The Den

Now that we're in I'm going to tackle decorating — and therefore blogging — on a room-by-room plan.

It took a bit to sort through the big picture to figure out where to start. But the den and bedroom are rooms we use the most. We decided to start with working on the den first b/c it's more visible than the bedroom. And I can only take full focus (not to mention the budget can only take full focus) on one room at one time!

So here we go. Below are some dens I like the feel of:

Liked how simple they did their bookshelves — which we also have

Fireplace similar to ours, and an Eames chair I wish I had

Like the overall feeling with the touches of metal

Love this sideboard (you'll see this down the page again)

Here's what I am working with in my own den:

From left to right: Cortina lamp (love), our trusty beige sectional that's moved about 5 times,
Deneb coffee table (same story), and a new score, a Wassily chair that my sister found in a shop —
where no one knew what it was!
The door pictured in the background is being replaced soon.

As you swing around the room you see this:

This is my first attempt at our bookshelves. Ok, not going to lie, my Mom basically
arranged this whole thing from the pieces I felt would work – I wanted to stick
with a fairly minimal and monochromatic palette.

Bookshelf candy I'd eventually upgrade to –– aah if $ were no object :)

from dwell.com -- I love it but seriously, how is this $500?!

a much more affordable look also from dwell

We were looking at a new end table (to replace the lucite one still in the plastic (to the right of the couch) in the photos above) –– these are ones I was drawn to:

(I know it's super-trendy to do brass with gray, but something about our gray walls is screaming
for me to quit with more silver and bring in something brass for a more unexpected and warmer touch).

.........


Unable to make that decision, I started to look for the bigger piece for the far wall, which is going to be the "vinyl listening station" as we are calling it. Will get the record player + vinyl, and a cool chair beside it.

Love this piece from White on White in Brooklyn...

But really feel this adds something unexpected to the room without introducing another material.
This is Blu Dot (of course their annual sale just ended)

It will go here on this blank wall, which is seen as you're in the kitchen

And going above the vinyl listening area is this 40x40 piece, which I went to frame today. Even though most of our frames are the art gallery gloss white, I went thin, thin, silver for this piece so it would disappear against the wall...

To tie the colors of the painting back into the couch, just got these new pillows from West Elm (good prices and perfect colors –– can't wait for these to come).

Was considering a lucite tray from to hold our remotes, etc. but realized of course anything sitting in lucite will still be visible!

Maybe something more casual on the floor instead like this?

And to ground everything, we obviously need a rug.
But that's a separate post :)