This post is sponsored by Rejuvenation

We are hosting a Friendsgiving this weekend and a bunch of family for Christmas next month and while I’m overall pleased, content, comfortable, happy (!!) with the state of our home now, finally, after 5 years of renovating–there were a couple small things that I wanted to add/do before we welcome guests.

The first was adding a good, proportionally sized lamp between the chairs in the living room. You may remember a couple months ago I gave the living room a make under and removed the very oversized lamp that was here, among other things. We lived with it bare for awhile, but I missed having a cozy glow on this side of the living room after the sun went down. However, I knew that I wanted to keep things minimal and clean and that just meant finding the right lamp. Sometimes we fill our spaces with things in an effort to make it look a certain way, but I’ve learned that one right thing can do the same job.

This table lamp from Rejuvenation was just the ticket. Like, I don’t think I could dream of a better lamp for our living room. It comes in a few different combinations, but I chose the white oak to offer a lighter, warmer wood contrast between our two, darker leather chairs. It also ties in perfectly to the frame of our large art and the dining table.

A tip on mixing wood tones: First, you totally can! I just shoot for layering a light, medium and dark. In our living room, the light wood is the lamp and frame and blinds, we have a medium in our coffee table and floors and the leather chairs, although technically not wood, bring in a dark rich wood tone.

If you want your home to feel more cozy, add a lamp and also a good, chunky textural throw. I like to stay neutral with throws and let the texture play the role of interest. I found this chunky wool throw (it comes in 3 colors, I got the ivory) from Rejuvenation and it’s practically begging our whole family to cuddle underneath it and read a book together. It has a great weight to it, is impossibly soft and adds a layer of coziness to our living room that we were missing.

The last task on my list, that’s been on my list for 5 years, was the game cupboard at the bottom of the stairs. Many, many, many people asked about it in our latest home tour video–wondering why we haven’t painted it, saying it was taking away from the rest of the tour and even that they couldn’t focus on anything else. Haha!

Our 90s honey oak cabinet is obviously original to the house and if you’re wondering how or why that I haven’t touched it in all of these years, I wish I could give you a better answer other than I just never got around to it. It’s not a part of any room and although we use it nearly daily–I just kept ignoring it I guess. No longer! Especially since board game season is among us, I knew it was time to take action. A quick paint job (I painted it White Dove by Benjamin Moore in a satin finish because we had it in the garage and it matched the trim—although I already kind of want to paint it a darker tone, maybe in another 5 years?!) and new hardware did the trick.

The inside is stocked to the max with games, puzzles and DVDs at the very bottom (we actually don’t even own a DVD player anymore, just in the car, so these are more relics than anything else. But also remember when everyone had a DVD bookcase displayed in their living room?)!

For the hardware, we used 6″ Massey Drawer pulls in burnished antique. They are a lot more proportional to the door size now and I’m finally not self-conscious about this landing at the bottom of our stairs. Why did I wait so long!?

This update took under 2 hours and swapping the hardware took less than 15 minutes! If you aren’t happy with the hardware in your bathroom or kitchen or dresser or a random cabinet at the bottom of the stairs–it’s an easy update and major upgrade that can completely change the look and vibe of your home.

Any projects on your pre-holiday checklist? I think we’re officially ready!

(See all of the Living Room sources right here)

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