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!
Jen @ The Decor Scene says
GORGEOUS!!! I loved the living room before, but now I really LOVE the changes you made. Great changes for great prices!!! Good for you guys! I’m drooling over that ottoman. I want one so bad!!! :)
Catie says
WHOA. Never noticed that Kermit was too small, but I completely see the light now. Adorbs, amazeballs, et al.
I love it so much! Thanks for posting :o)
Wom-mom Ethne says
That rug is great – I like that it’s still green, since the smaller green rug is a nice color in there.
Nicole says
Is the ottoman white or cream?
YoungHouseLove says
It’s a soft cream like the geometric shapes in the rug. We like to layer whites and creams, so we don’t mind the subtle shift in colors from the rug to the ottoman to things like the white parson’s desk in the corner. It all seems to layer in nicely in person.
xo,
s
Laura says
Fun changes! Thought you might be interested to see the Frank Sinatra’s home has your bedroom light fixture!
http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/own-the-sinatra-estate-where-marilyn-saw-jfk.html
YoungHouseLove says
No way! I love it!
xo,
s
Lisa says
Wow. What a difference! The bigger rug really makes the room seem so much more pulled together (we just did the same thing in our living room) and I adore the ottoman. I am longing for an ottoman to serve as a coffee table, extra seating and storage too!
And I had been wondering about the shag rug with a toddler! Our son is almost 13 months and we’re constantly cleaning up milk/puffs/raisins from the floor. It was a cute rug, but I think the new one is definitely a better fit! Well done!
Carin says
Wow! Love, love, love the changes! It looked cool before, but this has really made the space look top notch!
And don’t knock what you’ve gotten done in 11 months. We’re 6 years into our house reno/ redo and not even halfway there. Trying to do about a room a year, which is way too slow for my brain but fits the purse.
Christie says
OMG! The room looks Amaaahhzing!
I mean, its like the room went from Steve Urkel to Stephan Urkel. (And I mean that in the best possible way) ;)
heather s. says
I like the upgrades (mostly since I never liked the other rug or the dark paper – sorry!). My question is – how does it feel to go from a plush rug to a flatweave? I’m not a fan of flatweaves (though it looks pretty) since they aren’t soft and are barely an upgrade from lying on the hardwood floor.
YoungHouseLove says
So far, so good! Clara still plays on the floor and we get down there with her. It’s definitely not as rough as a jute rug (which we’re also fans of) so we like it so far! We also plan to add a nice plush rug pad to beef it up just a smidge, but it’s not too thin so we’re happy!
xo,
s
Diana says
Wow! Really nice! Wish I had your eye for design.
Claire Jain says
Oh my! Well done, folks. The living looks AH-mazing, and I am, as always, so inspired by your projects at home!
Jasmine says
I loved your funky green rug before, but it did feel a bit small-ish, this new one is perfect! I love the pattern too. Isn’t it great when we get to gift ourselves once in a while? And so well deserved by you guys too, you save crazy amounts of money on some of your projects (hello! $6 cabinets??). Can’t wait to see where the funky chunky green carpet ends up.
Dawn says
OMGosh! You guys are soooo sneaky…;)
I Love, love, love, love, love, love….love, love…LOVE..the new stuff in the livingroom! It just all fits so well and looks FANTABULOUS!!!
Okay…I am. OFFICIALLY. Jealous…yup…gotta say it. GREEN even!
Patricia says
The room looks great! I really like the new pieces (blue and green) you have on your desk now. Are they new? Do you mind sharing where they came from?
YoungHouseLove says
Those are from Home Goods a while back. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Tia says
Love the changes! The rug especially! It looks so much more balanced! And the savings! My oh my. Makes it that much sweeter! I feel the decorating Gods were aligned with you and John.
jordan says
Soooo Sleek! The rug is a HUGE improvement (kermit and I were never friends:)) and the ottoman adds so much class to the room that I think you just increased the value of your home with that swanky girl! QUESTION…..Is the new chair a wipeable/cleanable surface? Just thinking of Clara with markers/art projects in the years to come….
YoungHouseLove says
It’s a nice dark stain-hiding gray. Not wipeable but we have small kid chairs for her that are! Hopefully by the time she’s big enough for an adult sized chair she’ll know not to draw all over it or anything. Haha.
xo,
s
Jenna says
The room looks much more sophisticated with your new goodies. I want that ottoman!
Katrina says
love the new rug so much BETTER! It really makes your living room look so polished and pretty :) i’m also loving the artwork ‘update/upgrade’ too :)
Ashley says
YHL,
This is AWESOME! The room looked great before and I love that you were utilizing what you had, but this change just makes the room look even more grown up and fantabulous! I love it!!!
Dawn says
Forgot to add…I moved into my new house a month and a half ago and I’m STILL not unpacked…UGH! I’m in the midst of decorating for Christmas and unpacking my regular stuff…*sigh*
Chelsea Payne says
Love, love, love your living room now. You two are so creative, that I couldn’t really see where you were going with the living room, until now!! Great job, and I’ve got to start consistently perusing Joss & Main!
Kelly says
Everything looks fantastic!! I especially love that new desk chair with the nailhead trim. What a great find!! Do you use that desk much? Just wondering because you have that fabulous office as well! I work from home and find I move around a lot during the day, but it makes me curious (ok, nosy) about how other people set up their work spaces. What else is under the desk? Looks like maybe a small storage ottoman?
YoungHouseLove says
We actually use the desk a ton but not for what you think… haha. It’s mainly for storing Burger’s treats – which we give him when he comes in from outside. Totally serves that purpose beautifully. And sometimes I’ll sit and write thank you cards there. Oh yes, that’s a storage ottoman under it. Love to stash things wherever I can!
xo
s
Rachael says
You changed the pictures too!! I love it! It looks very grown up.
Pam says
Love the changes! The size of the rug really makes a huge difference. The new one is so much better!
Rachael says
PS Is that drum side table from West Elm or somewhere else? I have one in capiz shell that is now damaged (the joy of 4 children for you!) and I’m looking for a replacement but I really love the look of the drum shape.
YoungHouseLove says
That’s from Home Goods a while ago ($29 I think!).
xo,
s
Kristin says
I’m with a lot of the other commenters – LOVE IT! I was not crazy about the other set up, but everyone’s style is different, right? ;) The new changes look amazing! (Burlap in pics is mayjah difference too, love!) Congrats on the new look!!
K says
I love the new rug. So much better than the last one.
jess says
I like the after better! More muted, love the grey chair too~ I’m jealous!
Corie says
LOVE the chair the most. Gosh, he’s gorgeous! (She?)
We’ve been in our house for 4.5 years and while no place has ever felt so much like “home”… I’d say we’re only about 2% done. Ha! Of course, it isn’t our job but I’m still impressed with your progress over the last year-ish!
Tae says
I am SO EXCITED about your new rug. I know that this may seem overly dramatic, and i love you guys and your design sense and your blog (long-time reader, here), but I have been waiting and waiting patiently (and silently) for that shag rug to go. Yay yay!! (happy dance.) Love the new rug! the room is really coming together so nicely.
Tae says
p.s. in the name of full disclosure, i’m also secretly (or not so secretly anymore) hoping that the round mirror above the desk will get a nice coat of white spray paint. but that may just be me… :)
YoungHouseLove says
Haha- I was thinking about that for a second too but I go back and forth. We’ll have to see where we end up…
xo,
s
shannon says
oh goodness. i love it! i feel like you took the room to another level with these added pieces. it looks gorgeous (and way more YHL in my mind).
and i love your posts like this. we just moved into a new rental place and there is so much that i would love to get for our new house. i appreciate the encouragement to save pennies and wait for something to wow you before making a big commitment…and that is exactly what we will do.
enjoy your new room. it truly is stunning!
Teresa says
I really like this for a number of reasons. I LOVE color. But it always worries me mixing a pattern like your rug with some of the other items I like. SO to see you guys put all that together…along with some other items I spy that I have had my eye on lol (love those colorful vases on the desk, and is that one of those CB2 nesting flowers??) this shows me that I can mix what I like. And that rug really does make the living room come together.
I would love to see a before and after pic from the same angle on this room!
YoungHouseLove says
Those ceramic jugs on the desk are from Home Goods a while back! As for other angles, we hope to snap more pics and more details of things like the art and the ottoman when it’s open for ya!
xo,
s
Kathryn McIntyre says
I loved your living room before…who would’ve thought you could improve upon it, but you did! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!!
Karen @ Aurelia Interiors says
Omg! I am dying over the new rug! It’s totally worth the $$$! Way to hit us with sweet rug eye candy this dreary tuesday afternoon!
Gem says
I love it! I always loved the colour of the green rug, but the larger size of the new rug makes the living room look so much better. Improved tenfold.
Also, wouldn’t the green rug look kind of awesome in the guest bedroom? IIRC you’ve got pops of green in there at the moment.
YoungHouseLove says
That’s definitely something we have considered! Really love the yellow one in there so we’ll have to see!
xo,
s
Sophie says
Oooh, I’m diggin’ the changes! Your living room was great before, but it’s so much more… yummy now. (Yummy is a very appropriate word for it)
Ali says
Love the changes! Sometimes the finer things are worth the splurge. :)
We’re about 6 months in to our new house and things are just starting to feel *somewhat* settled. :) We still have our eyes on lots of projects and things we want to get (bathroom remodel, replacing pretty much all of our rugs, new end tables), but it’s just not in the budget right now. So we’re making do with what we have!
Kristen says
I LOVE the changes!! I feel like it’s more your style (even though I don’t really know you). Seems more mature, yet still fresh and fun. Awesome job!
Laura V. says
Anticipation = killing me.
That is all. :)
Liz says
So glad you posted this about the rug! I’m in the market for a new one for our living room. Like you posted ages ago, we have a jute rug that sheds little dusty bits everywhere. And, like you were at the time, we’re now expecting a little one in February and don’t want our peanut inhaling those particles. I thought of you and was thinking about something like your rug to replace ours. I’d been meaning to look up where you got it and all of that. But now that I know those complaints, and know I’ll have the same issues shortly, I’ll look for a lower pile rug. Thanks for your timely update! I LOVE all the changes! The space is looking so luxe, but cozy at the same time! Nice work.
Donna says
Everything looks great, but my jaw dropped when I saw you spend that much money after a kitchen makeover! And you guys say you’re cheap… you’re not! Congratulations on your success!
Mary says
Beautiful rug. And I guess size does matter. It looks perfect in your space.
Can you use the beater-bar brush on your vacuume to clean it?
YoungHouseLove says
I think so, it’s flat weave and 100% wool so we hope it’s nice and easy to keep clean!
xo,
s
Dawn says
Rugs are so expensive – you really scored! I’m not a huge fan of green after wearing olive green for eight years (Army) but the grellow and light olive you have used in your home is very pretty. That rug is awesome – hope Karl in enjoying his new friends!
Melissa Irvin says
What a great change! L.O.V.E!
Joss & Main often runs sales on Safavieh products so don’t give up hope if you’re sporting a sad face right about now.
Kelly says
Wow – that looks amazing! I thought the room looked great before, but this change is a huge (good) difference! The ottomon looks great with the sectional – that’s my favorite new thing. What material is your sectional? We have a brown micro-suede sectional and my husband’s grandpa is making us a wooden coffee table with storage, but I’m nervous about all the darkness.
YoungHouseLove says
It’s a dark gray cotton duck from Ikea. Very strong sort of like denim. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Ashley A. says
Are you going to ORB the new chair legs?
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, nah I don’t mind them just as they are!
xo,
s
Elizabeth says
I love the rug. It looks great and everything is much more proportional. Also love the ottoman and chair – beautiful choices! I love that your blog is on the frugal side and y’all aren’t extravagant spenders – but you also shouldn’t feel bad about splurging every now and then on pieces you love! Those will last you a long time and I’ve found when I buy quality pieces that will last me a while, it’s well worth the investment. Enjoy your new space!
Sarah in Indiana says
Wow! What a change. The pictures in this post look like they belong in a magazine article about how to take a room from good to great. Now I really want to replace the too-small rug I’ve been making do with in my living room for the past three years! Hopefully I can find a deal as great as yours on a rug that suits my room that perfectly.
Elisabeth says
So funny, but I bought almost the same rug from West Elm a few weeks ago in orange. I needed the 9×12 size for our ginormous living room, and I actually ended up snagging it brand new from eBay for $500 + $25 shipping. I was pretty tickled…and it looks great in the room.
The only thing I worry about is that the wool is going to be rough for the crawling baby that we’ll have in a year or so…but, we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.
Love all of the changes!
Krystle Porter says
I LOVE LOVE LOVE how that rug looks!!!!!!! I thought the room looked great before but….wow! :)