the townhouse, one year later: part II

I was pretty surprised when I saw this picture of our living room's humble beginnings. Bare walls, a Target coffee table that was falling apart at the seams, a saggy old sofa .... it needed help! I think the only things in this room that haven't changed are the end table/lamp, the library dresser, and my toilet paper roll art.

The first step of decorating the room was adding these shelves. I had wood cut at Home Depot to mount on the brackets I got at anthro. I found a glass coffee table on Craigslist that I spray-painted aqua, pulled out some selections from my coffee table book collection, and my mama bought me a jute rug, pillows, and ...

Mitzie! She's the crowning glory of my 20th century portrait collection:) I also painted and re-covered these chairs, and accessorized with flowers and knick-knacks.

One of my favorite things in the entire house came a few months later in the form of the Petrie sofa. We've had it almost a year now, and I still can't believe my eyes every time I walk downstairs and see it. It's my baby and I love it!

The white Louis chairs got a make-over with some bold orange stripes, and I added two more portraits, one of them being a Christmas gift from my thoughtful hubby, to the wall. I liked that the chairs brought in a more bold, modern touch, and I started craving even more modernness .... Modernity? Modernification?

Which brings us to today. New chairs with more mid-century lines have replaced the orange ones, my grandparent's portraits have joined the right side of the wall, and various other art has been added as well.

This marquee-letter lamp is something I made myself using this tutorial from design*sponge. I used a very 1920's-looking typeface, which I love. The teensy little painting right above it is an original painting that was a gift from my Papa and Neenah when I was a young girl. I treasure it so much! Also shown here: the newest addition to my beloved collection of Wolfe birds. My mama got me this one for my birthday this year and I think he might be my new favorite:)

The wood/tape/frond monstrosity on the far left is just a mock-up of a project I'm working on, so don't be alarmed. The framed sketch hanging next to it is something I drew by hand on card-stock, but before you get all impressed and think I'm an artistic genius, I was just copying this sketch by Picasso:

 The picture in the frame is of me as a little girl:

My husband loves this picture of me because he says I look soooo proud of my itty bitty fish, haha:)

This side of the room really hasn't changed that much, with the exception of a new coffee table, a few different pictures and such on the shelves, and two new benches. They started out as these sad little guys, which I got for $5 each:

A fresh coat of paint and some burlap-style upholstering later, and they were good as new!

And here's where the quality of the pictures I'm posting takes a nose-dive. I tried to get a shot of the benches in their natural habitat, but for the life of me I can't operate the flash on our camera correctly, and it was getting too dark in the room to count on natural light like I usually do.

For fun, here's one last before and after of the living room, followed by a poll!

before:

in between:

after: 

Which do you prefer? The ultra-white, simple, shabby chic before,  the vintage-inspired, orange-stripe-chair in between, or the more artsy, bohemian, colorful after?