11.28.2012

Parlors, Purchases, and Palettes

Thanks to Black Friday deals, we are tackling our second living room next. Some people in this house like to call this room the “parlor,” because “second living room” sounds clunky. While I will agree with this assessment, I can’t get past the fact that a “parlor” is a place to sip tea and practice penmanship and plot how to eliminate Lavinia Swire from one’s life. (DowntonAbbeySeason3HereWeComeHOORAY.) Since I don’t like tea and my students can’t read cursive anyway and Ms. Swire has sadly succumbed to Spanish Fever, we clearly have nothing to do in a room named parlor.

This is my inspiration photo for the room:

OUR HOUSE 023

Or…that’s the shot when we first moved in. It boasted nothing too offensive, but it was not my cup of tea, either. This is obvious because, again, I don’t even like tea. So come to think of it, nothing is my cup of tea. I hereby motion to change the expression to “my mug of steaming hot chocolate” or “my mug of ice cream because that’s all I consume from a mug.”

living room mood board

That’s the real plan. We ordered the Henry Sofa in Dove Gray Performance Velvet from West Elm last week during their 20% off sale, after much debate about whether or not to pull the trigger on it. Ultimately, we realized that there was no other couch in that style/color/fabric at a cheaper price, and just went for it. The other item on its way due to Black Friday sales is the rug—it is this one from Rugs USA, purchased for 75% off the list price of $733 (!).

Tuscan Terali Moroccan Trellis Rug

Everything else in the room I plan to get secondhand, like the lamps and end tables, or DIY, like the curtains and pillows. The gold nesting tables are already in my possession, scored for $6 at a giant yard sale back in October. The cat was free with purchase. Meow.

DSC_1112

And I’m sure you’re not wondering, but my inspiration for the color scheme came from Design Seeds. If you love color and have never visited that website, you must do so. Like, yesterday. The only problem I can see with it is that you will want to use like 800 of the color palettes and sadly only have 700 or so rooms in which you can execute said palettes. I eventually settled on this one with the charcoal, gray, teal, golden yellow, and plum.

ColorFuse610

I am not 100% sure what that blue thing is coming out of that lemony object, but if it’s a fuse as the title suggests, I have a suspicion that the creator of this picture is actually my husband, who is planning on setting said lemony object on fire. This is, of course, nothing like the time he and his cousin strapped a firework to a Barbie doll and shot it across the road. Absolutely no similarity. None.

Boys these days.

Did you make any Black Friday home purchases? Have you used Design Seeds for color remediation? Is tea your cup of tea?

29 comments :

  1. Love your plan for the mood board. I'm also addicted to Design Seeds.

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  2. Your mood board is beautiful. I only went to Target for about an hour with my sister in law so she could get a Dyson. :)

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  3. Those gold bamboo tables are the perfect elegant addition to the room!

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  4. We have the Tuscan Terali Moroccan Trellis Rug in blue (you can see it here) and I LOVE it. It sheds a lot, so be ready to vacuum but it looks oh-so-pretty in the room so I forgive it :)

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  5. Nice rug steal! My ADHD doesn't allow me to visit RugsUSA. Too many options. Not enough focus. I should hire you. And by hire, I mean have you look for me for free. Do you want the job? ;)

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  6. I like the colour choices you made for the room. This room is going to look great in the end!

    Just coffee in my cup, please.

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  7. love the colors and am drooling over those tables! score! and a free cat, too! wow!

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  8. Anonymous11/28/2012

    Oooh, I like those colors! Are you going to paint the wood trim or leave it as-is? I'm torn which one I want you to do, so you will probably choose an option that will please me. :)

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  9. You have two living rooms! Fancy! What is a den, by the way? Could this be a den instead? Eating ice cream out of a mug seems more acceptable in a den than a parlor...

    The mood boards are beautiful.. I know you'll rock it!

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    1. I wanted to call it a den, but Rick says parlor fits the era of our house better. But you’re right that ice cream out of a mug is to den as sipping tea is to parlor. So there’s that.

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  10. Everything is looking good!

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  11. I love what you have planned! Those nesting tables are awesome! And I second notion to change the phrase to my cup of steaming hot chocolate, that sound much better!

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    1. Okay well with 2 votes we can pretty much assume that it is changed now. ;)

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  12. Haha! I just blogged about a bunch of crap we bought on sale this weekend.

    I am SO excited to see this room take shape! I love everything!

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  13. Your mood board is awesome. I love everything on it. Thanks for the color site rec!

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  14. Love the colours you're going for! I too am not a big tea drinker. I prefer tea over coffee but would choose hot chocolate or hot cider over either of those options. You found some great deals!

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  15. Oh! Please tell me you are not ridding that room of its lovely patriotic bunting border & star-spangled valance...

    I drink coffee from a mug. Actually, it's larger than a mug -- perhaps you might call it a jug. I drink hot tea from a tea cup, iced tea from an 18 oz. glass. I drink wine from, oh never mind, we won't go there...

    Crushing the color scheme for the room. Grey seating will look quite comfy-cosy with teal-y/turquoise-y pillows!

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  16. omg how have i not heard of this website before??! Color palettes, here I come! As for your room...it's going to be amazing because A.) that rug is awesome and the price makes it even MORE awesome and B.) I would die for those nesting tables. I can't even believe they were $6. C.) You got a GREY couch. 'Nuff said.

    Can't wait to see it come together!

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  17. Where to begin??? I adore that colour palette and might just have to steal that. I've been so stuck on a great combo for our master and that is a great combo!! I love your entire scheme and I'm very jealous of your rug and nesting table. But the most exciting part of the entire post is to discover you don't like tea. I don't either and I thought I was the only human alive who didn't drink tea. I feel validated now:)

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  18. Oh yeah and the parlor. We had a very large room in our last house that my then very young daughter christened the ballroom as soon as we stepped foot in the house. Even though I hated the name for the very same reasons you've described, it stuck.

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  19. Cant wait to see it come together! We refer to them as the Living Room and The Family Room to distinguish, but one of them will be going away soon, so then it wont be an issue.

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  20. ValenzMom (aka Helen)11/29/2012

    I love, love, LOVE every item, every color, every thing you picked! We're like Maury - we called it the living room and the family room or the den. When I was growing up, you NEVER set foot in my Grandmother's living room because it had white carpet and all the formal furniture (even the plastic was still on the lampshades!). The family room was where we did all our "living". That was where we watched TV, played games, visited with guests, etc. Now, in my house, I just have one big room that we call the living room that we really live in.

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  21. Love your moodboard and the rug and tables and pretty much all of it! I cannot wait to see how you put it all together!

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  22. I got stuck on the fact that you found those nesting tables AT A GARAGE SALE. Not even fair, Erin. Also, Andy and Rick could have some serious fun with explosives. But we won't let them.

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  23. Maybe I am totally out of the loop, but I had no idea where those color palettes came from. I kept seeing them on pinterest and I have wanted to figure out where they were from...so thank you!
    Um, $6 for those tables? Score!

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  24. I love RugsUSA...and I'm BEYOND jealous of those gold nesting tables! They are exactly what I want for our living room, but I have yet to find something perfect yet. Can't wait to see this space come together...it's going to be gorgeous!

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  25. Thank you so much for telling where all of those awesome palettes come from. I also see them on pinterest and I am like that's cool did they come up with that on their own or I look at them confused and move on.

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  26. Haha, that lemony object is actually a smoke bomb. You can get them at most firework stands near the fourth of July, and when you light the fuse they typically emit different colors of smoke (in this case yellow).

    My parents have two adjoining rooms that we differentiate by saying living room and parlor. The parlor has a piano, is set up to make conversation more convenient, and actually gets the most use when people are over. The living room has the TV, is a little more cozy, and is pretty much just for watching TV and movies.

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