new couch || gus modern

Holy crap you guys!  I have a legit blog post for you today filled with new photos, and as a bonus, it has nothing to do with sewing!

I came across the company Gus Modern awhile back on Instagram.  The Spencer sofa, which is the one I purchased, popped up a few times through various handles.  I really liked what I had seen, so when I found out that a local company carried the brand I was excited.

This couch met most of my requirements, and out the year's worth of shopping I had done, this was the best pick.   I mentioned and shared a photo of my dream couch - the Coco sofa by Kim Salmela, in my previous post.  One day that couch will be in my home!  ;)  But I am happy to have this couch living with us.

By the looks of it the comfort level is questionable.  I mean, just look at this photo, right?  So I was really happy to know that a Spencer couch was in a local showroom for us to try out because I did not want to buy anything that I could not sit on.  It was actually really comfortable!   At 84" long, it is perfect for taking naps or watching a movie.  Matt is 6 feet tall, and he can lay on it without his feet touching the arms.   The cushioning is firm with a soft touch, if that makes any sense.  If this was Goldilocks, it would be just right.  There are future plans to take off the chrome legs and replace them with tapered wood legs when I can get around to it.  I was not too sure about those long rectangular pillows, and now that the couch is here with us, we use them all the time!  They are the perfect headrest/armrest.

One last look at what the room was like.  I talked about my feelings and why this room even looked the way it did in this blog post with more explanation here (which have even older photos -hehe).

Jan 2014

Here is where it is at today.  The floral chair is here to stay, at least for a little while.  It is down filled and oh-so-comfy, but yeah.  It totally clashes with everything else.  The color is okay, but the print is not, which clashes (but absolutely perfect for a traditional home!).  I would love to replace the fan as well, but for right now, it is not a necessity.

I always struggle getting proper natural light into this particular section of the house, and it has been mostly overcast for the week, which was not helpful and why this post was late.  But this lighting will suffice for now.  After checking out this photo above with fresh eyes, I want to move the bench over to the left more.  I can't help but to have everything look off-centered in this room from this point of view because the windows are off-centered, so I just try to deal with it.  :)

 Did you notice the new wall color?

If you are like my husband, your answer is no.  But to me, I can see a big difference!  It is Snowbound by Sherwin Williams.  I actually splurged and bought name brand during their half off sale over the holidays.  It is hard to find a perfect white, but I have found that a warm white works best in our home.  I believe the color on the window frame is the basic white that comes in the can off the shelf at Lowe's.

But I am pretty sure you noticed the addition of the wall shelf.  This is the exact same shelf we used in Owen's room a few years ago.  They are holding up great, so I placed one in our living room.  I also stained it walnut to help give it a little warmth and contrast to the cold walls.

 After finishing my book, I congratulated myself with the painting I talked about in this post.  It was originally intended for the dining area, but I had my eyes on this for a long time that I decided it needed to take center stage.  Very, very happy with that purchase and the shelf.  

You may have also noticed a big black thing in our living room that was not there before.  It is a new chair I got from West Elm.  I had been eyeing it for a while, and when I saw it on clearance in the store, I snatched it up.  I love it so much.  It's comfortable, kid friendly, and has the perfect place to rest your head.

The curves on it are pretty sweet too.  If you are interested in seeing close-up photos of my wall hanging, you can find that here in this post.

I'm loving it and loving it all.

HUGE progress, no?

xx nancy

One year ago: Unconventional way to remove Water Stains
Two years ago:  #7 quilt finish
Three years ago:  Fabric Silhouette Tutorial

Find me on Facebook and Instagram.  Come say hello!

couch shopping

BDDW Grane Sofa- one of my dream couches

For Christmas in 2013, Matt gifted me living room furniture.  It was such a great present!  I do not really want to delve into too much of my couch shopping history.  It is pathetic and can induce eye rolling.  Let's just say I started off with a brown couch.  A brown living room for that matter.  Everything was so brown and neutral.

Since I have not blogged about the interiors of my home in awhile, let me speed this up.  Owen ripped out the right side of the curtain rod (thank goodness), and I sold my cream rug.  I found a black and white rug on Craigslist.

Christmas 2013

I sold couch and moved chairs in its place.

Hung a quilt and moved in a long bench opposite of the chairs.
These photos are from my personal Instagram account. (@nancy_purvis for my personal life // @owensolivia for my sewing life)

All the artwork from under the couch was now leaning up against the wall.

And then I painted my walls white about two months ago, which is not pictured in any of the photos above.  Those three simple changes made a big impact for my living room, in my opinion.

We kept our living room like this for almost a year.  It worked just fine for our small family, but I soon felt the need for a couch to lounge on.

I looked at so many couches before choosing one, and I will share with you the top picks.  I wanted a single cushion with a tufted back or a single cushion back to avoid that sloppy, slouchy pillow look that seems to happen after years of use.  I also preferred to have a couch that was at least 90" wide, but I believe the standard is anywhere from 80"-84".  At least, that is what it seemed like when shopping.   I didn't realize how hard it actually would be to find something within my criteria, and when I finally felt like I found the dream couch, it was way out of my price range.  

I narrowed it down to these choices.

West Elm  Crosby Sofa

Pros:  It was comfortable and long.  Customer service is great.
Cons: Two back pillows and their gray color was just okay.

Thrive Furniture Jefferson Sofa

Pros:  The right length and one seat cushion and back.  They had a good gray color.
Cons: Cannot test it out to check for comfort and didn't want to deal with return shipping if it didn't work out.

West Elm Ainslie Sofa

Pros:  Good color, tufted back one seat cushion.
Cons:  Cannot test it out for comfort.  Return shipping.  Too short in length.

Kim Salmela Coco Sofa

This was my dream couch (and still is).  It has everything I wanted, but the price tag was just too high.
Pros:  Very comfortable, handmade in the USA, long, tufted, and one seat cushion.  Legs can be customized.
Cons:  price

So what did I pick?  I actually chose none of these, and I will share my new couch in a different post.  It's okay.  I would scream and kick and hate me too for doing that to you.  :)   But it already took me  an hour to write up this short post, and this mama has a home to attend to!

Thanks for stopping in!!  No, seriously.  You are amazing, and I love you.  Are any of these your favorite?  Which one would you have picked?  Do you have hard time finding the "perfect" couch?

xx nancy

One year ago: The EM quilt
Two years ago:  A look at my vintage sound system
Three years ago: How to paint chevrons

Stockholm in the crib || Rug Pad USA

  

*There are no affiliate links in this post.  Just 100% pure awesome.

I changed out my living room rug when I scored this Ikea Stockholm rug on Craigslist.  I unknowingly pin a lot of interiors with this rug, so it only seemed fitting to have it in my home.   And when the chances you come across this rug in your hometown when Ikea is a 6 hour round trip drive, you hop on it like white on rice.

So this was the state of my living room awhile back.  A lot of brown?  Check.  Too small of a rug for the space?  Check.

During Christmas, this was the state of the living room.  It's amazing how the rug made such a transformation for the space.   After Owen ripped out the curtains (see that orange spot above the window frame below?), I thanked him for taking charge.  The curtains needed to go in my opinion.  The space looks much better without curtains.

What happened to my old rug?  I used it as a rug pad since this one is a flatweave.  But there was a BIG problem, which you can kind see in the photo above.  The rug draped over my existing rug.  And do you see that slight ripple under the chair?  Yeah, the rug was NOT staying in place very well.

And this.  Do you see that dip next to the couch leg???

So apparently I had a problem, but I was okay to live with it until I got a proper rug pad.

And then the craziest thing happened.  Will, from Rug Pad USA (not to be confused with RugsUSA), contacted me asking if I would be interested in trying out a rug pad.  After getting my measurements, they custom cut the pad to fit your rug.  Will sent over the Premium Lock pad for my new rug.

Here's a link to a coupon on their blog!

Y'all.  This was the BEST decision, and I am so thankful Will contacted because I really, really! needed a rug pad!  I was not too sure what to expect since I thought anything would be better than my old rug, but Rug Pad USA exceeded my expectations and excelled in customer service, fast delivery, and great product.  And I'm seriously not saying this because I got the rug pad.  This pad has added a bit of cushion to the rug, has elevated it off the floor (pic to come), and my rug DOES NOT move.   How many flatweave rug owners out there complain about the ripples and movement?  Come on.  We all do.  But we just love our flatweaves so much we just deal with it, right?

When we got the rug pad, it came rolled up.  It was easy to flatten out and place where we wanted it.

My walls were half painted for Creating with the Stars.  It's slowly getting painted white.  :) But here's a great shot showing you how flat the pad is even after it came to me rolled up like the photo above.   We were able to sell our old rug for $75!

The pad lifts my rug off the ground.

I'm sure many of you are wondering about the durability and clean-ability with this rug.  Because it's white, I am sure you are weary, especially if you have kids.  We have a no shoe rule with this rug, although it's been walked on plenty of times with shoes.  We also had a guest spill soda on this rug.  I found this rug to be a little more difficult to clean, but my stains came out.   Overall, I am very happy with my Stockholm rug!!

I still have a lot of work that needs to be done in this space, but for now, that's quite the improvement, no?  If you are wondering where the brown couch went, it's actually no longer in this room.  I'll save that for another day.

Thanks Will for hooking a sister up!  The pad is freaking amazing and does wonders for the space. I love it!

What do you think of my new Stockholm rug found on Craigslist?  Do you think it helped change the space?

xx nancy

One year ago: The going ons
Two years ago: Instagram  [you can follow me here]

Rug Pad USA supplied me a rug in exchange for a post.  I would only share with you products that I feel confident about.  I don't like fishy content, and I am sure you don't either.

A few new chairs

Last week I shared with you how I removed a water stain from my teak tabletop, and I realized I never showed you our new kitchen chairs.  We have had these for almost a year now, so I guess they are not really new to us but new to you.  :)

Here's the dining area with our white, Napoleon chairs.

And now.

There are actually four chairs, but I am using one of the chairs in my sewing room.  They have held up incredibly well.  They are lightweight, but not so light that you can easily damage them.   I am so happy we made the switch to metal chairs.  It was a nightmare wiping down white wood chairs all day long.  The only disadvantage to our chairs is winter time brings a chill to the seats when you first sit in them.  It goes away rather quickly, but you are greeted with a cool seat.  I'm sure some fur from IKEA or cushions would remedy that.  

I would love to add a rug like this West Elm one to the space.  I think one could easily DIY a similar version, but if this rug ever goes on clearance, I am snatching it up in a heartbeat.

And since I am on the topic of let's pretend, I would also love to add a piece of art to the right side of the window.  The pictures that were once there had to come down.  When Owen was younger, he had a habit of slamming our back door, and the vibrations would knock down our frames.  Now that he is a little older, I may be able to hang something there on the right.

kai samuel davis

Or this.

Leif

The pendant light will be leaving our home later this week too, but that's for another day.  :)  It's the Finley pendant lamp from Crate and Barrel, and I highly recommend it!

Related Posts: 

Tripod Table

How to Remove Rust from Metal

How I Removed a Water Stain from Teak Wood

xx nancy

One year ago: How's it Hanging?

Two years ago: Fabric Friday || Eyelets

An unconventional way to remove a water stain from wood

Do you remember when I got this table?

Well, the lady who sold it to me said she rubbed it down with a protective oil to help preserve it. She may have done that, but we have been getting a few stains here and there, which resulted in me throwing a cheap vinyl tablecloth over it to protect the wood.  A few weeks ago I ended up with a nasty stain.  Something somehow leaked through the tablecloth and onto the table.  I didn't even know it nor did I know how the long the stain had been there until I had taken off the tablecloth.  Needless to say, the wood had turned white.

The other day I was playing Go Fish with my 3 year old, and we were snacking on Lay's Wavy potato chips.

I noticed these little grease spots showing up, and I had the craziest idea to rub the inside of the bag of chips onto my water stain.   I figured it couldn't hurt.

Well, guess what.  It worked.   I cut a small piece of the bag and rubbed the oily side onto the table in a circular motion.  Within seconds, the stain was gone.  I wiped the table down with clean damp cloth to check if it was just a hoax.  The stain was gone. (!!!)

A few things to note:
This worked for me and may not work for you.  I thought this was a crazy idea and just wanted to share it.
My table is solid wood teak with no veneers.
My table does not have any protective coating like Polyacrylic or stains.
I didn't use a lot of oil.  If I needed more, I cut another small piece from the bag.

Have you found a successful way to remove water stains?  Do share!

xx nancy

One year ago: Triple Zip Pouch
Two years ago: Fabric Friday || Triangles

A Schoolhouse Electric Inspired Bed

The bed is DONE.   I bought the bed off Craigslist back in October, and it was in rough condition with rust and chipped paint.  A little elbow grease and I turned my find into a Schoolhouse Electric style bed.   I originally did not choose black for the color, but it only seems natural to have it now that I look at it.  I asked my 3 year old what color he wanted his bed, and I was willing to paint it any color he chose.  He said black, and I asked him if he was sure about that.  He said yes, and I said heck yeah!!!

Yep, I went there.  I wrapped fabric around his metal headboard.  I will definitely go there again, if the opportunity ever arises.

Do you remember when I bought this bed?  I blogged about it here along with sharing some inspirational photos.  Although I was a fan of the chipped paint look, it tested positive for lead, so I sanded it.  I used some black paint I had on hand, which was interior house paint and then applied Polyacrylic over it.  I used a cheap brush from Lowe's, which seemed to do just fine for this bed.

And do you want to know the biggest bonus of having this bed besides the ability to sleep guests?

STORAGE.

Something our small home lacks.

And we all like before and afters, right?  Although, the before was really nice too.  :)

There's something about that zebra in the picture above that makes me smile.  I think it's the way it has collapsed over from exhaustion and is smiling.

Thank goodness Owen loves his new bed.  Now if I can only get him to sleep in it the entire night ...
xx nancy



Bedding is from Ikea and Target.  Cloud pillows made by me.  Zebra from Pier 1.  Woven basket Nate Berkus for Target.

Related posts:

Paint color options for the bed
Owen's room with a source list

One year ago:
Catalog Quilt finish
Two years ago:
Kitchen Tile


My quilting book released Sept. 24, 2015 and is on Amazon.  Check it out!