Living Room Update || Making the "In Progress" Work


Living room coffee table picnic | A Fabulous Fete

Have you guys ever set a word for the year? I talked about my first one in 2015 here, and have set one every year since. That first one though, I can honestly say made an impact. I'm a procrastinator, I'm not sure if it will ever change, but I'm improving a tiny tiny bit every day. So when I said "NOW" would be my word (like do it now, not later because you won't), it has lingered ever since.

With that being said, things have started to shift around the house since then. We've cleaned and cleared and kept junk piles (mostly) out of the corners and off tables. The laundry + dishes (usually) get done pretty quickly, and most importantly, we've started to tackle projects around the house. One giant, blinding mess that we ignored for years was a massive pool table in our living room. We used it a few times when we first set it up (it was handed down) and then it quickly became the place to throw crap when you came home. I kid you not, there were things on and under it that sat for years (gross and pointless). Like, clearly you don't need it if it's been sitting under a table for 3 years! So in 2016 I took some pictures, put it on craigslist and it was out of there within a week. Now we have this amazing open and airy space to do ANYTHING in... but collect junk.

Soooo... now, that means we have to fill it with something. You know, like furniture. And that is always a long process (find it, think about it, wait and think some more about it because you don't want to spend all that money on it, then when you do make the leap wait another 15 years for them to make and ship it). We finally landed on a snazzy little velvet couch, but are in that waiting period as they weave the fabric and whittle the legs from trees (kidding, but it feels like an eternity once you make that jump and buy a piece of furniture). And we are living in the "in between". 

With the holidays, I wanted to make this work. I wanted a space for our tree, for us to sit and for my girls and I to have wine night. So a while back when I partnered with Zola (you can see the posts here and here), I knew exactly what I needed to create the content for our partnership AND create something cozy for our space. While our partnership was to share their amazing registry selection, I also wanted to share all of the images as inspiration for a simple indoor space as it's been working for us for the past few months now.

Living room update | A Fabulous Fete
Simple pieces for easy entertaining | A Fabulous Fete
A simple living room picnic with friends | A Fabulous Fete

They had this fantastic wood table that I had actually been drooling over from another store. That was an easy decision. Then I picked up a few rugs, lots of fluffy blankets and pillows, topped the table with simple but eye catching serveware and that was it! I hosted a girls night here, we opened presents here, and I watched a few movies here. Even without being finished I love how it's turning out being my indoor picnic space;)

We (I) still have some work to do besides positioning the couch when it arrives. I'll be updating our art wall, hopefully some new shelves to showcase things we've brought back from travels, moving the bar cart and re-styling to make it a place to relax with a cocktail and finally find some plants I can keep alive for a while.

I will share more of the process, and these pictures were definitely done up for the occasion. It isn't this glamorous everyday! I will also share what it looked like before so you can get an idea of how far it came by the time we're done.

Gold plated ceramic appetizer dishes | A Fabulous Fete
Kate Spade pitcher | A Fabulous Fete
Cozy winter get togethers at home | A Fabulous Fete
Get togethers at home with an easy spread and flowers you can grab at the grocery store | A Fabulous Fete
Wood table with cozy blankets for winter get togethers | A Fabulous Fete
Piles of pillows and blankets for getting together around the coffee table | A Fabulous Fete
Gold cheese knives and matching appetizer plates | A Fabulous Fete
Recent progress on our living room update | A Fabulous Fete

I envision at least a few more days/nights of me relaxing here in my pillow fort while I can still make not having anywhere else to sit an excuse. 

Here are a few of the pieces we sourced so far for the room and used for our shoot with Zola!