Before and After: Living Room

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Before I even get to how our living room looks now, let me tell you a story.

Once upon a time (…last month), my husband was already living and working in Illinois while I was back at our old house in North Carolina packing our entire house. Packing and packing and packing. It was Box City. In the ten days I had to prep the entire house for our move, I had also been selling furniture left and right. I sold our lawn mower, our grill, our wood chipper, our guest bed, our kitchen dinette set, our ENTIRE dining room suite of a bar, hutch, and 8-seater table with two leaves. Our load was lightening and it felt GREAT. I rented a 27′ U-haul, picked up said truck AND backed it into my driveway, and waited for the movers to come the next day to load the truck. I honestly, truly believed we wouldn’t have an issue with space. They arrived at 8 in the morning, took one look at our house, one look at the truck and said… “that ain’t all gonna fit.”

The movers spent the next 4 hours playing 3-D tetris with our stuff. Now, I am by no means a hoarder. We had a lot of boxes BUT, BUT, BUT, we had a 4 bedroom house and we homeschool. So there are lots of books and science kits and art supplies… but considering all the furniture I sold, everything should have fit.

There I go with that dirty ‘S’ word again… SHOULD. Yeah, it didn’t. They loaded everything they possibly could but there was still out entire back shed and various pieces of furniture that didn’t make it onto the truck. I was faced with either renting a trailer or leaving it all behind. I started throwing things overboard. To our neighbor went the wheelbarrow, to the curb went a cheap IKEA desk that was easily replaceable. One piece, though, was a family heirloom rocking chair that my grandma used to rock my mom, that I used to rock my babies, that my sisters will use if and when they have kids… I couldn’t just abandon it. (No fears! My amazing neighbor is holding it for me until we can go back and get it.)

I ramble on and on about this because once we DID get here to The Brick and Maple, we moved everything in and I said to my husband, “I don’t want these couches anymore.”

After taking up valuable real estate on the truck, we literally turned right around and sold them once we got here. He’s patient and he loves me and I do what I want.

We listed the couches on Facebook Marketplace and then went to pick out something that fit better in the space. The room is classically Victorian. Huge 12′ windows, pocket doors, a beautiful light fixture, and a fireplace that is the focal point of the room. Part of the struggle was wanting to maintain a historic feel while ALSO being comfortable. This is our home and we live in it… we didn’t want to sacrifice style for comfort or history for modern convenience. I think what we ended up with is the perfect blend of plushness without being fussy.

The couches got lots of hits on Marketplace and we lined up someone to come get them the day before the new stuff was delivered. It was the perfect setup: we wouldn’t have to worry about not having anything to sit on for multiple days, and the space would be open when the delivery people arrived… so naturally they never showed up. Now instead of having to worry about having no couches, we had 5 couches. It was Couch City.

Thankfully we found new buyers and only had to bump into furniture for 5 days. Now our living room is streamlined and not filled with enough couches to seat a small army. We have decided to hang the amazing antique lattice window I found at Vintage Market Days on the open space on the wall. (Not sure what I’m talking about? Check out our Instagram!)

Before:

After:

Now I get to wrap my head around decorating for Christmas. It will involve charts and graphs and a planner. If you haven’t already heard, we are one of the lucky homes that gets to be open to tour during the 3rd Annual Belleville Luminary Walk this December. Decorations need to be ON POINT. I was built for this. I am ready.

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Check back next week for my next historical post. This one involves the aforementioned major 20th century event. How is The Brick and Maple and the Romeiser family connected to this event… and what do you think it could be? Comment below with your guesses. (And if you’re one of the few who already knows- don’t spoil it!)

As always, stay sweet!
The Brick and Maple Fam <3

 

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