but I’m thrilled to see the new rug is still greeny and looks even better! Thanks for always inspiring us to change things up and keep growing. Happy Holidays!
Jenna {Jenna Sais Quois} says
These changes are AMAZING. I liked the room before, but you guys have such an eye for evolving your decor over time… The before/afters from changing out snap judgements versus drawn-out decorating decisions are my favorite.
I really love the new rug, ottoman and chair, and I know you just spent a bazillion (compared to the usual John & Sherry) dollars on the furnishings, but I think my favorite part is the changes you made to your wall art!
Jessica says
At first I thought the living room changes were super subtle, but after looking at the rest of the pictures, those three big cha-cha-cha-changes give the whole room a facelift. Your living room was already KILLING it, but this takes it to a new level. Officially pinned on my home inspiration board!
Thanks guys
Cheryl says
Awesome! It looks like a gorgeous room in an upscale shelter magazine!! Love, love, love the rug and that ottoman is fabulous. Terrific choices!
Karen @bellacarina.com says
LOVE the rug! I like how it has character, but isn’t too busy looking. And the ottoman is the right size for the space. My sister switched to leather ottomans from the wood coffee table for her little one and it’s worked out well…especially for wiping off milk spills!
laxsupermom says
Love all the new changes! That rug looks amazing and you got a killer deal on such a big rug! Thanks for sharing.
Lynette says
This looks a-freakin-mazing!!! I absolutely love the new look – it’s more refined and polished than before (not that I didn’t love the “before”!) and definitely more kid-friendly. Good work!!!
debbie c says
Love the shot of the new rug with the gorgeous ottoman! Yep, the rug is a better size now, and the pattern is stylin’! Looks great!
Melissa Evans says
Beyond AMAZING!! Wow wow wow! The living room is GORGEOUS!! House proud you guys must be :) Great savings and most importantly great picks!
The Shiny Side says
LOVE the changes! AMAZING! Isn’t it crazy how a little thing like scale can make such a large impact when it is EXACTLY right. Good work. The new rug and ottoman add a little sophistication to your bright and playfull livingroom. P.S. Your blog is awesome and I look forward to your posts everyday!
Clare says
Just a heads up to readers who love the Safavieh look that you’re rocking – the flash sale site Fab.com is featuring other Safavieh items today – dhurrie rugs included! And at some great prices too! (I don’t work for Fab.com or Safavieh – I just subscribe to too many flash sale sites for my own good.)
I love the new pieces though! The colors look fantastic in the room – they help brighten up Karl while still providing lots of lovely colorful contrast. Awesome finds!
Libby says
Wow, I can’t beLIEVE how much better your living room looks with that larger rug! I literally gasped when I scrolled down and saw the updated picture. Definitely worth the splurge. I also have a giant living room and its making me wonder if I don’t need to start looking for bigger rugs as well.
Also, I totally know what you mean about a house taking a long time to “finish.” I’ve been in mine for 4 years now I just finished the guest room this past weekend! And the living room took about 3 years to get right. And…the bedroom isn’t even close to right. I wish someone had told me how long it takes when we first bought the house because at the beginning, I put a lot of pressure on myself and felt bad that it didn’t look like a show home right away. Now I’m just enjoying the process! :)
Ashley says
OMG …. that’s all I can say! http://www.anthropologie.com/anthro/catalog/productdetail.jsp?id=23100936&catId=SHOPSALE-FRESHCUTS&pushId=SHOPSALE-FRESHCUTS&popId=SHOPSALE&navCount=204&color=010&isProduct=true&fromCategoryPage=true&templateType=D
YoungHouseLove says
Love!
xo,
s
Karen says
Wow… the difference a bigger rug makes is amazing. Love it! I don’t blame you at all for splurging on such great bargains.
I’m also happy to see the Sue the napkin pillows back… as well as the brighter colored ones. I love those so much more than the gray/neutral ones you were using for awhile.
Tiffany says
Thanks for posting this. I had fallen in love with your green shag rug and had planned on ordering the smaller size when we moved into 1st home (in a few weeks!).
But seeing as I have a 10 month old…. so thank you for sharing! New rug look great. Glad you stayed with green. :)
Question about your couch… have you ever put the slip covers in wash? I have a karl sectional (6 years old) and it says ‘dry clean only’. So it’s been 6 years of spot cleaning…
Thanks!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, our color cushion is ok with machine washing (even says it on the label) so we’ve done it a bunch of times. Not sure if your fabric would be ok though – maybe describe the color you have on Facebook and see if other readers have that one and have washed it?
xo,
s
Heather says
love that funky pillow! the room looks awesome – as usual! and btw – how cute is Miss Clara!?
holly says
wow. i always thought it was a pretty space before, but this is beautiful!
i’d love to know your thoughts on living with a dhurrie rug. i’ve always admired, but never actually tried it. do you vacuum it like a regular rug? does it feel nice on your feet? what about your tush? would you need a floor cushion? so many questions!! i’m sure you’ll update, right??
YoungHouseLove says
It’s definitely softer than a jute rug and easy to vacuum. Clara plays on it all the time and we even sit down on the floor sometimes with her so it’s not so rough that it deters floor sitting. You might not want to crawl in circles around it for hours with bare knees or anything, but it’s great for everyday use while wearing pants. Haha.
xo,
s
Heidi says
L
O
V
E
the new stuff. making me jealous over here…
Amy @ A New Old House says
Wow- I thought your living room looked great before, but now it looks AMAZING!