A Living Room Rug Swap + Coffee Tables I’m Eyeing

Every once in a while we make a quick and (seemingly) simple change in our house that I assume will be no big deal, and the next thing I know it feels like everything has changed.

Case in point? At the end of last week we decided to pull the rug in our bedroom out into the living room. We were replacing it with a new one (more on that later) and I’ve always loved our bedroom rug so much that it only made sense to put in in a room where I’ll see it as much as possible.

I knew it would be impactful to change out the living room rug, but I don’t think I had fully processed just how much of a difference it would make!

A reminder of how it looked before…

And now!

While this rug felt dark and moody and beautiful in our bedroom, when we brought it out to the living room (which has way more windows), it suddenly came alive and you could really see all of the beautiful green and blue tones in it. I had no idea how green this rug was until I saw it in this lighting!

I feel like our living room grew up quite a bit with just this one small change – it feels so sophisticated now! And, of course, the more appropriately-sized 9×12 rug makes the whole room feel bigger.

Rugs are magic, y’all.

I’ve got lots of ideas for things I want to do in this space over the next few months. We’ve been talking about adding an electric fireplace in here before the weather cools off (of course, we still have months to go here!), and I’ve been casually shopping for coffee tables for months now – it’s high time we just order something already.

Another project on my to do list in here is filling up that huge wall behind our couch. I have always envisioned a big, casual gallery wall there but it just seems so daunting! I don’t want the room to end up feeling cluttered, so finding the right balance of art that will make it feel complete without competing with the shelves will take a lot of careful consideration. Of course, I could also do an art ledge, or even just a trio of photos – so many options!

For now, though, we’ve really been enjoying just taking our time with this space and not trying to fill it up right away. I’ve always gotten a bit itchy about empty rooms when we’ve moved, but I promised myself I’d take my time with this home and it feels good to just let things evolve naturally.

I do think the first thing in here that I want to get done (like, yesterday) is finally order a coffee table. We really enjoy having the extra floor space, but it’s annoying that we don’t have surfaces for drinks, drawing, or playing when we’re sitting on the couch. I think living without a coffee table for 8 months has taught us that we don’t want something that will take up all of the floor space (because we sit on the floor often!) but we do want at least some kind of space to prop up our feet or let the boys color while they watch a movie.

Here’s a quick roundup of the coffee tables I currently have my eye on. When I started writing this post my plan was to make a decision in the next few weeks, but I talked it over with Corey before I hit publish and we quickly agreed on a favorite…so a coffee table has officially been ordered!

***UPDATE: Click here to see the new coffee table in place!

1. Drum Storage Coffee Table | $599
2. Cap Ivory Cement Coffee Table | $549
3. Oakdale Coffee Table | $179
4. Versanora Kingston Coffee Table | $182
5. Glenmore Coffee Table | $549
6. Dale Round Wood Coffee Table | $169
7. Naya Pop-Up Coffee Table | $429
8. Drum Wood Coffee Table | $536
9. Otis Coffee Table | $199
10. Haverhill Coffee Table | $149
11. Urban Open Box Frame Coffee Table | $149
12. Cast Concrete Coffee Table | $359
13. Tromso Coffee Tabel | $449

Which one is your favorite? Any guesses which one we went with?!

Living room sources

• Sofa
• Rug
• Floating shelves
• Leather chair
• Side table
• Blanket basket
• Faux string of pearls
• Planter