Livable Living Room

We've been lucky enough to make some changes to our home that have made our lives easier. One such change was making an opening between our den and our living room. Jeremy called it creating a hole in the wall. Here is the wall before Jeremy sawsall'ed it.

This view is of the wall that separates the den from the living room. He is in the den.

and here is when we ripped off all the 70's paneling and discovered icky insulation. After rerouting some electrical, installing some recessed lighting, replacing insulation, drywalling and painting, the room definitely allowed us to utilize the living room space.

Before: looking from living room toward the wall soon to be made 'holey'.

Living room hole - can you see into the den?

I finished patching - now paint and trim work need to be done.

This picture was taken right after we bought the white couch. Remember the steal I got on it?!? I had just finished reupholstering the green chairs - originally got those armchairs from a thrift store for $5 a piece. Many weeks, staples, and blisters later, we have two super cute green chairs that scream "sit in me!"

And here is the living room view this morning. Completely inspired by my first moodboard. I am actually in the den when I took this photo. I really wanted to find some green pillows that I could throw on the couch. I bought some Ikea pillows (which ended up being too lime) and some Pier 1 pillows (which were too drab) only to wander into Pier 1 this evening and find a fabulous sale going on. I mean - look at this couch...it's begging for throw pillows!

Low and behold - I didn't step five feet inside the Pier 1 door when I saw them - perfect pear colored pillows! I couldn't wait to get back home and decor our sad stark couch.

Don't those make a huge difference?

And you might be wondering what is across from that beautifully accented couch - it's this:

I present to you the newly decorated LIVABLE living room!

So now the question is this - should I break out the craft paper and cover all the books so that they look more uniform? Jeremy thinks that it will take days - I think I could do it in under an hour if I concentrate. Think it's worth it? Let me know what you think - stare at the bookcases flanking the TV and tell me the orange books don't drive you crazy...