Texans In Corn Fields: Living Room Progress

I may as well set a default on blogger to start every new post with an apology about how long it's been since the last post... or perhaps I should just try to get better about blogging more regularly!

Anyway, we're still making progress on settling in to our apartment, but lately it's been barely creeping along. During the 2 weeks we had here in Illinois before work started, we were able to get rid of all the boxes and put most things in their places. We also managed to get a few things hung on the walls. However, this place is far from feeling "complete", and now that we are both working not a lot is getting done around here.

I am trying to make the living room / dining area a priority. It's definitely our biggest space, and the one seen by anyone who might come over. Unfortunately it's probably the most challenging room too. First, it's kind of a strange shape, which makes furniture arrangement a little unusual. Also, none of the furniture we already own really goes together and we have to make do with that. Not to mention, the colors we chose aren't exactly the most common for home decor, so it's been tough to find things that will work. But I am hopeful that it will eventually all come together, and I think in the end we will love it. I will share my ideas and progress with you all and hopefully you will love it too!

It all started with the blue loveseat we were given by my in-laws. It's a really nice piece of furniture and pretty comfortable too, plus it came at our favorite price - free! Since it was the only thing we owned that had any color at all when we first got married, we decided to make the best of the opportunity and do our whole living room in blue. It worked great at our other place because the room was a lot smaller and we were allowed to paint. Two blue walls made up for our lack of success in finding other blue objects to put in the room. Unfortunately, we are not allowed to paint the stark white walls here, so I am once again on a quest to bring some blue into our living room.

My original inspiration

It was actually long before the move that I first saw this collection at Target and was immediately hooked. At first it only caught my eye because the wall color in the photo is identical to the shade I had on my walls in Texas. But now I realize, after looking through dozens of blue-and-white-living-room inspiration pictures, that this is exactly what I am going for. Blue and white is a classic combination for making things feel homey, but the bright shade of this blue plus the bold patterns make the look modern. It was such a mistake not to jump on this collection so many months ago when I first saw it! In addition to the awesome lampshade, they had some very neat wall art that was so unique and perfect. But the coolest items were gone long before the collection hit the clearance section online, which is around the time I realized what I had passed up and tried to go back for it. Now I am left with only the memory and a determination that I can accomplish this look without Target dropping everything I need into my lap. It would have been so easy...

Let me say at this point, thank goodness for Pinterest! I'm not quite as hooked as many other bloggers, but it has been a huge help as I've looked for inspiration and ideas. Here are some of my pins for living room inspiration: (for simplicity, they are all on my Pinterest Board)

I love the colors in all of these, and I'm especially encouraged that some actually feature blue couches! I often worry that white is the only (attractive) option and there is no way a white couch could survive in a real person's house, right?! To make these pins more perfect, however, they would need to have a nice modern, bold pattern somewhere - for my living room I am hoping for some great curtains. Which brings me to my next point....

I am hoping to make my own curtains! They look so easy online, I'm hoping to save a little money, and a friend here offered the use of her sewing machine. Despite all those great reasons, my main motivation for going DIY is because I'm being so picky about fabric. I want a white-on-blue, large geometric or bold floral pattern. The shade of blue itself might prove to be a bit of a challenge, but the real key word here is large. These are going on a sliding glass door which is pretty big, and I want to be able to see the pattern from across the room without it looking too busy. Needless to say, it's been hard to find a fabric that lives up to all my expectations. I do have a few ideas though:

Waverly Lovely Lattice Lapis

Croscill Felton/River

I haven't settled on either of these because the pattern isn't quite as large as I was hoping for. I prefer the second one except the that color might be slightly off. It's so hard to tell from a computer screen! So my search continues...

I have had success with one project, thankfully. Thanks to a few online tutorials from fellow bloggers and a morning of garage sale-ing, I have turned this...