Expectations

When I first posted that I was planning on renovating our living room I had a lot of expectations on how my husband would react or what his expectations were for the room. I didn't really consult him and just went around picking out anything that was brown, tan, cream etc. So when I finally had a pretty good idea set up I showed it to him. Shockingly, Evan thought it was kind of boring and said it didn't really fit our personalty. I think that I had tried so hard to make a gender neutral living room that I kind of made it "us" neutral.

I have been saving pictures of rooms as inspiration for awhile and the two of the colors that seem to pop up a lot are that Coke-bottle blue and blush. As I have plans for the blue to be in the bedrooms I thought maybe I would indulge my girly side a little and see if I could put together a room that was still neutral with a touch of blush.

For the couch I had been thinking  linen and while I would eventually love that in my home I don't think that it is appropriate for my family since we have one living room that takes a lot of abuse from two boys a dog and a cat. Also I don't know that I am comfortable spending $3000 on a couch, at least not at this point in my life. One of my childhood friends who has very similar tastes to myself has the Ikea Ektorp with Chaise couch in the basic white and loves it. I have seen this couch on a lot of blogs and it pops up Pinterest frequently, but I really like hearing a review from someone I know and trust. I was a little unsure of a white couch but the fact that you can slip the cover off and wash entire thing is great when you have a rambunctious Golden Retriever.

The biggest benefit of the couch is that its only $500! Once I was sold on the biggest piece in the room it all kind of just fell together easily.

Something else that I was really trying to adjust was my budget. It is so easy to get carried away with what you think you need and what is actually good for your lifestyle. I have the tendency to go a bit overboard when planning a room that I have decided to really lay out a firm budget to keep my self and my ideas in check.

My budget for the entire living room is going to be $1500. This will include everything from the furniture, to the finishing touches. I'm not expecting to finish this room in a month. I'm not the blogger wife that has a huge disposable income. I'm setting my goal for this space and the two bedrooms being brought to completion by the end of the year. I suppose you could say finishing my house is my New Year's resolution.

I look forward to posting my own renovations as I can, but will be expanding the blog a little with lifestyle posts, cooking and small projects. I'm hoping this will be a positive change and lead to more variety in the blog.