Light & Bright Eclectic Row House Living Room

Thank you all for the kind words about our newly renovated kitchen a few weeks ago! I thought I'd continue sharing pieces of our home here on the Mix & Match blog - starting with our living room! 

As a bit of background, we live in a 1200 square foot, three bedroom row home in Philadelphia. 1200 square feet may sound like it's on the smaller size (it is!), but it lives larger than its size on paper, and I think that's mainly because of the openness of the first floor. You walk right in to the living room from the front door, and you can see straight through to the back of the house (via the dining room) where the kitchen is. If you read the post about the kitchen, you'll remember that we took down the wall between the dining room and kitchen, which helped tremendously in making everything feel brighter and more open. I'm SO glad we did that. The kitchen gets great natural light since it has two windows, and that filters in to the rest of the space really nicely. In a row house, you take all the natural light you can get!

We spend a lot of time in our living room, and I've been tweaking it over the past year we've lived here to make it comfortable, inviting, and functional. One corner of it also serves as our entryway and drop zone for coats since we don't have a coat closet, but I'm still working on that part, so you won't see it today. :)

So let's get started!

Since the living room is narrow, but I still wanted to maximize the seating, I chose to use a sofa and two chairs centered around a large coffee table. I love having light-colored furniture because it continues the light and bright theme we have going on throughout our home. 

The sofa is from the Comfort collection at Pottery Barn, and we've had it since we got married  nearly seven years ago (our first big purchase together!). It's held up quite well, even with our dog using it as his bed most of the time - thank goodness for washable slipcovers!

I recently purchased the two mid-century style accent chairs you see. I love their clean lines and weave of the fabric. I will say that you typically get what you pay for with chairs - the less expensive they are, the less comfortable they are, and that's certainly true for these. When shopping for chairs for this room, my primary goal was style and for them to be easy on the wallet. We don't plan to lounge in them - they're more for extra seating. They're pretty stiff right now, but I've noticed they're softening up and getting more comfortable with use. #honestreview

One other thing I want to highlight is the art, which is something I painted and I am not an artist. I don't tell you that to toot my own horn, but more to say that if you've ever wanted to try your hand at painting abstract art, do it! One day, a couple of years ago, I decided to just go at it, and after some trial and error, I ended up with a painting that I'm proud to hang on our walls. This guy is actually going to be moving to my office soon because I've got plans to paint a big 40"x40" canvas for that space above the couch. Now if only I could decide what to paint on it...

I've had a ton of fun playing with the styling of the black etagere (VITTSJO shelf from IKEA). I find myself switching things up pretty often, but right now, I'm loving the emphasis on brass with that cute elephant and stately rams head bookends. Oh, and that plant brings in a nice whimsy element, don't you think? 

I hope you enjoyed a peek into our living room today! If you'd like to "get the look," you can shop many of the items below. I also included some similar pieces for items that aren't in stock anymore or are vintage. I hope you enjoyed today's living room tour!