Show Us Where You Live-- Living Room Edition!

So, a few different bloggers I follow have started "Show Us Where You Live Fridays" at the behest of Kelly-- a blogging QUEEN. Last Friday was the first one, starting with the kitchen. I missed the boat, but I'll do it another week off schedule. Seeing that we live in a tiny condo, showing you our living room and kitchen in one week would be showing you 75% of where we live. So let's take it in moderation, shall we?

Drum roll, please.... I present to you, our living room. We just rent here in Arlington, VA, but we were the first people to live in these condos, so it's brand new and we were able to decorate how we wanted, so we sort of feel like it's ours. We are still somewhat limited in what we can do though...

I'm fairly satisfied with our living room, but I'd like to replace the coffee table and pillows. The dark red and mustard is fine for fall and winter, but I'd like something lighter and more spring-like for...well, spring. I haven't been to the fabric store in awhile, but I imagine new pillows and/or curtains would be my first real sewing venture... (Though that 'skers me a little- I need my mama for that.) That couch right there, it doubles as our dining room table, along with the coffee table since we eat pretty much every meal right there. Klassy with a K...

That wall back there is probably my least favorite place in the condo. It's more functional than it is stylish, but what can you do? I have to make the most of my 950 square feet (1,000 sq ft if you count the balcony...). The tall bookshelf is full of fiction, the one with bowing shelves shorter one is full of my school books. And yes, those are Easter eggs in the apothecary jar. I have yet to take down my Easter decorations...

We bought our entertainment set last spring... Until we got it, I was totally dissatisfied with our storage situation. My life has drastically changed since then (I have an unhealthy need for things to be put away). And be honest, are the candles on top of the cabinet (directly above the TV) too much? Only the front two starburst ones were there until Christmas, when I put up all of the other ones for a party we were having and I never took them down. That stick leaning against the cabinet is called a (I'm going to just sound this out) dijer-e-doo... An Aborigines instrument that Tyler brought back from Australia last year.

T= Tyler. K= Kathryn.

I'm always interested to see what's on people's shelves and bookshelves. Look closely and maybe, just maybe, you'll be able to figure out our political affiliation... And the picture on the top shelf is a Muriel Bono. We received several different prints of hers as wedding gifts. I love having "southern stuff" around the house.

I like this side of the shelves better...just because it's more interesting than books. The picture is one of my favorites from my trip to China. It's of this old man just sitting on the Great Wall looking out over the hills. The silver plate was another wedding gift from Senator Hagel who Tyler worked for at one time. There's also a metal statue of the Capitol and a painting of the Capital which I bought at Eastern Market...one of my favorite places in DC. And the elephant-- well, I bought that at a little store in New York to represent... The books are all really old copies of various books that belonged to Tyler's grandfather.

I didn't marry a Georgia boy, but I married a boy who's just as in love with college football as I am. So we pay homage to our alma matters (is that the correct plural, who knows...) on our bookshelves. Go Dawgs! Go Huskers!

A sweet friend of my mom's put together this collage of all of our wedding stuff. Various invitations, pictures, labels, menus, etc... I feel like there's a limited range of time where you can display all of your wedding stuff, so I'm taking advantage.

African masks Tyler brought back from his trip to Kenya last fall. The statue is also from Kenya; it's of a Masai warrior & his family. Again, pardon the Easter egg vase. I'll get around to it... (By that, I mean I still have candy canes on a table next to the sofa.)

So that's it! I love seeing other people's homes (Color me addicted to HGTV on a Saturday morning), so I love this little game. Tune in next week for...I don't know what room. But you'll see it for sure.