The whole “nesting” phenomenon is most definitely real. Just look at my living/dining room! Who decides to paint a giant space on their own while almost 8 months pregnant? Me, I guess. It was super stark white and it was irritating me in a way that I could no longer ignore, so to Lowe’s I went. It totally sucked to do, but was worth it. It’s now a much more appealing light taupe situation, as you can see in the below photos.
The space was looking cluttered so I remedied that by undergoing a major art reshuffling in addition to painting. To improve the situation, I:
1. Pared everything down (mostly keeping only one substantial piece per wall space where before there had been multiple smaller pieces on each wall)
2. Stuck to black and white images only
3. Created a gallery wall in the dining room.
These things helped a lot.
The gallery wall was slightly stressful to put together as it required more effort/precision than comes naturally to me. Tips that worked:
Lay the pieces out on the floor and measure the overall space it takes up, then map this out on the wall. I used post it notes to mark the rough borders.
Start hanging from one side and work your way over (if you are centering the arrangement around one large piece, maybe work out from that piece).
Using a variety of different art shapes but all black frames and a black/white palette make this way easier to execute well, in my opinion.
The level (as in the tool) is your friend.
In addition to Ikea, which I will probably never stop frequenting for home needs, a couple of my favorite places for home furnishings in Seattle are the Kasala outlet for modern pieces (our couch, lamps) and Tirto Furniture (our side table, wooden deer heads).
Tirto side table
Tirto is awesome-they do mostly Indonesian inspired, sustainable wood furniture and have a ton of great decor items in addition to larger investment-y pieces. It’s a really fun place to wander around if you’re into home design.
This is Horace. Boris, his twin, flanks the other side of the window.
Next week, a nursery post. I am pretty proud of the nursery. I kind of wish I could live in there. Babies can be such spoiled jerks!