My house is in shambles.

Boxes piled in every corner and partially packed boxes on every surface. (Notice the yellow bucket o’ pillows Daniel placed in front of the boxes to disguise the chaos for my sake. Gosh, I love that man!)

Closing day is this week! Unless it’s somehow delayed? Which is always possible. But I’m holding out for smooth sailing. So since my current living space is a wreck, and the new place isn’t technically ours yet, I can only dream about pretty things, look at pictures, and make more mood boards. Here’s a board I’ve been fiddling with for a while now for our YELLOW living room! Is this yellow thing actually happening? Looks like it…

Yellow walls really are a big step for me. I tend to stick to grays/blues/greens and I can already tell that yellow is a difficult design color. It’s not that yellow is hard to find, it’s just that there are lots of goldy-yellows and creamy-yellow and sunny-yellows, but i want buttery-yellow. Is that so much to ask for? Daniel and I visited a fabric store during our trip to Atlanta over the weekend and we spent 30+ minutes carrying our little yellow paint chip around the store trying to match a nice pattern to it for pillows and drapes. Hundreds of fabric options, and  NO LUCK. I think it may be easier to pair some soft grays and taupes to compliment the yellow walls, instead of trying to match the yellow perfectly.

1. Wide striped gray & white curtains. What can I say, I love gray. I haven’t seen curtains like these in my normal go-to stores  (Home Goods, Target, TJ Maxx), but there are lots of tutorials out there for making these lovelies using striped duvet covers or inexpensive white and gray sheet sets. Looks like I’ll be doing some sewing.

2. F0und this clock on my new favorite inspiration site, Joss & Main. While I’m probably not gonna pay $135 plus shipping for this guy, I love the look and hope to find something similar for less.

3. A pretty chandelier in the space would be stellar! Though our ceilings aren’t very high, I’m hoping we can work it into the space somehow.

4. We already have 2 lamps that will work just fine for this room, but I couldn’t find a picture of them. These 2 are similar in style. They are simple with a little bit of architectural interest. I prefer these cream lampshades to the ones we currently have, so I may be trading those out eventually.

5. The “darkest” yellow is similar to the shade we have picked out for the walls. In reality, it is paler than how it shows on a screen, but you get the idea. It is another Behr color that we will likely be matching to Olympic.

6. These pretty little lanterns are another find from Joss and Main, but I’m sure I can find similar for less!

7. Boxwood wreath + mirror = amazing! I just love preserved boxwood. I love those tiny leaves, I love how it sounds when you shake it, I love how it smells, I love that it’s green all year long but it won’t die and it’s NOT artificial! Win, Win, Win! I’ve been stalking Amazon for a great deal on a wreath. They aren’t too overly priced on some of the home improvement store sites either.

8. This guy. Yeah. He’s awesome. This particular cart coffee table has a glass top, which I had never thought of, but it’s kinda cool. I would also be fine with an original wood top, as long as it was spill-proof. I saw a cart very similar to this at a local antique store (Knitting Mill Antiques if you’re interested) but I’m afraid to even ask how much it is. Hundreds. At least. *Sigh* maybe someday.

9. This chair. Glorious. But it’s gotta be comfy. This might be something I would splurge on. Although I am dying to get my hands on a piece of furniture to reupholster, I’m not sure I would feel ready to tackle something this awesome for a long time.

10. Awesome gray pillow from Joss and Main once again. I’m pretty sure I can tackle this guy with a little DIY.

11. And these ones too. I can’t sew much, but I have lots of pillow experience. Yay for straight lines!

12. When Daniel and I imagine our living room layout, we picture one brick or stone focal wall with a wood stove directly across from the entryway door. Since the room is a long rectangle, this would mean that if the couch faced the wood stove, the back of the couch would face you when you entered through the front door. A pretty piece of storage placed behind the couch would help hide the backside while taking advantage of some otherwise wasted space.

13. I LOVE this sofa. But white? Seeing as we want kids someday, this may not be my brightest idea. I may have to rethink this, or experiment with some really impressive stain-guard.

14. FINALLY a cozy rug. Dark stained wood floors throughout most of our new home begs for some comfy stylish rugs. We actually already picked up a rug from Ikea (again from our weekend in Atlanta) but I don’t have a picture. It is a medium gray tone with a fairly modern white floral pattern. If it ends up being too dark for the room, we may put it elsewhere and get something more taupey in color.

So there you have it. All of this text to hash out my design ideas is therapeutic for me. It’s kinda like supporting a cause you really believe in. I may not know everything about design, but I can sure give you a bunch of reasons why I like what I like, if that counts for anything. BOOM.

Happy house week to us (oh, and happy 1-year Anniversary as well?? How did that happen?) House pictures coming soon! Ya-whoooo!