A room for living

A few weeks ago I revealed my new blue dining room. Today I'd like to show you around one of the most-used rooms in my home: the living room.

Here's the closest I can get to a full-room shot:

To be honest, this is the trickiest room I've ever tried to furnish and decorate. It's large and full of light and has lots of nice features, but it also has three doorways to other rooms, two walls of built-ins, and one wall of French doors and windows. The only unbroken wall is way down at the end of the room, far from the fireplace and the television. How do you do space-planning for a room like this? I'll show you what I've done.

First, here's a look from the front door. You can see straight ahead into the living room.

Stepping into the living room, you can see the one unbroken wall to the left and the seating area to the right.

The back wall holds most of my collection of crosses. This collection started many years ago with an Easter gift from my husband. Since then, I've been given many different crosses by friends and members of my family. I've also collected special crosses from different places I've visited. I have crosses from Brazil, Canada, England, and France, as well as from lots of different cities in the United States. I love the constant reminders of Jesus as well as the beautiful works of art that people have made in His honor. My husband jokes that we should also be well-protected against vampires. He's so funny.

You can also see that I've created a little reading corner back there--a "thoughtful spot," as I like to call it.

Now for the rest of the room.

I've anchored the seating area with a rug. This is the "Medallion Kirman" from the Original Karastan collection. I love the colors. (By the way, I have no connection with Karastan rugs; I'm simply a big fan of them. If you're interested in buying a Karastan, you should know that two months of the year {May and October, I think} are special sale months for the company--they put all their rugs on sale half-price! I have several Karastan rugs, and I've bought them all for half-price or below half-price. Your retailer may offer special discounts in addition to the half-price sale.)

The living room is right next to the dining room, where the rug is Karastan's "Floral Kirman." Can you tell that the colors in the two rugs are identical?

The other end of the room includes the fireplace and the TV. I'm grateful that these are side-by-side. When we're not using the TV, we close the cabinet. The Flemish floral over the fireplace is pretty much a permanent fixture. I love the way the painting echoes the colors of the rug. And the little blue accent table by the club chair harks to the blue in the dining room.

The fourth side of the room is filled with built-in lighted bookcases. These are much like the lighted cupboards in the dining room.

Here you can see into the dining room on the left.

Looking the other way, you can see the dining room on the right and the kitchen straight ahead.

One of my favorite features is the way the bookcases are built into the walls and the doorways are framed out to make the walls look very thick. See?

In case you're wondering whether we really live in our "living room," I'll give you a peek under the coffee table.

A stepper, some hand weights, a foam roller, and a weighted ball. Not very pretty, but very handy for getting in a little exercise while watching TV!

Here's another look at the room in the late-afternoon light. I love the way the sunlight is filtered by the matchstick blinds and comes pouring in through the transoms.

Hope you enjoyed the tour! I'm joining these great parties:

Room by Room at Cottage and Vine

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

Roomspiration Link-Up Party at View Along the Way

Open House at No Minimalist Here
Show Us Your Living Rooms at Kelly's Korner