house tour: living room. hello?

is this thing on?

where do i even begin.

i have been MIA. from my blog and technology in general. we went to washington d.c. for 9 days, came home and babysat a family of four for 8 days, went to texas for 6 days and then went to utah for 7 days. the day after we got back from utah, i started summer school. a week later, we went to st. george for 4 days. it has been a crazy summer!!! and on top of that, jon and i have been trying to keep our technology use to a minimum. we both deleted our facebook accounts (EXAGGERATED SIGH OF RELIEF!!!!!!!!!! best decision of our lives.) and have been trying to stay off our phones. it was so much fun to be on vacation and REALLY be on vacation. we got a lot of quality time together. and that is why my blog has been on the back burner. and because so much has happened that i'm overwhelmed with what to blog and what not to?

can i backtrack?

house tour!

 here she is! our living room. in all of her glory.
where do i begin.
the drapes:
i've always wanted to make the drapes in my house. not only is it [usually] cheaper, but its so much better to look at something knowing you MADE rather than picked out. also, its 100% custom! so i did the only thing i knew how to do. i called peggy, emily's sweet, sweet mother who is a pro seamstress. she majored in something at BYU? having to do with the home and family...she learned how to sew and teach people how to sew. i don't want to say what it is, because i know i'll get it wrong. emily? a little help here.
anyway, she's an amazing teacher, which is why emily is so good at crafting, and she was so willing to help me. i went to joann's and headed straight to the clearance section. i got five yards of fabric for $18. not bad, right? the only thing i had going on in this room was the rug at the front door, and the bentwood chair that i spray painted green. i definitely took a risk buying this fabric so far away from my home, i wasn't sure if it'd match or look good with what i had. i think i lucked out. i don't ever use the drapes, they just hang there and i use the beautiful vertical blinds that were already there. the panels on the smaller window are a tiny bit too small, but i didn't have enough fabric to make them any bigger. i love how they turned out.

see that chair?

 yep, that one.
thats my "Ghost Chair" designed by philippe starck.
maybe it's a knock off, maybe it isn't.
nevertheless, jon surprised me with it on my birthday!!! i had NO idea what he was getting me. he's getting better at surprises....
anyway, amazing. i couldn't have been happier.
the brown armoire behind the chair? thats what i used to house our tv the whole time jon was gone. when he got home, we bought a tv from his friend for, umm, a steal.

so with the left over money, we bought a new tv stand! now i get to decide what to do with the big empty wall the tv is on...
(see my creepy cat? she always does that. jon and i think we are alone, and look over and she's just staring at us. WEIRD.)

also, we got to get the matching book case!!!!!!! i am so excited about this. all of our books have been piled up in the guest room closet since we moved in. now they have a home! and i have a place to display some of my knick knacks.....

that cute little girl was my grandma's. a couple years before she died, she told us to pick something out in her house and write our names on the bottom of them so that we could have them when she passed on. isn't that interesting? so that's what i picked. and i've cherished it ever since. also, my dad gave me that wood piece. because, well, i love cats.

 jon's step mom made this for us as a wedding gift, and framed it with a wedding photo of us in front of the temple. i love it.

 not much is going on with the office area. i am so stumped with it. it's just so cluttered. we did take down our portraits. as much as i love seeing jon's handsome face and a huge picture of myself all day i thought that it was time to let them go.

this is what it looked like previously.