Living Room!

Since I've already done a Kitchen post and my Office post, I thought I'd go ahead and do a living room one, since we've finished getting new stuff for now. We were really excited to redo the living room because it was mostly just a hodge-podge of furniture that we had before...the couch I'd gotten from my (now ex)brother-in-law, a tv-stand that had been in his family for years, and an octagon coffee table that the multiple dogs in the house before I moved in had chewed up on the bottom. Now it feels like the room is more "on purpose" rather than just thrown together. 

We first started working on the living room in 2020. We removed the carpet and installed this LVP (in Cherry) flooring. We really love the look...except that the planks tend to come apart on the ends, so we're not really a fan of that. But...it's good enough for now. 

At that time, we also bought these black grates for the floor vents. We thought they went well with the black scroll items that we have. It started with the Spectrum Diversified mail and key holder that I had in my apartment back in 2011. It's kind of like this one, except mine is taller with three slots for mail instead of one. 

My sister bought us this large floor rug and we bought the small rug for inside the front door (they don't have the small rug available by itself anymore). And then we bought these back-out curtains for energy efficiency with these sheers and this scarf valance to add some more color to the room. We hung them on these curtain rods (continuing the black scroll look). 

Oh and we also have two of these gates...one at the stairs and one at the hallway to keep the dogs contained. I got the one for the stairs shortly after I moved in...because previously it had just been a regular baby gate kinda leaned up against the half wall by the stairs and it was so loud every time it would inevitably fall. And then when we got Boz, we bought the gate for the hallway since Johnny was working from home (our bedroom has double doors that just push open, so the doors alone wouldn't keep him out). 

In 2021, I decided to paint the living room, kitchen, and dining room. We used Sherwin Williams paint and used Accessible Beige for the main walls and Green Onyx for the accent wall. We really love how the colors turned out. 

Our first big purchase was our LG 4k TV (kind of like this one but the 65" model) in January 2021. We were having issues with our previous tv and we were able to put our Christmas money toward the new one. And in 2022, we purchased an air purifier. It was actually the Winix HR900 but they've discontinued that model. It's a lot like this one they have now, though. We really like it...it's amazing how much dust, dirt, and hair it captures from the air. 

Then we didn't really purchase anything else for the living room until October 2025 when we needed to replace the couch. We bought this modular sectional (purchased on Wayfair) in October 2025. We're loving it so far. I like that it's modular so we can arrange the pieces however we want to fit the space. The only "complaint" I have is that the ottoman doesn't have storage, but that's really no big deal. A lot of the reviews complained that it's too firm, but I think it's perfect. They also mention that the dark gray color has a blue tint, but it looks fine with our decor. We also have these waterproof couch covers to protect the couch a bit more and these waterproof pet blankets that we cover the couch with at night (to prevent the cats from destroying the couch while we're sleeping). 

The couch also came with six 12" pillows...three that are the color of the couch and three that are blue and white. The blue and white ones don't really go with our decor, but we use the others. We also have these apricot brown covers on 24" throw pillows, as well as two 18" pillows and two burgundy covers to go with them. Johnny really loves the colors and how well they go with our color scheme. I guess I just have a gift for matching colors. And interestingly enough...Bozley really blends in to the apricot brown covers. ;) LOL.

We have this lift-top coffee table which we love so much. It's perfect for eating dinner and working on my laptop. I liked that we were able to decide which direction for the large portion of the table so that it matches where Johnny and I sit on the couch to eat dinner. There's also some storage and the bottom shelf is a perfect place to put my laptop when we're eating. 

Since we were getting a coffee table, the only other piece of furniture in the living room left to replace was the tv stand. We were pretty picky about the coffee table we wanted, and we were just as picky trying to pick out a tv stand that would go well with the new coffee table. We also had a lot of preferences which narrowed the choices down a lot. We wanted a black one with a fireplace heater (and Johnny wanted to be able to change the colors and brightness), wide enough to fit the space we put it in, and doors for the front shelves (but not high gloss...which a LOT of them were). We finally found this one that checked all our boxes. We really love it so much...it looks great and it fits the space perfectly (it's 70" wide and the space is 72"). Johnny also really liked that it has an LED color-changing light strip that goes along the inside of the top. The fireplace heater looks pretty realistic with the wood logs (it also came with crystals, but we didn't want to use those) and has several different colors it can be changed to.  

Now the only thing we have left to get is a new ceiling fan! :) 

*post contains Amazon affiliate links

Yay for the weekend!

It's been a loooong week. I've just felt so crappy lately...so it makes every day feel very long. 

We've been getting ready for Thanksgiving. I've already ordered all the food except for the strawberries, rolls, etc. that need to be ordered closer to the day. My mom is making the ham and mashed potatoes, and my sister is making deviled eggs and some deserts. I'm making all my usual stuff plus crockpot mac n cheese, banana bread, pumpkin bread, and ginger molasses cookies. We'll also have some chips and French onion dip to munch on while dinner is cooking. Johnny also wants some veggies and ranch dip, but we'll see. 

When we were talking about everything we need to do, Johnny mentioned that we don't have a Thanksgiving tablecloth or centerpiece. We do actually have some centerpieces that we're going to use...they're fall flower arrangements in small terracotta pots that I made more than 20 years ago. They've been up in the closet in the office. But I did go ahead and get a new tablecloth for Thanksgiving. Since we're planning to put the leaves in the table, we needed an oval tablecloth instead of our round one anyway. It also reminded me that I've been wanting to get some new seat cushions for the dining room chairs, so I got a set of seat cushions with washable covers. These are for everyday, not just Thanksgiving...so we ordered a dark grey set that match the couch pretty well. 

Oh! And we finally found a new tv stand that we like! We had a lot of things on our list as far as what we were looking for. We knew that we wanted a black one to match our new coffee table. Most of the black ones were high gloss...and we didn't want that. Johnny also didn't want it to look too "farmhouse" style. Our coffee table has the "X" decor on the edges, so he decided that he didn't mind if the doors of the tv stand have it as well...he just definitely wanted it to have doors. We have so much dog hair and stuff...it's better than having to clean everything on the tv stand so frequently. There's also only one real logical spot to put the tv, which is in front of the half-wall by the stairs. So we didn't want one that was super tall (I could just imagine the tv getting bumped and falling down the stairs), but we also wanted it to fill the 72" inch wide space as much as possible. Johnny really wanted one with a fireplace heater with different heat, brightness, and color settings and preferred there to be color-changing LED lights. I FINALLY found one that's nearly perfect. I'm not a huge fan of the woodgrain texture look (our new coffee table is smooth), but I like it better than the high gloss. Other than that it seems pretty perfect. It's 70" long and a little less than 27" tall (a lot of the other ones were almost 3 feet tall or more), has fireplace heater (and the look is with logs, =not the "crystals" that a lot of the other ones had), doors with adjustable shelves that have doors, LED lights...hopefully it will work out great. We were really hoping it would arrive before Thanksgiving (estimated delivery window was Tuesday-Saturday when we ordered it), but tracking so far has it arriving on Friday. :P 

I/we did some other Black Friday shopping already. Our old cat tree was ruined when the cat room flooded, and the cats need something to scratch on (somewhere that is NOT the new couch). We don't have a very logical place to put it in the living room...so we decided to find one that we could put on the landing of the stairs. It's a pretty big landing, so we had a bit of room to work with. Plus now that the girls have moved out, I'm pretty much the only one going downstairs and that's mainly just to do the laundry and tend to the cats. 

I found a corner cat tree that has a 17" base and it fits perfectly. We picked the 66" version in dark grey color which matches pretty well with the couch. And with the Black Friday sale, it was 30% off. It was easy to put together...I got it all done in about half an hour. Then after Johnny got off work on Friday, he helped me put it on the stairs and attached it to the wall so it doesn't tip. Milo was a bit cautious at first, but Leo absolutely loved it right away. He was rolling around and having fun before we even put it on the landing. Angel really seems to enjoy it, too. She's a big reason why we decided to put the cat tree on the stairs. She doesn't like to come upstairs with the dogs, so we were thinking that she might feel like she's part of what's going on being able to sit up higher and see what everyone is doing. 

I also got a 40x12 cork scratching mat to put on the half wall which was 42% off for Black Friday. The cats have been having a harder time jumping up there (they'll be 10 years old next year, so I suppose it's not out of the ordinary), so I thought it might give them a bit of traction...plus provide another outlet for scratching. I cut a portion of it to fit on the wood trim and then I hung the rest on the wall. It has some really strong adhesive and seems to be working well so far. 

So...the cats' Christmas is all taken care of. ;) 

Then I also got a new video camera for the cat room and one for the living room. I got a regular indoor cam for the cat room for 50% off and a pan/tilt indoor cam for upstairs that was 33% off. I'd gotten a cheap camera for the cat room when I set up the litter robot to see if/when the cats used it...but despite having an sd card, you can't really save recordings to it or see anything in between motion alerts (and the motion alerts aren't very good at all) without a subscription plan. We already have a Ring subscription for our outdoor cameras which is for unlimited devices...so it makes a lot more sense to have Ring indoor camera instead. And Johnny really likes that they have privacy covers. 

I really like being able to check on things with the cats (like if the litterbox is full or if they've run out of food in their gravity feeder) without having to actually go downstairs. And when we went to my sister's house a few months ago, I moved the cat room camera upstairs to watch the dogs while we were gone and it was really nice to be able to check in on them...so we decided to get a camera for upstairs, too. I thought the pan/tilt camera would be better so we can see all areas upstairs. I added the cameras to our Ring app and Johnny helped me put up the pan/tilt camera up in the dining room after he got off work. I have to move some things around in the cat room before I set the camera up in there so we have an unobstructed view of everything.  

The only other thing I'd really like to get for the house is a new ceiling fan for the living room...but we may wait on that until after the new year. 

Well...I'm going to get some more things done before I go to bed. :) 

 

*post contains Amazon affiliate links

November Update

I can't believe it's November already! I'm glad though. The sooner the next 3 years go by the better, as far as I'm concerned. :P 

We spent several hours at my mom's house on Saturday. She needed a new garbage disposal and faucet for her kitchen sink...so Johnny replaced those for her. He's always been such a wonderful help for our family. :) And then after Johnny was done with that, he chatted with my dad while I set up my old printer for mom and connected her additional monitor to her laptop. So it was a nice, productive evening. Although...Nova wasn't very happy that her dinner was 2 hours late. ;) 

Oh! And thank goodness for Walmart delivery being available in the small town...because the faucet didn't come with the hoses to connect to the water lines and we were able to have them delivered within an hour. But the funniest thing is that when I went to make a Walmart order on Monday, I'd forgotten to change the address back to ours so our groceries were delivered to my mom's house. :P Oops! 

I spent most of Sunday working. I had 15 orders to print, cut, and package that went out in the mail today. I also finished the last new sticker sheet listing in my CandiMakerPlanners shop. I added seven new Christmas gift label sticker sheets. I was hoping to get them done earlier, but at least they're done now. I also set up my Black Friday sales...they'll run from November 24 at 12am until December 3 at 12am. I always have a buy-more-save-more sale for Black Friday. So...if anyone is looking to make a big purchase, that will be a perfect time. :) 

Let's see...what else has been happening? 

We went to Village Inn for my birthday last month. It's our new favorite place for family dinners with my grandparents because it's generally quiet. There's also a really funny waitress there...but my birthday was the first time in the last couple years that she wasn't there. She's always teasing and joking around which makes us laugh...and it's always nice to laugh! Then after dinner we went over to my grandparents' house to play Hand & Foot...and I won! I've won some rounds before, but I think it's the first time I've actually won the game. 

We took the dogs to the groomer last month, too. They look and smell soooo good after the groomer! I did notice this time, Nova got quite a few hot spots and Boz has been itching, too. Since it's also affecting Boz, I'm thinking the groomer probably gave them treats with chicken in them (MANY treats do) rather than it being environmental or the shampoo or something. Nova has seasonal/environmental allergies, but they're both allergic to chicken. So I think next time, I'll take some of our treats for at the groomer just in case. I really love our groomer and she takes the most adorable pictures of the puppies. 

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We are hosting Thanksgiving for my side of the family again this year. I think we've just done it twice before...in 2014 and in 2021. I make Thanksgiving dinner every year...but most of the time in recent years, it's just for me and Johnny or sometimes it's us and the kids if they don't have other plans. I love Thanksgiving dinner, but hosting isn't always my favorite because it feels more stressful and hectic...especially making sure everything is done on time. But this is my sister's first Thanksgiving without her girls (she recently filed for divorce), so I thought it'd be nice for us to host. And it'll just be my mom, sister, and possibly my grandma...and the understanding is that dinner is done when it's done. ;) That way it'll hopefully feel less chaotic. And then a few weeks later, we'll have Christmas at my sister's house. We always have our celebration with my sister, our parents, and my mom's mom before Christmas (or sometimes after, depending on scheduling). It spaces things out so it isn't such a big deal trying to cram everything with multiple sides of multiple families in just a couple days. With marriage and divorce...there are more things to schedule around so it just makes things a little easier. It's been that way since I was little. Then we would celebrate Christmas Eve with my dad's mom and stepdad (when Grandma was still alive) and then we would celebrate Christmas Day at my mom's dad's house. 

In completely unrelated news...I have some angry nerve issues. I'd been having problems for a few months with the nerves in my left shoulder making my shoulder ache and tingling/numbness in my fingers. Since it's not exactly painful, it hasn't seemed as big of a deal. Sometimes my shoulder hurts, but it's more of an ache. Now I have a burning pain in my right elbow and wrist...with numbness and tingling in my fingers on my right hand...and it's keeping me awake at night. I spent a lot of time trying to move around and put my arm in different positions trying to find relief. None of my medicine has really been doing much to relieve the pain. And that's just the newest issue. I've been having a lot of problems with neck pain and that causing headaches and migraines. I've tried different sleeping positions, different pillows...it just always hurts. My back hurts if I stand for very long (like...5 minutes). It feels like my back muscles are doing all the work when I'm standing and they don't like it. And to compound my issues...I've also been experiencing exercise-induced migraines (I think it's related to my blood pressure) and getting overheated which triggers my neuropathy and trigeminal neuralgia. It's all just a mess...and exhausting. When you deal with chronic pain for decades...it's just draining. You start thinking about how many years it's been and how many you still have left...and it starts to feel like forever. It's physically and mentally exhausting. 

But...I should probably get back to work. :)