Since their new house is a mid-century, Meg has a large formal area in the front of the house, which was popular at the time. It's great because the are connected by a double pocket doorway to the family room, letting them have a huge open area for entertaining. They are using the dining area as an office for Eddie, so the doors can be closed when he needs to study. The living room has huge picture windows and Reid loves to sit in there and watch the cars go by. None of her previous houses had 2 living areas and 2 dining areas (their first house had living, dining, and kitchen all in ONE area smaller than her living room in this house) so we were starting from scratch here.
This is the card catalog that Emily redid for me. By "me", I mean Meg. She did a wonderful job and I kinda wish I had kept it. :) Check out her website at Refreshingly Chic and take a look at all the great things she does.
The couch and love seat were freebies. They were uuuuugly! A friend of my mom's didn't want them and gifted them to her. Picture a circa 1980 blueish Southwestern pattern. Nothing she wanted, but like me, she can't turn down a freebie. When it didn't fit in her house, I told her that maybe Meg could use it, since her house was big but her budget was small. Meg looked past the ugly fabric and saw the furniture's good lines. We headed to the fabric warehouses on Harry Hines and spent the day digging through fabric. She found some she loved and it was only $15/yd. Our most fabulous neighbor, Tanya, recovered it and she ended up with a beautiful living room set. On the same fabric hunt, we found what she wanted for the drapes and I made those. The coffee table used to be my kitchen table from about 15 years ago. When they got married, we painted it black and they used it for a table until they moved here. Kenny cut it down and made it the coffee table. That's called upcycling, right?
We found this lamp at Canton. Isn't it great? Both end tables were flea market finds or hand me downs. The half moon one that is closest in the top picture was from me and painted black. The other one on the far side of the love seat was B's that I picked up years ago and it was already painted black and white.
I bought this mantel in Jonesborough, TN 17 years ago on a trip to Washington, DC. I thought it was wonderful so we tied it to the top of our rented van (we were on a road trip) and carted that thing across the eastern United States. Except for a few years it lived at a friend's house as a headboard, it's had Christmas stockings on it almost every year since.
I matted and framed the pictures of the JFK assassination that are hanging above the love seat. They were Life magazines that were given to me by one of the ladies I delivered Meals on Wheels to for a couple of years. (side note - she also gave me all the summer phlox I have at my house and that has now been shared at Meg's new house.) They were in a huge lard tin along with other magazines and newspapers, some from as far back as the '30's. I couldn't bear to tear them up so I framed the whole magazine. I absolutely love them! They were published when her house was brand new which makes it even more special. I wonder what thoughts and emotions were going through that house during that time? It's evidence that pack ratting...I mean saving things...is worthwhile. In this situation, Meg benefitted from the hoarding of 2 women over the course of almost 80 years.
Breakdown of the room cost:
couch and love seat - free from Memaw
fabric - 35 yds @ $18 - $630
reupholstering by Tanya the Great- $200
tables - free from me
refinishing of card catalog - bartered for photography
drapes - fabric 5 yds at $25/yd - $125
labor on drapes - free
vintage framed prints - free
lamp - $40
Total cost for new living room - $995.00
Not bad, huh? Other than Reid's room, I felt like we got the most bang for the buck here. I wasn't expecting much in the beginning since they didn't have much furniture to start with and even less money with which to work. Her vision and my hoarding lead to a great room. I wouldn't mind having it myself.
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