I Collect Koalas

I saw this image in my website of the day, Elle Decor, and I’m in love with the concept.

I always thought a collection of animals was childish but I see now I just need to shift my collection upsale. I have a moderate obsession with koalas. When I was a child I had more than 150 stuffed koalas. I’m down to 3 but I still have an obsession. These bird prints have convinced me, that if I stick to frame-able wall art, my collection can be eclectic chic instead of childhood obsession.

I just purchased the most adorable koala watercolor from Eloise Narrigan at worksweet.blogspot.com.

I’m all grown up now but can you see why I just had to have it! Sooo cute!

I also just got a postcard from my sister from the San Diego Zoo. 2 and counting! I’m pumped to start collecting koalas again.

Sarah

Family Room Love from Elle Decor

If you take a look back at the house layout here, you’ll see that the den was previously 2 bedrooms with a center wall removed. Well, that wall is now gone and I’m at a loss as to how to decorate the space. I know it’s early…there is still a hole in the floor where the wall was, but I would like to know kind of what I want. If I want to add built-ins or anything, I need to start thinking about that now.

I had initially thought some sort of bookcase-tv-console thing from Ikea but I’m really madly in love with the idea of a library ladder and I’m trying really hard to work that in.

On the other side of this now large room, I’m planning on a desk area. I’m thinking one main computer area and a laptop area. My husband and I can fight over them. I’d also like an area that would be alright for sewing and Stefan wants to be able to have enough desk space at the main computer area for electronics development.

I’m trying to figure out how to tie these two spaces together while still maintaining seperate roles. I just cut down a wall and now I need to take advantage of that without sacrificing either my TV area or my desk area.

I found this room on Elle Decor that accomplishes just that.

The transitional design is perfect. Has all the traditional features that make a room cozy with enough modern edge to make a computer a natural extension. This room obviously doesn’t have enough desk space but I love the blend of work area and relax area. I also happen to LOVE the color scheme but I don’t think that will fly with the hubby.

Another thought I had recently was to nix the canned TV cabinet idea and go with something a little more architectural. I love the idea of the TV over the fireplace but there isn’t a fireplace in that room. What about a TV over a little upright piano. It would add a touch of whimsy and would allow me to work solely on bookshelves with a library ladder.

I’m actually thinking bookshelves between the two front-facing windows in the room, bridging the gap between the walls. Something like this image, perhaps with a rectangular tufted ottoman and a game table in front of it. Something smaller, more to scale.  The middle of the room is not ideal for the main seating area, not enough room for a functional, comfy couch and nowhere to put the TV.

There is also the option to hang the TV in front of the bookcase, just like the large piece of art hanging here. Hm. I wonder how that might work. The TV would need to be on a mount and I’m just not sure if I could make that work. More doodling but I’m seriously loving the Elle Decor website. Why have I never looked there before!

Tata for now!

Sarah