Living room Epiphany

I had an epiphany.  I've spent the better part of two days  wasting time at work researching on my own time,  the thousands of end table and coffee table options available to me.

I have learned I have very expensive tastes and that my tastes are not exactly main stream. I have also learned that my "color story" is not hugly popular in the design community at present. They clearly lack vision! and I have to deal with this on my own, without their supervision  I had an idea of what I was going to do and I was pretty happy with it, but then, then I started to try to shop that idea and it was a little more challenging than I had anticipated : Furniture, even used furniture, is expensive.

I had to adjust my vision. I had planned on fairly heavy wooden furniture, traditional end tables with drawers and a traditional wooden coffee table. They were going to be re-painted in hot pink and orange. The colors have not changed, but the vehicles for these colors have.

My research taught me that I was not interested in chunky, space eating furniture pieces that take up a lot of visual and literal space. I also have been living with an ottoman as my coffee table and I've gotten used to it. I don't use the coffee table as a"table", it mostly is somewhere for me to stack magazines and prop my feet. My last coffee table was huge and had very generous storage space, which I gladly took advantage of - I "stored" things like a demented chipmunk! I do not need this kind of enabling. So, nothing with drawers need apply and I must be able to use it as a foot rest.

I found the word "cocktail ottoman" . This means a table masquerading as an ottoman, which is exactly what I wanted but not what I wanted to pay. Example #296 of my expensive tastes rearing their ugly heads.

So I kept searching. I have been thinking about what other colors I want going on in my room. I know that my picture frames are all going to be mirrored, and that I really want to mirror the  back of my shelves - to make the room look larger and help light to move around the room - so Silver, a close sibling or gray is going to be used. I found this

It doesn't look silver, but it is, very. Its like a big rectangular disco ball. I became very excited! It is reflective, and awesome and I was in love!, it is also only $37 from Wallyworld online. I looked at the measurements and its slightly smaller than the not-large-enough ottolan I am useing now. I will need two. I felt flushed. I kept looking around the site, as to not look too interested, and I found its fraternal twin

Its black. I wanted to avoid another dark, dark, dark thing in my dark, dark, dark room - but, I also was starting to fear that the room was going to look very tween girl and I hate tween girls. I am also all ready going to have hot pink and orange end tables, damn it and I don't want to over power the room.I am going to attach the two pieces together with velcro (tm) . I am also thinking about attaching some little feet onto them to raise them up and change the look a little. If it is  even possible to attach feet to the bottom of them. Its a thought.

I also started thinking about what was going to happen after, because there will come an after. What am I going to do with all this wildly painted furniture? Sell it? Even I am not truly excited about repainting what I am finding on craigslist -  black is not wild and is much easier to transition into after.

On to the end tables. I want something that is smallish and doesn't take up a lot of visual space, but can hold up whatever I put there. Here is my new idea

Pik top and orange legs or orange top and pink legs? I all ready have one of these. I looked at a lot of tables and I saw one design pop up frequently and I kind of liked it,  and it looked familiar. Its $14 at Wallyworld! Well within budget. I can spray it, well, I can spray the new ones I go pick up at Wally and they will be just about perfect.I'm going to paint an additional inheirited wooden side table  with lots of storage ( not pictured, too ugly), its old and on trend and I do not feel bad about painting it or disposing of it or repainting it "after".

And? I don't have to feel bad about their after! There is no real investment and I won't feel like I'm "ruining" a piece by painting it . Yay!

Now lets talk lighting. The room is dark, dark, dark. In my travels I found something called an Arc Light. I recognized it as what my parents had in the living room through out my childhood. My parents had very good taste. I need one.

They are very expensive! Shockingly so, even on craigslist! Enter Ikea

This is a very large lamp. It would live behind the couch and act as really an over head light. It is $49! And now, darn it, a trip to Ikea!

What do ya'll think?