A Coffee Table Becomes a Bench

Moving into our house has inspired me to creatively reimagine some of the furniture we had in our apartment for new purposes, so today I thought I'd share how my mom and I turned a coffee table into a brass-and-velvet bench during her recent visit.

New Hardware on Living Room Built-ins

Sometimes, it doesn't take a full-scale renovation to customize a space into one that reflects our taste, and today I'm going to share details on how a simple change of hardware in our living room (as shown above) transformed a set of built-ins from dated to classic.

What I've Been Up To Lately

Let me start this post by offering the requisite apology for my absence here lately. I've been a sporadic little blogger, huh? I haven't been sitting around eating bonbons and watching soap operas; instead, I've been busy settling in and starting many tasks around the house.

That makes it difficult to muster a whole blog post like I used to, so I've been turning to Instagram quite a bit to chronicle the bits and pieces of my day. If you're not already following me (meetmeinphilly), here's a recap of what's been going on:

This week, a braided jute rug that we ordered from RugsUSA arrived. I'm smitten over the way the chunky braid of the rug offsets the worn texture of the slate hearth in the den.

Our Tufted Sofa

My husband and I celebrated Valentine's Day unlike most. Instead of chocolates, roses or greeting cards, we brought home a pretty, soft velvet tufted sofa for our living room.

...for $75! For less than the price of a fancy dinner!

Framed Feather Art

In the same vein as other forms of specimen artwork (like butterflies, insects and leaves), feathers are an example of the beauty of the natural world and a reminder that design can be found all around. I took advantage of this inspiration from nature to add artwork to our living room walls.

Decorating Our Home, One Corner at a Time

Welcome to my favorite spot--a single decorated corner in our mostly-empty living room. 

Nothing Says "Yum" Like a Brown & Yellow Kitchen

*Hi, everyone! Move-in went well last week, and my husband and I have been busy settling into our new home ever since. Thanks for all of the well-wishes--they meant so much!*

When we first visited the house in late December, Adam and I knew we found our forever home due, in part, to all of the character and charm in each room. Built in 1955, the house was lovingly maintained by the original owners and retained many of the ear-marks of mid-century design. The most conspicuous *cough* dated *cough* of those designs is the brown and yellow kitchen. Take a look at what we're working with: