Upgrading the living room

We finally did it. We pulled the trigger and decided to upgrade our living room furniture. If you have been following me along on this blog, or on Instagram, you know that I have been complaining about my living room furniture, since well, we moved into our house three years ago.

The brown-ish green set just did not go with our living room style. But it was legacy furniture from our rental days, it was comfortable, and we already owned it. So it was hard to convince ourselves and make a case to replace it - when there are always so many other financial priorities. But Massachusetts has a tax-free weekend each summer, and this year we decided to take the plunge and take advantage.

I posted the sofa and loveseat set on Craigslist, for what I thought was a lofty asking point, and lo and behold, it sold in under 24-hours. Who knew? There are so many sofas available on Craigslist that have clearly been reposted five or six times, so I was concerned that we would be stuck with two complete living room sets for weeks. But when it sold lickety-split (to a highly normal and very nice couple with two children - she even emailed me afterward thanking me for the good deal and commenting on how much she LOVED the new sofa set!), three things went through my mind. 1) I should have asked for more dough. 2) Now we have to sit here for a week without furniture! How am I going to watch the Olympics comfortably? and 3) Yessss! We don't have to move the sofa into the basement to die a slow, miserable death.

Caroline enjoyed taking advantage of the open space, and finally we broke out her parachute. Which. she. loved.

With a 14-month old and two dogs, it didn't make sense to spend big bucks on our living room upgrade. The furniture will likely get a bit trashed and roughed up over the next few years. So we wanted something that would take a beating (or two), and not cost an arm and a leg.

To replace the sofa, we bought the Ektorp from Ikea, with the white slip cover. The style is pretty timeless, slipcovers can get easily washed, and the color would definitely brighten up the space and go with our decor. I didn't go with Hubby to pick up the sofa, as both myself and the sofa likely wouldn't have fit into our trucklette. And thankfully, Hubby got to Ikea before they opened, to snag a prime parking spot and beat the rush. He said by the time he left, it was quite the mad house and would have taken hours to just get one item. You'd think they were giving stuff away. But I am sure with the tax-free weekend, and the impending Boston-mad-student-craze-move-in-day approaching, people were freaking out over the potential savings.

And I am sure you are now thinking, "Whaaat?!? White??" Yes, I know I have a 14-month old, and we currently have two dogs. Well, I was a bit concerned myself about buying an Ikea sofa, and a white one to boot. But I read up on these two posts by Cottage and Vine and Bower Power, so I felt well informed about the buying and care process.

And instead of the loveseat, we really wanted two club chairs. The loveseat was a little big for the space, and I like the non-matchy-matchyness and flexibility of two chairs. I found these at Target, that were (thankfully) on sale last weekend too!

So not only did I get the tax-free break, but there was a nice little discount on top of it, as well. I love me a good deal.

The chairs have yet to arrive, but should be delivered in the next week. The sofa is in place, but definitely needs some throw pillows for some additional color (and lounging). I can't decide what types of pillows to pick up, maybe something like one of these?

Pottery Barn / Pottery Barn / Pier 1 / Pier 1 / Etsy

I am leaning toward the blue or tan hues for my pillows, but maybe I should consider other colors, as well? What are your thoughts? Admittedly, I will probably end up at Homegoods and pick out something that strikes my fancy.

Once the chairs have arrived and the room is put back together, I will show you how it all turned out. Stay tuned friends!