CRAZY BLUE

The living room is finally painted!  I want to show you how it looks, but I think you should look at the "before" pictures one more time.  Keep in mind that the room is completely undecorated right now and looks a bit sterile.  Wall hangings, pillows, and other little touches will come in time.

This is going to be the "Wall of Ws".  I have a few little white shelves that will hold some Ws and others will be hung directly on the wall.  Not only will the Ws help break up the biggest expanse of blue, but there's room for me to add more Ws when I find ones that strike my fancy. 

I absolutely love how the fireplace turned out!!  I like red brick in some homes, but painting this one white made a world of difference in the room.

I have three things to figure out for this area. 

First, the inside of the fireplace.  We don't plan on burning wood in it, so I need to find the perfect way to use that space and, perhaps, add a punch of color to the dark cave that it currently is.  I realize that stacking logs with the cut side facing out is popular right now, but that idea doesn't seem right for this room. 

Second, I need to decide what to put on/above the mantle.  I originally planned on putting the Ws there, but I think the smaller space would make it seem really crowded and chaotic.  So I'm not sure what to do.  Maybe a mirror?  I'm not a knick knack person  and the map and W wall will be busy, so I'd like this area to be simple and uncluttered. 

Third, I'm not sure what to put on the table behind the chair.  The Christmas cactus (which is blooming ... at the end of April!) was just put there while I was painting, but the other plant needs to stay there for adequate light.  I just need to get a pot for it.  Again, I don't want the table overflowing with decorations, so I may just keep it simple with a single plant, but I don't know.

Ok, moving on.

The contrast of the white couch and blue wall makes me smile. Love it! 

The only lighting we have in the room is the track lighting above the fireplace, so I'd really like a lamp to the right of this window.  Assuming the secretary stays on the left, then a lamp would also balance that area out a little. 

The map!  Doesn't it look great?  I really like how the frame looks now that it's white.

I love the map as a decorative piece, but I'm also thrilled with how frequently it gets used for practical purposes.  We rarely looked things up on maps in the past, but all of us, especially the kids, are constantly in front of this map to find the countries in their geography songs, places they read about, and to play "Can you find _____?"  with each other.  They're guaranteed to be way better at geography than I am!

Anything I don't like? 

This was intended to be a two person/one day job, but ended up being a one person/six day job because Tim's free time is consumed with a school project.  Needless to say, I'm a little fried on painting and my enthusiasm for painting the kitchen has tanked.  

Also, I learned that I'm horrid at taping edges.  I fought back tears when I started pulling off all the painter's tape and saw how lousy the edges look.  I'll have to go back and fix several areas, but not now.  I'm over it.  Seeing lousy edges all day or fixing them all now?  Living with them is the lesser of the two evils.

So, there you go.  My crazy blue living room.