Inspirational Living Rooms

The living room in my home is my absolute favorite room to relax in. I spend the most non-working (and sometimes working thanks to wireless) hours in my living room and it's the room I've put the most thought into decorating.

Because the room is just 23' by 12', I have to work hard to keep it from becoming cluttered with the magazines, books and papers I drag in there whenever I sit in my favorite upholstered rocker to watch TV or listen to music (can't seem to cure myself of the desire to constantly multi task).

So in honor of living rooms everywhere, here are some I think are beautiful and inspiring...

This room is just pure heaven to me.  The only thing in the entire space I don't absolutely love is that coffee table.  I don't hate it, I just don't love it.  What is that base?  I like the roundness, I like the glass top, I just don't get the base.  Seriously, if you know what it is tell me, please.

 

This would be too formal for me to live in the way I live in my own living room, but it's so gorgeous to entertain guests in.

I love the slightly eclectic, comfy, evolved over time feel of this living room.  And the adorable doggy is the perfect companion to cozy up to next to the fire when you're pouring over your decorating magazines (assuming your BF or hubby doesn't love looking at your decorating magazines with you :-).

This super soft blue and brown living room manages to look perfect and comfy at the same time - difficult to pull off for most rooms.  I normally don't like white walls, but the vanilla backdrop lets the beautiful blue fabrics and touches of brown really shine.

I pulled this heavenly room off of the wonderful Joni Webb's blog, Cote de Texas  http://www.cotedetexas.blogspot.com/ that's an amazing feast for the eyes and responsible for making me fall in love with the decorating blogging world.

These are the kinds of colors I could live with forever.  Everything is a neutral shade and yet it looks very colorful in the most tasteful way.   Love it.

My bedroom is painted a super soft pink like this, but I don't think I would ever have the courage to paint my living room this color.  Still, this room has that feel of a room that evolved over time that I love.

This is another living room I couldn't live comfortably in, but love looking at it for inspiration.  I love the bright splash of color the pink flowers give the otherwise neutral color palette. The gold picture frames, sconces and table and stool legs really give the room glamour.

I love the contrast of white furniture against dark stained wood floors.  I had the floors on the first floor of my home refinished prior to moving in and wanted them stained a deep rich brown, but the refinisher, Mr. Harris, advised against it saying it would make the room seem too small (of course it already is small, but I guess it could always look smaller).  Still, when I see a room like this, I wish I had gone with the dark floors.

I also love the mix of the antique chandelier, mirror, sconce and desk (in the corner with the flat screen TV on top) with the very modern furniture and animal skin rugs.

Another beautiful neutral room with splashes of pink and red in the flowers and pillows.  This room shows great restraint - check out how clean and uncluttered those shelves are on the back wall.

Maybe tomorrow I'll post pictures of my living room...but only if you promise not to judge me.