We’ve been in this house for a year, and the fact it’s taken Andria and me a while to get the blog up and running has been a fabulous excuse to procrastinate on getting things all settled here in CA. I keep telling myself to wait to get Eli’s room set up until I can document it on the blog…
So, in order to create a sense of urgency, I decided to give you all a rundown of the current state of each room in our house along with ideas of where I’m going with them. We can’t change too much, since this is a rental. I mostly want to work with what I’ve already got, with a few big additions like new rugs. I’ll mostly be working with putting art up on the walls and accessorizing.
Without further ado, here’s part 1 of Chez Noble. I’ll go through the rest of the house next week. Real life photos taken with an iPhone. This is the real deal, folks! No styling here…obviously. I did tidy up a bit…but this is how we’re currently living in our house – on a clean day.
Entry
The entry is really small, basically a landing area with a small closet. You turn left to step down into the living room, or go through the door into the kitchen. There’s not too much I want to do, other than figure out artwork for the wall, some coat hooks, and possibly a runner.
Living Room
The living room is what you see when you first walk into the house, and opens up into the dining area. We’ve got the TV in here and a fireplace I’m not sure how to make more interesting. I love the vaulted ceilings in this room.
I’m looking for an interesting rug and pillow/throws to warm up the space, making plans for artwork around the TV, and need to figure out what to do with the fireplace…I hate the dreary brick. Do I paint it? Create some sort of beefier mantel to distract from the ugly brick? And yes, that’s a trampoline. We had a rainy winter, causing two small boys to be stuck in the house quite a bit. It saved all our sanity!
Dining Area
The dining room is right off the living room, with sliders to the patio and two steps up into the kitchen. Not too much to do in here. We’ve already added a bookshelf and bought new dining chairs (sneak peak!) which I need to add seat pads to. I HATE the vinyl vertical blinds, so I may talk Seth into removing those. I’m also wanting to replace that shiny chandelier with something that doesn’t look like it’s straight out of a 1992 builder house.
Kitchen
There are two steps up into the kitchen from our dining area. I’ve made a little “command central” with the Stendig calendar and a vintage desk to organize paperwork, mail, keys, etc…There’s not much to do in here, other than organize the counters a little better and maybe get a rug for the sink area. There is a ton of floor space, so I’ve thought about adding in a movable island with a couple stools.
Music/Sitting Room
We have another living area connected to the kitchen. I’ve already changed out the curtains on the sliders out to a weird little atrium of sorts that I have no idea what to do with. I still need to figure out artwork for above the couch, maybe add sconces above the couch because there really isn’t enough room for the lamp I currently have there, get a new rug, figure out a coffee table situation, and figure out artwork for above and around the piano. 
It’s a cute little house, isn’t it? I’m excited to fully settle in and get to work making this house look like it’s ours. Stay tuned for a tour of the bedrooms and outdoor spaces next week.
I always appreciate an unstyled view into real houses that real people live in, nice job!
Nostalgic to see the couch that inspired the one I’m sitting on right now! I have NO idea what to do with that fireplace, what a challenge. Maybe cover it with wood to create a new look?
Hey Anne! So glad the couch is so inspirational! Hope you all love your as much as we do. P.S. When are you coming to visit? 😉
Hope you don’t mind a blizzard of comments…
1. As soon as you walk in the door, your focal point is the wall with the clock. I’d put something on that wall that makes a statement like a mirror and narrow shelf with interesting collectibles and plant.
2. I’d save the hooks for somewhere else. They will make your living room look cluttered and not styled.
3. Fireplace, I’d paint white. Andria did that in her former house and it make the room look fabulous. Don’t know if your landlord will approve.
4.Can you bear to paint the corner cupboard white? That would make it recede into the wall and your focal point for that wall could be artwork and a few mantel objects.Sending you a do-over image so you can see what I’m projecting. Hope you like it.