UPDATED LIVING ROOM

NOTE: I started this post a couple of weeks ago and kept meaning to go back and finish it with pictures but things just seemed to have gotten away from me. To give you some insight into the timeline, we actually made this update BEFORE we updated our mantle, which you've already seen - TWICE. 

Those that have followed casacaudill for any length of time know that I've struggled with the look of our living room. With a patterned carpet and patterned curtains it was too busy. With a monochrome carpet and different curtains it still wasn't right. Over the course of the last couple of weeks I have tried every combination of curtains & rug that we have in the house and nothing has ever felt right to me. Sometimes it looked busier than before we switched the rugs between the living room and dining room, and other times it just looked so wrong that I wanted to cry. Through all of these iterations I have stayed away from solid curtains because I didn't want the room to go from too busy to too flat. Ultimately, I was at a loss as to what to do.

And then one Sunday I was at Target wasting my afternoon away when I decided to see if they had any new window treatments for me to consider and then reject. Lo and behold they did. And they weren't all frustratingly ugly (I've noticed lately with Target that a lot of the home decor items are looking "my first apartment" or "I'M TRENDY, BUY ME!"). And then my eye was drawn to - wait for it - a solid tan panel. Except this wasn't any old solid panel. This was a grommet panel in tan with a lovely texture that was somewhere between burlap, linen, and waffle weave. It had weight, it had texture, and it was different enough in tone from my couch that it was a viable option. At $24.99 I purchased two panels and made my way home.

I delayed putting them up for a couple of days because I didn't want to be disappointed. And I didn't want Alan to complain about my problem with curtain buying. And I didn't want to mess with our janky curtain rod because the last time I did it tried to poke my eye out. But I sucked it up and finally got to work.

And I loved it.

They were perfect.

If I believed in angels, I would have heard them singing.

I got those large 24"x24" suzani print pillows from T.J. Maxx and I love the way they look but the pillow inside is just sad. After about two weeks of being on the couch they were buckled and bunched and just generally ... sad ... looking. Unfortunately there's no way to put new inserts in the pillows so I'm afraid these might have been a failure. I'm going to keep them around for as long as I possibly can because I do love the way they look but I don't think that's going to be for long. If they make it until the end of the year without looking completely deflated that'll be a miracle.

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This post was added to Tuesday's Treasures at My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia.