Summer Tour of Homes - Living Room

I decided it would be fun to join up with one of my favorite blogs (Kelly's Korner) this summer on her summer tour of homes.  Every Friday I will be showing different rooms in our house.  It will be a great way to document our house and also a motivator for me to clean this summer!  Up first is our living room...

I would truly say our living room is the middle of our house.  It is really open to the rest of the house.  I love that it is so open and light.  Our living room is really a multi purpose room that probably gets the most use in our house.  It is a sitting room, play room, media room and study.  It is very family friendly.  They kids have total free reign.  My goal is our house to be their house too.  They should be able to live in all the areas too.  The living room has the very distinct honor of being the only room in the house that has all new purchased furniture and things in it.  I have bough just about everything else in the house second hand (or get it off the side of the road).  When we built the house 5 1/2 years ago, we didn't really have any good living room furniture so we got to buy all new things.  It was a lot of fun to get to totally design the living room how I wanted to.  I got to pick all the colors and things.  It has a very casual, relaxed feel.  I love the browns, greens and golds.  It is probably one of the few rooms in the house that has not changed since we moved in but I still love it and don't plan on changing it anytime soon. 

This is a view of the entire living room as you walk in from the foyer.

Our media area...

One of the things about having a very open floor plan is that there are not many walls to put pictures on.  In order to be able to have a lot of different pictures showcased, I put up these shelves.  I love being able to change out the pictures for a different look every few months.  Nothing better than lots of amazing pictures of my kids!

We bought our entertainment center at an unfinished furniture place and had it stained to match the other wooden pieces in the room.  I just love it.  It is the perfect size without overpowering the room.  There are baskets of toys and books in the bottom that are great for the kids.  They can pull them out to play but then quickly clean it up. 

The one area of the living room I don't really like is the mantle.  It is pretty boring but that is ok.  I have a very simple decorating style and I don't like clutter.  So it works well for me to just have simple, clean lines!  Maybe one day soon I will get adventurous and try something new on the mantle.  I do like the apothecary jars on the mantle.  I change out what I put in them with the seasons.  Apples for the spring/summer, pumpkins and leaves for the fall and pine cones for the winter.  I think it is a fun way to update it a little throughout the year. 

I love all the windows in the living room.  I must have light to keep me from getting depressed.  The 2 green chairs in the room are from Lane Furniture.  They are actually recliners.  I don't know what I would have done without these chairs.  I love that they don't look like traditional recliners but still have the comfort of a recliner.  I have spent hours in these chairs nursing Ben and Kate and sleeping with them as babies! 

We actually bought this side table when we lived in our apartment in Birmingham.  We used it as our dinning room table and then turned it into a side table.  Once again, I have a pretty simple style so not too much on the side tables. 

This vintage chair is the one garage sale find in the the room.  I saw it and knew it would be perfect for the space.  I found the perfect fabric to bring together the browns and greens.  It ties the room together. 

I think that the best purchase we have ever made is the leather couch.  I didn't know if I would like leather when we first bought it but it is wonderful!!!  So durable and perfect for kids.  It is super comfy since it is feather stuffed.  A great place for a nap. 

The living room is open to the kitchen and breakfast area.  I love it because I can be cooking in the kitchen but can still watch and play with the kids if they are in the living room. 

Well that is our living room!  It is a great room because it allows us to be together as a family.  It is also great because it is perfect for entertaining.