shedding some light

we've made more changes in the den. the latest is changing out a sconce on the brick wall. the original sconce was a little too shabby chic. while i love that style (i have the book, duh), it's a little too feminine for phil.

so i looked high and low for something modern, simple, and relatively inexpensive. i found a lot of fixtures i really liked, but phil would nix for price : ) finally, i found this one forty three sconce. but it was sold out. forever. so i followed the studio on instagram to know when it was back in production. and i finally was able to order it!

it took a few, okay several, weeks to come in. but well worth it for a beautiful, handmade fixture at a reasonable price! i opted for white and brass. the room is gray, the door hardware is brass (and antique brass-ish), and the trim is white. it even came with bulbs! so we took off the old fixture...

and discovered it had cloth-covered wires!

uh-oh. glad we took it off. then we painted the junction box on the wall, so it would match the shiny new white fixture. and then we installed the sconce ourselves!

actually, it was much easier than i expected. we just watched a quick youtube video after a google search. super quick, super easy.

doesn't it look great!?! i love it. we debated whether to orient the fixture with the bulbs up or down, and decided on down. it seemed less "bathroom vanity" and more "back den."

the light is bright. phil thinks maybe a bit too bright, especially for movie nights. eh. i like it. but my couch seat is further away : ) i'm looking at dipped bulbs as an option to shield some of the more direct light. but i think i'll wait until these burn out.

the den is getting close to complete; the major things left are accent pillows and artwork. the pillows we currently use are from my first apartment in denver, and a little worse for the wear. since this is "phil's room" we're having a disagreement over the artwork... he wants movie posters. ummm no? haha. we'll see. i think we may have some compromises in mind...

new additions

we have a couple of new additions to the den. as i said before, that's where our tv is located and we spend the majority of our time. since we have a rather large tv, that's also where we host game-watching parties during a&m football season. which means we need seating! last year, we typically brought in dining chairs, loaded up the couch, and sat on the floor to get everyone to fit - especially for the big games (i'm looking at you, alabama). so we found the big sectional. but we still need more chairs. the room is not very wide, so the side chair has to be rather skinny. we were killing time at tyson's corner mall a couple of weeks ago and happened into west elm. [okay, we didn't really "happen" into west elm - i dragged phil to go look at a coffee table i saw online after we visited the bloomingdale's rug tent sale. same thing.] and, lo and behold, there was a little chair! 



not only was there a little chair, but it was on sale! and upholstered in a non-offensive, non-feminine navy stripe! it's fairly comfortable, and will be even better with a pillow for lumbar support. woohoo!

then last weekend, phil lured me out of bed on a weekend morning with the promise of popeye's and the garden store. we had been to an all-day pool party the day before, and let's just say i needed my beauty rest : ) i was not leaving that bed and was quite happy to watch the new top chef masters and not change out of my pajamas, thank you. but phil never wants to go to the garden store (he always wants to go to popeye's. i think we've been to every single location in northwest DC and north arlington). so that was some motivation to throw on a cap and my sunglasses and get outside.

ummmm definitely worth it. i finally got a fiddle leaf fig!! i've been slightly obsessed for a while and johnson's had a few to choose from in their indoor section. we chose a nice, healthy tree on the smaller side. they had a couple of larger ones that were GORGEOUS. but they were also expensive at $150! our medium-ish sized guy was $40. johnson's is usually more expensive than our ace or home depot, but they're so helpful and i really like them. so i don't mind. well, i like to buy plants at ace, too, but i've never seen anything like this there. i evened it out by buying a new aloe vera plant and more liriope to fill in around our walk at ace. see - the tiny plant in the black pot behind the fig.

anyway. it is a great addition to our den. he sits next to the tv, so he can soak up the southern sunlight that comes in the transom above the back door. if i remember to leave the shades open. i hope i don't kill him!

dorky photo from my instagram feed. please notice mr fiddle leaf fig off to the right. please do not notice the fact that i should be dusting my tv console instead of bawling my eyes out to a movie i've seen a zillion times.

progress in the den

our house has the same floor plan as most DC townhouses. front living room, dining room and adjacent galley kitchen, and a former porch that is now enclosed. this back room is our den, our TV room. it's thin and cool in the winter and warm in the summer. one wall is brick (as it used to be the exterior of the house), and has two doors and windows. there are also double french doors to our back patio. it is where we spend most of our time - it has the TV and is right off the kitchen : )

i've been struggling how to use these first floor rooms, looking at lots of inspiration for help. we only had one couch when we moved to the house (makes sense, since we were in a tiny one-bedroom apartment), and it was not my favorite. a red monstrosity that we got for free from phil's co-worker during his denver internship. we saw it in his garage after going to a july 4 barbecue and took it home in the back of the truck. we've been on the hunt for a new couch for a year. we bought a small khaki nordic sofa off craigslist right when we moved in, but it wasn't the comfy lounge-y couch we needed for the back room.

we finally found one! a year-old crate & barrel sectional on craigslist. we luuuurrrrrrve craigslist : ) and it is a perfect fit. brown leather, comfy, and, oh, that chaise! it is so great to put up your feet. and we can both snuggle for movies without feeling cramped. we were also able to sell the old red couch (goodbye, old friend!) to a new loving home.

but what to do with the rest of the room? obviously, we need some storage. the photo above was right after we moved the sectional in, so please excuse the messy mess. there are built-ins to the immediate left of the sofa that i will repurpose as an end table. and cook book storage. ha. i have a problem.

we decided to paint the room. originally, the brick was a maroon-ish color and the other walls tan. i prefer cool colors over warm colors, so we decided to paint the entire room grey. i don't know what my aversion to warm paint colors is all about. i just need the cooling, calming grey or blue. i like bright red rooms, i could just never have one in my house. the pink is not working out, so i went back to my tried and true.

very happy with how it turned out. the room is not done. but it's closer. we are looking for a coffee table and the right artwork for the room. phil wants movie artwork (like this). i want a mixture of photos and small original artwork. we'll see...