New Living Room Furniture

So, we finally got new living room furniture! First I'll show you a quick pretty pic of the new stuff, then I'll show you why we had to get new furniture, then I'll show you the new change to the mantel, and finally, tons more pics of the new furniture. :) 

Ready??? Okay. Here's a pretty pic of the new stuff...

Do y'all like it? I'm totally in love with it! I've wanted a new sofa and loveseat for a long time now. 

Okay, now for WHY we needed new furniture. We used to have this leather below. Doesn't look too bad from a distance, does it?

Let's get a little closer...now are you beginning to see the problem? Keep in mind this leather was ONLY 5 years old...

What about now?? Can you see how cracked and worn it is? I really debated on whether or not to share these pics with y'all, but it's real life and maybe someone can learn from our experience. :) 

About 5 years ago we decided we really wanted leather furniture. Like, really good leather. We figured if we spent a lot of money on it, it would last 10-15 years. We listened to all kinds of advice on buying leather...people said to make sure the WHOLE thing is made of leather and not just the arms or seat. Check. Ours was made entirely of real leather. 

Another piece of advice we got was to check and see if the back of the sofa was made up of several "sections" of leather. Apparently if there's one big section of leather on the back, it's not real leather because there's no cow THAT big and that means parts of it are fake. Well, this sounded pretty comical and I have no idea if it's true, but we checked and yes, ours was made up of SIX sections of leather on the back. So, we thought we were doing all the right things and we'd have furniture that would last and last. 

Umm...does that pic above or below look like it lasted very long? No. It's really depressing because what we paid for it, would have covered an entire semester of college for my son. Live and learn, I guess. 

In the pic above, you can see what happens when you keep throw pillows on either side of the sofa. People tend to just sit in the middle. Yep, obviously there was someone sitting in the middle most of the time. Hence the worn middle cushion.

And yes, we did condition it regularly. We used the bottles of conditioner the delivery guys gave us, but obviously it didn't work very well.

Now this pic below is the one I really didn't want to share because it's so bad. But, here it is anyway...

That's on the loveseat. See where I wrote the word "tear?" That just happened recently. First it was just cracked there, but then all of a sudden a tear popped up. That was pretty much the final straw. You can see how cracked the whole thing had gotten. And remember, this furniture was only 5 years old!! Ugh!

So, the lessons we learned were...#1 don't pay a fortune for furniture because it probably won't last as long as you think it will, (and even if it does, trends will change and you probably won't like it for more than 10 years anyway) and #2, we'll never buy leather furniture again. :)

Okay...now for a small change I made to the mantel. This is a before pic of the Tuscan style print we had above it.

Here's another "before" pic obviously taken around Valentine's Day. I liked the Tuscan look, but I just don't think it goes with our decor anymore. Now that we've painted almost the entire house a much lighter color and gotten rid of the leather, this picture just didn't seem to mesh very well with the other decor in here. 

So, here's the new lighter and brighter look. 

Remember when I mentioned that I hung the mirror my hubby made in the foyer? Well, here's where the original foyer mirror ended up. I just turned it horizontally instead of vertically and added this wreath to it. I used some burlap ribbon to hang the wreath. Love burlap!

Here's a close up of the detail on the mirror frame. 

And here's a closer look at the wreath. I love this wreath! It'll definitely carry me through from Spring to Fall. 

Okay, now on to the big furniture reveal... Here are lots more pics of the new furniture...

By the way, I'm going to eventually replace that wing chair with something more neutral, but just haven't done it yet. I'll probably just wait and use Christmas money for it. :) And while we're on the subject, that wing chair is a piece of furniture that actually DID last a long time...it's almost 20 years old and has been recovered once. It was a Lane piece from the J.C. Penney catalog. :) 

As you can see, I took your advice and wrote "cozy" on the chalkboard basket. Thanks again for the suggestion! 

I love that the sofa and loveseat came with these pillows too! The other side reverses to the same material of the sofa. 

When buying new furniture, I had a list of things I had to have. Number one was a FABRIC material. No more leather for us. :) I also wanted a very neutral color and I wanted wooden feet on the bottom. I figured with the sofa and carpet both being a neutral color, I wanted dark wood feet to kind of separate the two so the furniture didn't just blend into the floor. And I really wanted the back cushions to be attached, so they wouldn't slip around on me. On the one we bought, the back cushions are attached, but the bottom ones are loose so they can be turned over if needed. 

It was just a bonus that I actually liked the pillows it came with. :) Another big bonus was that both the back cushions and the seat cushions have hidden zippers so you can re-stuff them if they get worn down. I loved that about them! That's something I didn't even know I wanted. :)

Here's a close up of the material.

I think it's so much lighter in here now. That leather was a little too manly for me and kind of reminded me of a man cave. Lol!

These pics were taken before I switched out that red platter above the armoire. :) It's now gone and the pale yellow one is in its place.

I think the mirror helps to brighten it up a bit too. 

Well, I know that was a very long post and thanks if you made it down this far! :) Have any of you had bad luck with leather? I'm beginning to think we just got a lemon. :)

~Lisa

I'm joining these parties: Dwellings, Savvy Southern Style, Imparting Grace, Common Ground, I Should Be Mopping The Floor, It's Overflowing, Maria Elena's Decor, A Stroll Thru Life, From My Front Porch To Yours, By Stephanie Lynn, Cupcakes And Crinoline, The Dedicated House