The Great Room is where people spend most of their time in the home. For us, it's our happy place. Our hang out area. Where we snuggle with our puppies and most importantly, where we watch "The Bachelor". Kidding, kind of...
As you know, this house is old. Very old. Built in 1935. It's one of the things we love most about this house- its charm. That charm also means smaller, sectioned off rooms throughout. They didn't do the whole "open concept kitchen/living room" thing in the 30s:)
Luckily, when they built this house they had us in mind;) They built a very large Great room, perfect for lots of chill space and puppy romping. I have to say, it was a little intimidating trying to figure out how to arrange/decorate/get a grip on this space.
I considered breaking apart the room with different seating areas but in the end, decided one large space was more pleasing overall to how we wanted to use the room. We did end up sectioning off an area around the marble table in the back right of the room to use as a "banquette" space.
The Great Room:
This is where I have spent the majority of time decorating since we have moved in.
Behold, the Banquette! There will be a separate post with how the banquette came to be, but below are a few pictures as it stands today. Bill hand-crafted the bench and custom-made the seats to have built in storage underneath. A spot we will enjoy for years to come for Sunday morning coffees and paper, and friday night euchre tournaments...
The Italian Carrera marble table is one of my favorite possessions. I bought it at an estate sale and still can't believe its ours:) The Victorian chairs came with the table and I reupholstered the seats with upholstery I bought at an interior decorating store in Bucktown that went out of business a few years ago. I have been saving it for just such an occasion:)
The banquette helped me solve the "everyone always wants to be in the kitchen" problem (ladies you know what I'm talking about) when you entertain. Since the kitchen and great room aren't one big area, I always struggled with where to put appetizers and drinks. Now, everyone can be in the great room watching football and be close to the snacks.
I bought the marble-top chest below at the same estate sale. There was a Milwaukee Journal newspaper in one of the drawers dated Sunday May 16, 1976. Maybe that is when she bought it? Anyway, it's pretty cool. It difficult to see in this picture, but it has these antique drop-handle pulls that make the piece very unique.
Anyone that knows me, knows I love myself anything "Cowboy". So I built this vignette with my very best cowboy theme in mind. Nothing like a little John Wayne to set the stage.
Colin gave me the other key piece of this vignette: The Vivian Maier book. Its an incredible picture book which unravels the mysteries of this talented American born street photographer whose works went unknown and unpublished until after her death. There are fascinating shots of the streets of Chicago- where she spent almost 40 years of her life living as a nanny. Highly recommend it.
My beloved Jayson Home Penelop chairs. My loving husband woke up at 5am on a Saturday morning one weekend to drive down to Chicago with me to be in line by 8am to pick these bad boys up. I am one lucky lady.
We love having a wood burning fireplace! Wisconsin winters are COLD and cozying up by this fire has proven to be a welcome luxury in 30 below temps:) My parents got us the suede firewood holder for Christmas a few years back. The rattan backed chairs were an estate sale score. They were tucked underneath a staircase in the basement of the sale. I paid $5 per chair. Now that's a deal!
This fiddle head fig tree is one resilient little sucker. It was purchased from Jayson Home when we moved into our Coach house in Chicago. I fell in love with fiddle head fig trees before Ry and I were married when I was living in my previous apartment (which barely had room enough for tall people to walk let alone a tree) so I vowed I would own one in our next place. Unfortunately, they require a lot of natural sunlight and living in a coach house, an over abundance of natural sunlight, we did not have:) So, I have spent the last couple of years nursing it back to health, and it's doing pretty well.
Our "bar" or more accurately where we park our "Frank Fashioneds", is situated directly below Ry's big bass. Personally, I think I should get extra bonus points for incorporating his taxidermy into our decor, but that's probably not likely.
The art above the tables flanking the fireplace are some of my favorite pieces. I bought the frames and had Bill repair them as they were in pretty rough shape. They were really wobbly and there were some holes in the decorate woodwork that he fixed up beautifully. With a few coats of Farrow and Ball's "Studio Green" paint in a high gloss finish, they have a whole new lease on life. For the inside of the frame, I wanted to find art that didn't cost me anything but reflected our style. I had ordered a few wallpaper samples from Farrow & Ball to consider for the foyer and I loved them so much (they're hand printed) I decided they would be perfect to frame. I purchased a few mat options at Michaels and Bill made me a custom mat for each frame.
The smaller wooden frame with the green mat was a score from an estate sale. I have no idea who those people are (there's a man, presumably her husband) on the other side:) Perhaps one day I will dismantle the ancient frames and put our ancestors in there. Or perhaps they will stay that way...
The antique lamps were purchased at Monograham and the lampshades were a Pottery Barn special. I added finials to the top which I purchased at Home Depot for just a few dollars.
The Jenny Lind table is an antique family heirloom that I love dearly.
A view from standing in front of the fireplace...
One of our prized possessions is our Lake Tahoe picture. Bill custom made the mat and the frame and we purchased the map when we were out in Tahoe for our wedding. It is placed above our "media" storage unit Ryan picked out at Restoration Hardware. It's hard to see in this picture but it's a distressed metal cabinet.
All in all, we are really pleased with how the space works for us. There are always tweaks to be made and new things to add, but for now, we love it!
Source List:
*Black and white rug- Crate & Barrel
*Console table- sourced
*Wooden lamps- Jayson Home, Lampshades- target
*Sectional- Pottery Barn
*Throw pillows- One Kings Lane, West Elm
*Luggage racks- one was my Grandmothers (and I refinished it), the other was sourced
*Blue serving tray- CB2
*Wooven serving tray- Crate & Barrel
*Ivory shag rug- Overstock.com
*Iron media console- Restoration Hardware
*Trunk- custom made by my Great Uncle
*Carrera marble victorian table and chairs- sourced (chairs I reupholstered)
*Marble top chest- sourced
*Antlers- The Painted Lady
*Black decorative frame- Ikea
*Wire vessel- Crate & Barrel
*Glass Vase- Williams Sonoma Home
*Black fancy leg table- Sourced
*Jenny Lind table- Family Heirloom
*Lamps on Tables- Monograham, Lampshades- Pottery Barn
*Green chairs- Jayson Home
*Secretary's desk (bar)- The Painted Lady
*Old Fashioned glasses- family heirlooms and sourced
*White Line curtains- Ikea
*Brass curtain rods- West Elm
*Metal lanterns on fireplace- Jayson Home
*Fig Trees- Stein's and Jayson Home
**** Sourced/found- An item I bought from an estate sale, garage sale, found on the side of the road or was part of my own personal stash:)
