So the dream for the living room is to be an open and inviting room that we can all hang out in - and is open enough for other people to feel invited in. The current living room is pretty un-inviting. You have to walk around a goofy little wall to get into the room and it becomes a weird stopping point where we end up hanging in the hallway instead of the actually spacious and inviting room.
The living room off of the main entrance at the Parker Palm Springs has been a big influence on how we want the space to feel. The cozy, comfortable room centered around a statement fireplace is what we are going for.
The living room as it is is the perfect size. It's big. I can re-arrange the furniture about a zillion ways unless - of course - you try to arrange around the fireplace. When we first moved in, I loved the fireplace and the statement it made about the era of the house.
In talking to the architect, keeping this giant and awkward fireplace intact requires rebuilding the thing. Why would I want to rebuild something that has been a bit of a headache? So instead, we're ripping it out. This will let us have our cool Parker Palm Springs type fireplace instead.
The other issue with the living room is the lack of ability to get to our backyard. Those large windows could be doors. Wouldn't that be great? Big doors so we can go in and out easily. In Seattle there are definitely seasons when that would not be the best idea, but the whole summer would be lovely to have the doors open and the dog able to run in and out.
Here are the priorities:
1. Get rid of the old fireplace and replace with something cooler.
2. Open up the back windows and turn them into doors.
3. Make it more inviting to the front of the house.
Here's the plan.
1. Remove the fireplace and it opens up to the back room of the house creating a perfect passage into a new den? Also, a bar can go there now.
2. Sliding doors! Big giant sliding doors!
3. Remove the ridiculous pony wall and replace it with a floating closet/wardrobe deal.
I'm dreaming of a super cozy space where we can kick back with a cocktail and our friends. One tiny detail we haven't dealt with yet is where a television goes. Our architect isn't really the "design around a TV kind of guy" but the reality of needing to watch the Super Bowl or - more importantly - the Oscars is really real.
What do you think?
xoxo, ali
