Well like I promised a while back, the sectional sofa had seen it's last photo op in the Oliver and Rust house. I am going to post a full review about the Ikea Ektorp sectional in the next few posts so if you were or are one of the many people asking how we liked it, would we buy it again the answer will be in there.
Today however, we are going down the road of new. With the arrival of our little lovely lady Emma and having a different focus for our room the divided space which I still to this day love, no longer was conducive to how we needed to live in our space.
Then of course I purchased the "remorse" chairs and the domino effect started with the chair monopoly happening as we moved things around.
....and since it's the first day of fall today lets do a fall change up tour in this room as well.
So to recap,
new layout
new sofa
old chairs
fall do
Loads to cover so lets get started.
So here she be. Our room is long and quite large but at the end of the room where the fireplace is the wall where the bathroom is juts in and makes a full room of furniture placement a little awkward. When we moved in 8 years ago it was just the 2 of us and a sectional was a dreamy idea with so much space from our tiny first home, so we split the room in 2. A tv watching area and a conversation fireside area. It worked perfectly for us but did become a little bit of a pain with large groups of people as tons of seating but with backs to each other it made conversation difficult sometimes. The leather chairs we had from a score on Kijiji years ago and one was in this room but the big wood cupboard so we pulled the other upstairs and moved them into the room floating as a pair again.
Just to recap below this is what our living room has looked like layout wise for about the last 8 years.
We did a lot of hunting for the perfect sofa and I was so close to pulling the trigger on a sectional this style with chaise on wayfair. The nicer sofas we found were either in the high 3000-5000.00 range or were online and we were just nervous to pull the trigger on something we couldn't sit on. I also don't want to be mortgaged to our sofa. I am all about investing in pieces that you plan to keep and spend once rather than many times however with a rambunctious little girl a 5000.00 sofa did not feel like a smart move right now.
So we bought another ektorp from Ikea. I will cover comfort more in the review post but the difference between this sofa, our previous sectional and even the loveseat/chairs we already own is amazing. They have definitely made improvements that are noticeable immediately.
I chose not to buy a cover from Ikea and instead purchased a linen cover from Bemz. Super super pleased with the speed, craftsmanship and quality of this cover. And immediately the sofa waffles between Ikea and Pottery Barn-ville because the linen cover gives it a bit more plush of a look. The covers are a bit loose which makes putting them on so much easier but also a little give room for the first wash and dry which I will update when I do it.
When we decided to float the chairs in the middle of the room we ended up with spare furniture. The sofa table had to go, the blanket trunk needed a new home. It was a ton of fun for me to completely rearrange our space and give it a new life.
I put our same end table between the chairs and in order to keep using our table lamp a rug was in order for this side of the room to get the cord to the opposite wall. I didn't want just plain jute or a super trendy rug so hunted out a flat pile super faded red persian style rug. We already had 2 kilim rugs in the halls that join this room so they needed to blend together well. Red isn't really my colour but put it in a rug and I'm all for it.
I didn't go super autumn with my look this year. I didn't add tons of wheat and pumpkins to the living room as with the new "do" I just wanted to enjoy the space and made it say fall more with the colours and textures and of course the pillows.
a cactus here, a wool blanket there
I bought this gold and white plant stand some time ago and have had it in hoarding for the perfect spot and that spot finally came available when I booted the chair that was in this corner. With our new layout the chair outside the laundry room became too much and just in the way so this area which will hold a Christmas tree soon enough is now a perfect little plant corner
My little model who is thoroughly enjoying being able to view all aspects of the room and get a straight long run around the coffee table.
This is the other pair of chairs that got re-mated. One was in the basement and one was sitting by the laundry room in this room. We will likely find something else for this space in the coming years but I absolutely love the green velvet together over here and in fact I will say this was not my idea. Trevor carried these babies in while I was standing staring at the space and said "there, I like these up here" and low and behold damn it worked out.
Catching bits and glimpses of our fall mantel this year. I will do a separate post with the vignettes up there soon.
So there you have it. A fall space with a new layout and we are completely happy with it. It feels like a whole new space. Emma has commandeered the little corner on the floor with a sheep skin of the sofa and the animals have all picked new spots to lay at night.
Like I said, I really loved the old layout but this just feels lighter and there is definitely less stuff. I know right? it doesn't look like that but trust me there is a lot less.
With quite a few changes happening around here and since Christmas is on its way soon enough I am working on getting an up to date house tour up here as lots has changed since I posted it last year.
Have a great day everyone,
Meg
