A Few Living Room Thoughts

I still haven't decided on a color scheme or anything yet, but what I do know is that when we buy the house (yes, I said when again), we're going to need all new living room furniture. Everything that is currently in our living room now is all going down into the rec room because it feels like apartment furniture, and I want to have a more grown-up living room. Not like the sitting room that no one ever uses or anything, but something a little less modern/minimalist (I'm kind of over it. Holly from Decor8 describes it best in this great blog post). I want it to be somewhere I can hang out with my girlfriends and be comfortable but also somewhere that's nice enough to use when I have family over.
Being a twenty-something, I still can't afford the furniture I wish I could and usually have to resort to IKEA. I don't think "resort" is necessarily the right word, because I think IKEA is great, but we all wish we could afford the luxury brand version right?.

The good thing is that IKEA has added some nice pieces to their collection over the past couple years. For example, I want an armoire for the living room. Usually you can't find an armoire for less than like $1200 but IKEA has a few very affordable choices.

The Farmhouse Armoire from Pottery Barn is about $1899, but a similar one from IKEA, the MARKOR, is only $319. The Pottery Barn version is a little nicer and a little taller, but for over $1500 less I think I'm going to go with the IKEA version.

For $299 you can also get the STRANDA wardrobe which comes unfinished so you can paint on any finish you choose. I also like the size of this one, its almost 2 feet taller than the other MARKOR armoire and I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard to give it a similar distressed walnut finish.

I'm sure everyone knows a person or two that has an EKTORP sofa, which is why I hesitated when someone recommended it to me, I like to be unique when I can.

But I needed something comfortable and casual and I'm pretty sure its a knock-off of either the Pottery Barn PB Basic (picture), about $1299 - $2799 depending on the fabric you select, or the Crate and Barrel Potomac Sofa, $1599. Did I mention the IKEA EKTORP was $399?

So that's what I'm thinking about for what my mother would call the "big ticket items". Then I can shop for some vintage coffee and end tables, throw on some colorful toss pillows from Anthropologie onto the sofas, find some lamps, paint the walls (not sure what color yet)...etc.