Formal is as Formal Does

I've been working on styling my "formal" living room for a while now. I put it in quotes because there's really nothing formal about it. "Second family room," is probably more suitable, but that's just confusing, so maybe I need to think of a better name. But for the sake of this post, it shall heretofore be called the Formal Living Room.

So like I was saying, my formal living room has been a work in progress for a few months, and I think I finally like it enough to stop changing things. For now anyway. So I thought I'd share with you a few images of the finished product!

The Sofa is the Ikea Karlstad, the chairs are vintage.

In the right corner of the room is a little bit of family vintage. The artwork is an oil painting I did in high school, and the milk can, which we are using as an umbrella stand, is from my dad's ranch in wyoming.

The side table was one I got for $7 in canton and made it pretty again, and the coffee table is one of my favorite pieces purchased on craigslist for $120. 

Someone asked where I put the teal piece of furniture that we use as a blanket holder, after it lost its place in the family room. Right now it is in the hallway in front of the stairs. It's not an ideal location, but we don't have a good place for it, and I don't want to give it up because I love it too much.

 I'm not sure if I have ever posted this angle of the room before. You can see that the formal living room are completely open into the front entry and office. Eventually we will close in the office.

The coffee table decor arrangement is a good example of how I like to decorate. The tray is a DIY project, the candle holder is vintage brass, the books were all thrift store finds, and the plant was from Ikea and the agate from Homegoods. I love to mix new things with DIY projects and vintage pieces. 

This campaign dresser was a thrift store purchase for $40. It's not real wood, but right now I don't think I want to paint it because I don't want the room to be busy. I like color and all, but I think that would be a little too much in one room. It also came with "brass" corner pieces like all campaign style dressers do, but when I removed them and tried to polish, I discovered there was a seal that they had sprayed over them, so I couldn't polish, and when I tried to remove the sealant, it removed the brass plating. Apparently they were not solid brass. So I might leave it like this or try to find some replacement pieces.

The basket with the long handle was a $2 thrift store find. I love the cheap little finds like that which really add interest to a room.

So there you are. Hope you enjoyed this brief tour!