Living Room Progress - Part IV

It's been exactly 5 months since my last progress report on the living room and I'm ready to show you what we've done since. It's not much because we've been working on a few other areas of the house as well plus, life gets in the way sometimes. You know?

Here was my to-do list back after the last update:

Short Term: Art above bar, feature above sofa, planter for free
Long Term: Bigger TV, hardwood floors, built-in entertainment unit / bookcases

To recap, this is how the room looked before we moved in:

This is how it looks today:

Art above the bar and planter for the tree can be crossed off the short term list but I still haven't found a feature for above the white sofa. I had planned to try the large mirror we currently have standing in the kitchen but am too lazy to tackle the whole let's-try-hanging-a-gazillion-pounds-on-the-wall project. My other plan to paint a giant canvas has not come to fruition either. Again, that laziness. It got to me.

But...I can also now cross 1.5 items off the long term list which in my opinion trumps my one fail on the short term. You may notice that our TV has grown a bit. It's now a 42 1080P LCD up from a 32 720P LCD. And since we got an amazing deal on it, I don't feel so guilty for skipping ahead on the plans.

Same goes for the bookcases. I eventually want built-in bookcases for this wall but that can't happen until we install hardwood and that can't happen until we magically pull some cash out of....nowhere. So for the time being, I found these for a steal ($30 each!).

Just for fun and because it never gets old (at least for the person trying to show off) here's another photo of the room so far in a Before/After comparison:

I probably won't be working on this room for a while and turning my attention towards the master bedroom and sorely neglected kitchen and office room. But never fear, I do have some plans for this space once I'm back at it:

Short Term:feature above white sofa, pillows for brown sofa
Long Term: new matching sofas, built-in bookcases and perhaps fireplace?, crown moulding, hardwood floors

As you can see, I dreamed big with the long term plans because well, since it's going to really long term, I might as well dream big!

Previous living room posts: Potential Layout | Progress Report: Part I | Progress Report: Part II |

A Cosmic Encounter

I came across glassblower Sean Clayton's beautiful and mesmerizing creations through a Featured Seller's interview on Etsy.com and just had to share. Aren't they beautiful?

images courtesy of SCGlassStudio

If you're wondering what exactly you're looking at, these are large marbles handmade from borosilicate glass and the manipulation of 99.999% pure silver fume and particles. When the piece is almost complete it is allowed to cool to 1000 degrees Fahrenheit then is brought back up to a specific temperature. This action "strikes" the silver producing the different colors you see.*

What I find really fascinating are not only the pieces themselves but that Sean is self-taught and is now a full-time glassblower. It's really inspiring to read about artists who were able to take their craft from a hobby to a full-time career, even more so when they did not train for it.

To read the full interview with Sean Clayton and to see more of his work in his Etsy Shop: SCGlassStudio, click here.

*description taken from SCGlassStudio