My Perfect Living Space

I knew from the moment I walked into the model home that this would be the house for us. The downstairs living space is quaint and cozy, but open and inviting. I absolutely love our open floor plan, which esentially combines our kitchen, dining area and living room into one big space. We've gone through some different furniture and color schemes over the past four years, but I think I've finally settled on a simple, casual, comfy theme I love. Welcome to our casa!

I'm giving you fair warning: you might fall asleep if you sit on our couches. See where the middle two sections are sunken-in? Yep, that's from us getting extremely comfortable over the past couple of years!


I went with a simple country apple red, black and tan for my color palette downstairs because it provides a casual elegance with just the right amount of warmth. The red drapes from floor to ceiling emphasize the room's height and make it feel bigger. Simple red accents in the blanket, pillows and placemat carry the theme throughout, without being too matchy-matchy (I hope). I love how the girly, ruffled pillows from Pier I compliment the more masculine gray pillows from Ikea.

Here is the view from our staircase. We have one of our favorite wedding photos on the wall to the left, framed by the mat that everyone signed at our wedding, which I love! On the back wall, I hung a black rubber doormat! I saw on Pinterest the idea to spraypaint a doormat white and hang it as wall art, but I kind of thought it looked good black. We'll see how I feel about it ... I may end up changing it.


You don't get to see the wall where our TV is mounted yet, because I'm not done with that space. The TV has been mounted for a long time, but we still have a dinky TV stand that is just not cutting it in the storage or looks department. My plan is to get something new before the baby is here, and then I will post about it! :)

This is the view looking into our kitchen. I love that we have so many windows to let in a bunch of natural night, but that's also why I put up drapes in addition to our blinds. It gets super hot in the summer, and closing the drapes makes the entire downstairs much darker and cooler! It is a little like a cave though, but great for movie watching!

Welcome to our kitchen, the heart of our home! I love a sleek, modern, minimalistic look for a kitchen, so I don't have too much going on in here. I keep odds and ends in the two baskets above our fridge, and mail, bills, coupons, etc. in the three baskets over by the sink (more about that in the next pic). The "Burk" blocks were made by Kattie's Kreations, and I absolutely love them! Instead of a backsplash, I painted vertical stripes with gray paint (which is already the wall color) and white paint, using painter's tape spaced four inches apart. It was so easy and gives a nice dash of style, without overdoing it.

These little shelves were a great DIY project on the cheap. I found these shelves on clearance for $10 each at Target. They were cherry wood, and I painted them with a glossy black paint. I mounted them flush with the side of the cabinets (using the hardware that came with them), and reinforced them with basic shelf supports from the hardware store. Once everything was mounted, I painted the bottom of the supports black (to match the shelves) and the wall side to match the wall color. I really lucked out that the shelves fit so perfectly in this little space! I had too much clutter on the counter, so I knew I needed to utilize that vertical space somehow. A routine trip down Target's clearance aisle was all I needed!

We got this piece of furniture also for a steal, and it's a lifesaver for providing extra storage! I keep all of our "work stuff" in the drawers, like our laptops and thngs we take with us to work every day. I pulled a couple of nice crystal bowls that we got as wedding gifts out of storage and up on these shelves, which we now use as a fruit bowl and candy bowl. I currently keep our scrapbooks and photo albums on the top shelf, but I plan to change that once I'm done with our media wall in the living room.

And here's our kitchen table, which we never eat at. But it looks pretty! I bumped it up against the window because we never have more than six people sitting there at a time, and it opens up the kitchen quite a bit. I could take the leaf out to make it smaller, but I like it this size for now. I feel like there is somewhat of a French bistro theme to this eating area, which I love. We love mirrors because they give the illusion of space, and okay, we kind of like checking ourselves out too. The best part about these mirrors is that I can see who is coming in the front door while I'm standing at the sink!

That's pretty much it for or downstairs open living space - for now! I will definitely update with our TV area makeover and organization solutions as they develop. Questions? Comments? Leave me your feedback in the space below!