Little living room updates – cast your vote

Back in November while I was editing the photos I took of our new rug, the first picture I included in that post kind of made me uneasy. It was all the colours. And that end of the living room. It didn’t really work anymore. There was too much burgundy, there was too much wood that didn’t match and the rug made it more obvious. It all looked too thrown together and nothing worked. 

Since we’re renting our apartment and are stuck with our landlords furniture [I wish I could burn it to the ground and start over trade it in for more comfortable and practical pieces], I’m forever hitting road blocks in our own home. Of the many pieces of furniture, our landlord’s coffee table has been driving me up the wall. It’s not the same colour as the ‘wood’ floors and it’s quite distressed thanks to previous tenants. And I don’t mean the good kind of distressed that’s trendy. The bad kind. 

When Kimberly updated her vanity and then Linda updated her kitchen counters, both ingeniously using faux marble contact paper to do so, I filed that nicely in my brain [even check out my comment on Kimberly’s post. Ha!]. Contact paper is beyond perfect because when we move out, I’ll simply peel it off and it’ll be immediately reversible. As with most things I’m a bit unsure of, I did a mock up to help me make up my mind. I edited the cat basket to black, slapped some faux marble on the coffee table, and as anyone who has updated their home will know, the design domino effect came into play so the tray on our coffee table got edited too. Many times. 

Here’s what the above GIF is showing, frame by frame …
1. Original living room as it is now
2. Cat basket edited black 
3. Coffee table marble-ised
4. Tray edited black 
5. Tray edited burgundy
6. Tray edited viridian
7. Tray edited pink [for the hell of it]
And to think, this was all done without disturbing Juniper in the slightest.

Here’s where I need your help. Genuinely. Tell me what you think. Marble? Yes or no? A solid colour coffee table instead? And what colour tray should I go with? Or just leave it all alone? Srsly. I’ll be thinking about this one for a while, but a change is defo going to happen. At the moment I’m going for the black basket + marbled table + black tray. But nothing’s set in stone. Or faux marble. 

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8 Comments

  1. January 15, 2016 / 18:15

    Oh yes do it!! Marble contact paper is freaking addictive, however, I will warn you now. USE AT YOUR PERIL.

    Also, my vote is for the black tray as well!

    DO ITTTT!!!! xxx

    P.S. At least I know I'm not the only fruitcake who photoshops their homes for fun!! LOL!

    • January 23, 2016 / 14:16

      Hahahaha, I love how I got your warning completely wrong and messaged you in a blind panic. Glad it's the good dangerous vs. the other kind!

      And Photoshopping FTW. It's my favourite kind of shopping these days.

  2. January 15, 2016 / 18:26

    Ok… I'm not quite sure how long I've sat mesmerised by the gif going round and round and round!
    You must definitely do the marbled coffee table, without a doubt!
    And I think… black basket + marbled table + burgundy tray. Although the pink tray also works – and if you have the Bill pic with the pink mount still around then that would tie in nicely with the pink tray. But I think all the tray colours except the original white actually would work. But the marbled table is a must! xx

    • January 23, 2016 / 14:22

      You're going to think I'm mad Maria, but the reason I'm not too keen on the pink tray now is because I feel it would be too many colours in one area. I know. You can hit me the next time you see me. The wall + rug + pink tray would be too much for me. And I think it's because there are too many controllables (ie – landlords furniture), so I'm not as keen on the pink. I will be hanging Bill up though properly! At long last! He and the pink are being evenly distributed so I'm thinking over the heater in the far corner by the chair.

      I've painted the tray and I don't think it'll disappoint. Too much. Oh god you're going to hate it 😉

  3. January 15, 2016 / 21:09

    I vote marble!(obviously). I also love the pink tray with it, but that's probably just cos it's one of my fave colours and one I've used quite a bit in accents around here. The black or burgundy work for me too.

    And I second Kimberly's warning! I caught myself eyeing up my bathroom floor the other day thinking "could it hurt to try?…". Madness!!!!!! The lure of the quick fix is strong with this one!

    • January 23, 2016 / 14:24

      Hahahahah! Love it! I already have a problem! I'm now eyeing up all the old 'white' (aka, now yellowish) floating shelves around our apartment and seeing how many rolls it would take to cover them! Completely addicted! It's an absolute savior, and I have you and Kimbo to thank.

  4. January 19, 2016 / 03:34

    Black basket and marble table with black tray!

    P.S. Hello! I've been lurking again instead of commenting. 😉

    • January 23, 2016 / 14:26

      YESSSSSSS! Love it, Jennifer! And that's the combo I'll be going for. Kind of. You'll see what I mean.

      And hello! Lurking is always welcome 😉