Favorite Nook: In the Tweeds

I'm not quite sure how I found In the Tweeds but Leila just seems like someone I could be fast friends.

Maybe because she is a fellow old home lover? or originally from the east coast? or because I admire her sense of adventure? Whatever it is, I'm always happy to see a new post from her. So its only natural I was curious about her favorite spot, right?

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Brooklyn Limestone has long been one of my most favorite and inspirational home blogs, so I was thrilled when Stefanie asked me to contribute to her favorite nook series! I got her request when I was sitting in my very favorite spot in our home: our living room.

We recently finished a top to bottom renovation of our 1920s Mississippi cottage, which I chronicled on my blog, In the Tweeds. [Admittedly, I’m very behind on many of the “afters”, but I’m working on it!] We were won over by the house’s 12-foot ceilings, enormous original windows, working transoms, heart pine floors, decorative doorknobs, and original fireplace mantles. The house required quite a bit of work to make it “ours”, but we didn’t have to do much to the living room to showcase the things that we loved about the house. The room was closed off to the house, the windows were covered by too-short mini-blinds, the floor was painted a hideous dark brown, and the mantle was coated in some bizarre texturized stain. So all we did was open up a doorway, strip and refinish the floors, re-stain the fireplace mantle, and slap on a fresh coat of paint.

After we opened up the doorway to the living room (letting the room flow into the new entry/dining room/kitchen), it was seriously like let the light shine in! There are four southern-facing windows in the room, letting sunlight stream through the old, rippled, single-paned glass into the living space in our little cottage.

We love to hang out on the sofa and leather man chair, talking or reading a good book, drinking a cup of coffee or glass of wine, and watching the hum of neighborhood activity outside. Opening the doorway to the kitchen made the living room a great entertaining space, making this little 1200-foot cottage feel much larger than it actually is.

Our puppy, Stella, especially loves the room, perching on the back of the sofa and keeping an eye on things.

I sewed the curtains out of drop cloths from Home Depot (easiest and cheapest design blogger trick in the book!), and hung them from some pretty unlaquered brass rods.

[/caption] I paired two Greek key embroidered pillows I found at Home Goods with some pillows made by a local seamstress: two in an inexpensive olive twill, and two in my favorite Robert Allen fabric, Eleria.

My favorite thing might be the fireplace! It’s the original mantle, which we had re-stained to show off the beautiful wood grain. The surround and hearth are in the original porcelain tiles, a really cool green marbleized look; some are worn and a few or cracked, but it adds such great character and was really the jumping off point for all the green in the house. The iron summer screen is also original (with the coal basket behind); I’m so mad that one of the previous owners decided it was okay to cut a big hole in the cover to allow for a stove pipe! Why?! Why?! But I still love it. We recently had the antique gas heater hooked up so now we can use our “fireplace” and keep our heating bills a little lower.

The only thing I wish I had was a little more wall space for our TV. Like Mrs. Limestone, we like us some TV and don’t make pains to hide the big black screen. So instead it’s on a little table crammed against the only blank wall, but it works for us. So there you have it, my favorite nook, our living room. Thanks for letting me share!