Finished Room Friday: Living Room

I'm trying to get back in the habit of doing a Friday post on my blog - Finished Room Friday, Five on Friday, or Flashback Friday depending on my mood each week... I took most of these pictures 3 weeks ago on a Thursday with the intention of posting them the next day and of course you can see how well that went. But here they are now, better late than never!

The living room took forever to finish because I had to wait for Rog to finish the built-in cabinets on either side of the fireplace. It only took a year from the time we moved in to when they were officially done. I really don't understand why the builder didn't just put them in to begin with! Rog (with A LOT of help from his uncle) saved us thousands of dollars on this project, so I really can't complain too much. Here's a before picture.

Now that they've been in for awhile, I kind of forgot how terrible it looked before they were in. Especially that pile of electronics on the left side. Thank goodness that is now behind closed doors!

I don't think I've gone into much detail about these cabinets before and it needs to be documented, so here we go. When we first moved in Rog and his uncle, Ron, went to work almost immediately on the fence to enclose our backyard. That was a safety issue and that project was done quickly.

The other project we needed Ron's help on was these shelves. They were a much bigger undertaking and after the fence was in, it took us forever to get Ron moving on them. He had other projects he was working on and our shelves weren't his top priority. And then when they did get started on them, it was somewhat difficult to find times that worked for his schedule and our schedule. They built them in Ron's wood workshop (way out in Sandy, a 30-35 minute drive each way). Since each trip included at least an hour of driving, it was hard for Rog to get out there too often to work on them.

They finally got them all built and ready to install in March. We were all so excited to get them in and have the project done. But unfortunately when they went to put them in, they discovered that our walls are not even (and they had only measured at chest level), so they were about a half inch too big in some places. They would not go in no matter what they tried. That was a frustrating day!

So they took them back to the workshop and tore them apart, cut them down, and reassembled them. Fortunately Rog didn't need Ron as much for that, so he was able to go work on them even if Ron wasn't available. And we really just wanted to get them in, so we made sacrifices and we were able to find more time for him to go work on them. Memorial Day weekend they finally were in and Rog just had to do the finishing touches (much easier because he could work on those at night after the kids were in bed).

After he finished those up, all that was left was for me to fill them with our books and decorate them. That also meant I could finally finish unpacking! We had about 5-10 boxes upstairs in the guest bedroom filled with books, DVDs, puzzles, games, and other things that I couldn't unpack because I knew they were going in the cabinets. 

I had been working on little projects for the cabinets for months. You can see in that picture above that the mantle was jammed full! It looks much better with them spread out!

With that background on the cabinets out of the way, we'll do a tour of the entire room. Starting with our back to the fireplace, there's our kitchen and dining room in the background. We bought that couch from IKEA when we first moved into our townhome in Spanish Fork. Everyone said we would regret it being off white with kids, but since we can wash the covers, we really haven't! Square pillows are from Target and the light mint ones are from IKEA (way back when we bought this couch and the matching armchair).

This shadow box was one of the first projects I did when we moved in. It was beige in Spanish Fork, but that didn't work with the wall color here, so I painted it white.

We got rid of the big coffee table we had in Spanish Fork and replaced it with these side tables. I have to clean the glass way too often, but other than that, they're great. The gray and white bins are from Target and they're perfect for storing our blankets.

I love the big windows in this room. I took these pictures on a rainy day, but those big windows bring in all the light (even through our cloudy, rainy winter). I saw the curtains at Target when we moved here and thought they would be perfect for these windows. The green is a slightly different shade (a little more aqua), but you can't tell most of the time. 

Here's a close up of the left cabinet. I'll go through each shelf individually.

That wedding picture is actually the personalized puzzle I gave to Rog for our 10 year anniversary. And that little family picture is from the Ririe family photo shoot we did at Christmas in 2016. We were wearing red, black, and gray, so a black-and-white picture was necessary! 

We've had the "love lives here" sign since our very first apartment in Provo. It's a little beat up on the corners, but I can't bring myself to get rid of it. The picture of me and Rog is also from that same Ririe family photo shoot. Vase and fake plant from IKEA. FHE board made for Super Saturday (more on that in a post coming soon).

We've also had these 3 framed pictures from our wedding day since our first apartment in Provo. The little mason jar cube is from the Wood Connection (not available anymore). After my canning activity (in August), I made that chalkboard print as a reminder about working for something worth sealing in our marriages.

Hiding in the cabinets under this shelf is all our DVDs and a huge mess of cords and electronics!

Sorry to blind you with the flash in the TV!

Family picture by Jake Egbert, temple from the Wood Connection, candle holder from IKEA, Portland Temple picture by Scott Jarvie (our friend, Mariah's cousin). I made that "home is where your family is" sign to hide the plug under the TV since our TV isn't big enough to cover it, but it has ended up being one of my favorite signs of all the ones I've made! We've had that Willow Tree couple from the beginning and I should note that both the man and the woman's heads are glued back on from when Corbyn beheaded them when he was a toddler. 😱 Someday we'll get Rog a bigger TV and I'll have to move most of these things off the mantle. That will be a sad day! 

Onto the right cabinet...

More family pictures and a Mason Jar Trio from the Wood Connection. Behind these is a shelf full of Harry Potter books and audio books!

That President Monson plague. 😢 I'm debating whether or not I should make a President Nelson version, but either way, President Monson will stay up. He's been my favorite apostle since I was a little girl. I always wanted to make a Living Christ with pictures as the border, but never got around to it. When we moved into the Sunnyside ward, the Relief Society brought this one to me. They had made them at an activity earlier that year and made extra to give to new sisters. I actually changed out the pictures they had on it since I had bought a set of Greg Olsen pictures at some point years ago to make one. That only took me a half hour or so since everything else was already done. Another vase from IKEA (came in a set of 3 with the green one on the other side and a pink one that I gave away). And I already talked about that USA frame (and the US National Parks print on the shelf below) here.

My brother actually lived in Oregon the summer before we moved here while he did an internship with Intel. His apartment complex gave each apartment an Oregon-shaped wood cutting board. When we were moving to Oregon, he asked if I wanted it and I thought I could use it for something. Painted it green, added a heart in the Portland area, and it was perfect for these shelves! The home is from the Wood Connection.

Hiding under this shelf is our board game collection, puzzles, and Corbyn's Legos. I found they weren't getting much use up in his room, so I moved them down here and they get a lot more play time.

A Greg Olsen picture of Christ (that you really can't see very well with the glare), more giant windows, and the (knock off) love sac that I got for a birthday in high school. (It's had a few different covers over the years.)

 And finally the chair that started it all. This was the first mint green thing we bought for our townhome in Spanish Fork. Who knew it would go on to inspire green walls in two different states, a green mixer, green barstools, and so much more?! It's getting pretty faded (especially on the arm rests) and I'm sure at some point, we'll replace it, but not anytime soon. I wish they still sold that color! That green pillow has been with us from the beginning as well. (It used to be part of a set, but the other one died at some point.)

I love how this room is a mix of stuff we've had since we first got married, stuff we added in Spanish Fork, and new stuff we got here. And now that I've blogged about it, I can officially say this room is done! Hooray!