Last month we surprised our son with a drum set for his 11th birthday. He was pretty darn excited to say the least.
Unfortunately, the drum set turned the piano room on its head. The chairs didn’t really fit anymore and it was way too cramped.
Fortunately, I purchased some chairs from Target dot com’s clearance section several months ago that were for my living room, but when they arrived they were way too small for the living room. It totally threw the scale of the room off and they looked odd. They were such a great deal though and I loved them so I stuck them in my bedroom and created a little seating area. I’d show you my room, but it’s such a discrace that I can’t bring myself to actually show it to you. I’d die from embarrassment.
Anyhoo, the small scale Target chairs all of a sudden became the perfect scale for this over-stuffed piano room, so I swapped the white club chairs for the Target chairs. Now the club chairs are in my room and the Target chairs are in the piano room.
They are pretty comfortable and have thick fabric.
They even have a secret hidden tray under each of them for books or magazines or whatever. Some secret they are though. The very moment my sister walked in and saw the chairs, the first thing she said was, “Oh cool! Is that a secret tray underneath?” So ya, I won’t be hiding valuables or gold in them, that’s for sure.
I also added another addition to the room. Did you spot it in the first picture? Here’s a hint.
This room comes with zero lighting. None. Nada. It’s so super annoying. If I talk about it too much I’ll get all worked up and step on a soapbox, so let’s just leave it at that. We have two lamps on top of the piano, but it’s still really dark over by the chairs and the drum set. So I bought a drum shade light for the room.
Obviously it isn’t permanent and I have a cord draped across the ceiling, but at least the curtains hide the cord running down the wall. And as an added bonus, one plug outlet is hooked up to a light switch so I have all three lights plugged into the one outlet. At least I don’t have to actually bend over and physically plug the light in every time I want to turn it on. So that’s a plus.
Oh, and before I forget, I bought the shade and light kit at ikea (shocker, I know). You can get the light cord in white or black, and the shade comes in a variety of sizes and fabrics.
Every time I bust out the camera, I have a kid, the husband, or the dog leap into the picture. It’s like they all have a camera tick. They can’t help themselves. This time was my daughter’s turn to purposely try to ruin my photo shoot.
Take 1:
Ha. Ha. We all laughed. Now get out of my frame, child!
Take 2:
Seriously? I just want one picture of the light. Just one.
If she’s going to be a stinker, then I’m going to get a good photo of her out of the deal. Sometimes their antics backfire and I make them pose for a mini portrait session. Here’s my favorite one:
Cau-tie patootie if you ask me.
Not pictured – the 17 times Ben tried to hold the dog with one hand and stick him right in front of my lens and I snapped the picture. And he wonders where the kids get it from?!
In the last month, this room has gone from this, to this:
I know the room isn’t model-home worthy or magazine-worthy, but guess what?! People actually live here. People don’t live in a perfectly staged model home with zero function. It’s okay to have a nice home that is actually lived in and not staged looking. It can be a pretty room without being perfect. I’d rather live in a well-lived in and loved home than in a museum where you can’t touch anything or sit on the furniture.
Well lookie there, I ended up on a soapbox anyway. At least it wasn’t about how the room has zero wired lighting in it.
Now stop reading blogs and go enjoy your weekend!
that is great, Love the chairs, and I so want to see the dog in the hand, that is something hubby would have done, our dog was hand sized.
If I still had children at home, it would be my middle son in every picture! I think the room looks great!
Beautiful job! You have a really beautiful home all around. I love following what you’re up to. I agree, a lived in home should look different than a model! It’s a HOME not a house! Thanks for welcoming us into yours.
I love the chairs!! Looks great. Your outlet sounds like my outlets in our sunroom aka my craft room where I have wayyy too much stuff plugged in.
I would never have known about the secret drawer in those chairs. And I do love the ceiling light! I guess the cord’s got to go huh?
Why is it that living rooms and such are designed without ceiling lights? Are we all supposed to put lamps in those rooms?
Looks like MY kind of model home, anyway! I love the changes you’ve made and want to “borrow” the whole room and just glue it onto the side of my house. Which is unfortunately against local housing code, so I guess that’s a no-go. 🙂
Also, today I’m making your ice-cream-cone cupcakes for the second time. They’re the hit of bake sale, so thank you very much! I guess I did get to “borrow” something after all.
not that i didn’t like the room before, but i love it now. the chairs are so pretty and really bring out the drapes you made!!!! the minute i saw the “after” i though, “it looks perfect!” nice work. (and i think it is magazine worthy)
I love your soap box! I just visited a friend the other day in her new home and she was complaining about all these computer cords and how even though she’s lived in her house for a hot second (literally like 6 weeks) she didn’t have everything where she wanted it yet. I said exactly what you just said. You live here. This isn’t a model home. I love this reminder because I think people get so wrapped up in that fact when they decorate and forget that you still have to have function when decorating and have to not feel guilty that you have kids that live in your house. I never want my kids to grow up thinking that the furniture is more important to me than letting them jump on the couch while they are playing a game of tag or that the lamp has more value than their nerf war and giggles…
Anyway, that was my side note. I totally meant to come in as a fellow mama drummer and commiserate with you. Drums are loud aren’t they?!! But they are so awesome! My son got a kit for his 13th birthday and it’s amazing how I can pick up drum beats in songs now and how I would rather hear a good drum beat now than an acoustic version of a song. You may want to think about putting doors on the room. Or sound proof padding…just sayin’. 🙂
have you thought of can-lights. I put them in my kitchen. I have a small kitchen so I used the small size, they give off so much light and is on a dimmer switch. Some home have the can-lights white on the rim but aluminum (sp) on the inside for more light. But I do not like the look too industrial for my taste. I chose white outside and inside and it reflects light very well.
My challenge is I have a hard time finding pictures I like for my walls so they are bare but a few mirrors.
Love the new slipper chairs! They are so pretty! I really want some for our living room!
I love your new slipper chairs too and I’m sure the slip covered chairs will be great in your MB. I have the same lamp except I have the embroidered white on white shade. I’m going to get another shade and the stand too. I have 2 boob lamps in my dining/entry way and they both don’t work. I hate them and wish I had a chandelier or something else there instead. In an effort to have light over our table I put up the IKEA lamp. It is quite funny and will have to stay as is till I can afford to have someone put up a better light. I’m piling up electric projects left and right. lol Maybe I should share the funny pictures on my blog or at least keep a photo history till I get them fixed.