The Living Room
At Home with the Hastys - The Living Room
The Backstory
New to Hasty Book List? Read about the fire that prompted this home renovation, here.
The Inspiration
The fireplace is the central feature of our living room, and the thing that received the biggest makeover. Click here to see our inspiration images, and a “before” picture.
The last time I shared a home update was April 23. Can you believe it has been five months? And I waited all of this time for a set of pillows that I ordered in March. They were supposed to arrive in May, but because of supply chain issues we didn’t get them until September. I’m not sure they were worth waiting five months to share our living room remodel with you, even though I am happy with how they turned out.
“Favorite Place to Read a Book? Curled up under a blanket next to my fireplace on a cold winter evening.”
At Home with the Hastys - The Living Room
Sofa | Drink Table | Rug | Lamp | Pillows | Throw Blanket
“Favorite Place to Read a Book? Sitting in the corner of the sofa with a warm blanket wrapped around me”
The Goal
One of my least favorite features of this place when we first bought it was the fireplace. The tile surround was a bit dated and the mantle disappeared into the wall. It wasn’t a statement mantle, like I preferred. So even in the two days before the fire, I was dreaming up ways to give the fireplace a little facelift.
As you may remember from previous posts, our place had to be gutted, nearly everything had to be replaced. So instead of the fireplace getting a little facelift, the whole thing had to be replaced. Now I could do whatever I wanted. Eric and I really struggled on choosing a fireplace. A lot of people had a lot of opinions on which fireplace to go with and we visited a few sketchy fireplace stores in town. Finally, a friend of mine recommended we visit American Heritage Fireplace and we finally found a salesperson who listened to our wants and needs and was able to point us in the right direction. I should also mention that we were a month or so from our supposed move-in date and anxiety was HIGH.
We wanted to create a space that was warm and welcoming. A space that we could relax in, invite friends over to watch movies, or read. We wanted to strike a balance between being comfortable and beautiful.
“Favorite Place to Read a Book? Even though I have a chair in a my office I ordered especially for reading (it’s pale pink velvet and I love it so much, nine times out of ten I wind up either on the living room couch or in bed instead.”
At Home with the Hastys - The Living Room
Turntable | Console | Lamp | Similar Magazine Rack
The Furniture
“Favorite Place to Read a Book? Well, my favorite place that exists is my living room couch, when everyone’s gone or outside, so it’s super quiet. My favorite place in my fantasies is some English country manor on a rainy day, beside a crackling fire, with a glass of brandy next to me. ”
The Coffee Table
One of the few pieces of furniture to survive the fire was the top of our coffee table, the legs had corroded from the water. Eric actually made this coffee table when we lived in Indiana. We found the top at a salvage store in St. Louis. Eric sanded it down and stained it and added the hairpin legs. When we were told the legs hadn’t survived, we ordered the same hairpin legs but this time we opted for the bronze finish.
The Sofa
We had a black leather loveseat and matching sofa that we had purchased about ten years ago, when we were first married. It was time for a new one. This was one piece that was easy to select, we’d had our eye on this sectional before we even started looking to buy a place. We ordered it in Salt and Pepper Tweed.
Rug
During the pandemic, and while we were displaced from our home, a new store opened in our neighborhood called Hearthstone and Terrace. At first they sold plants, then later expanded into home decor. They helped us pick out rugs for our living room and our dining room - the kindness they showed us during a difficult time made us lifelong customers.
Accent Chair
Our most recent purchase is this Cuppa Saddle Leather Swivel Base Chair from CB2. We found it at the CB2 Outlet in Naperville for half the price it is listed online. It just had a few scuffs on it, which I actually liked. It felt like the piece came to us with some history, as if I’d purchased it at an estate sale. It came to us already well-loved.
Bench
This bench was in my office when the fire occurred, which was the room that had the least amount of damage. Thus, this is one of the few pieces of furniture that was completely unscathed. Even the custom cushion we had made for it survived. We had intended on the bench going back into my office, but we really like how it anchors the back of the sofa.
Console
We had this exact same console before the fire and we loved it so much we bought it again.
Reading Chair
This was another piece that was salvaged from the fire. It was a brand new purchase before moving into our condo, so we asked our restoration company to try to save it. There are a few scratches from the beating it received during the fire, but no one notices it except for us. West Elm no longer sells this chair.
At Home with the Hastys - The Living Room
Sofa | Drink Table | Rug | Lamp | Pillows | Accent Chair
“Favorite Place to Read a Book? I find a spot in my living room where I can put my feet up, sit under a reading lamp with a cup of Egyptian licorice tea on my side, and under my book, my luscious black cat curled up asleep on my lap.”
The Accessories
Pillows
The infamous six-month pillows. We ordered these in March (along with a sleeper sofa.) They were supposed to arrive in May, we finally got them in September. We love them, even more than we remembered, but I’m not sure they were worth waiting six months for. They’re now listed as “in stock” on the website, so if you like them you may have better luck as far as timeline goes.
Lamp
Eric and I debated over lamps for the longest time. We kept going back and forth between a statement lamp or a more streamlined look. Eventually we settled on this telescoping lamp from West Elm. We have it in both the floor lamp and table lamp version.
Drink Table
We like our living spaces to feel pretty open, not too densely packed with furniture. So rather than opting for a larger side table, we chose this smaller drink table which we can move around depending on where people are sitting. We plan to purchase another one to place next to the accent chair.
“Favorite Place to Read a Book? There’s a park near my house with a willow tree and a bench near a creek. For some reason no one ever goes there. It’s wonderful and quiet—but not in the winter. That’s when I’m in the living room with the dog lying on my feet.”
The Art
For more about our art collection, click here.
At Home with the Hastys - The Living Room
The Plants
For more about our plant collection, click here.
At Home with the Hastys - The Living Room
There were moments during the reconstruction process that were really difficult. Moments when I thought we’d never get to move back in. Moments when we considered selling the place and cutting our losses. We’ve lived here now for about 8 months and our place still isn’t completely finished. However we’ve hosted friends over for dinner, invited our neighbors down for happy hour and Ted Lasso watch parties. We celebrated Eric’s birthday here. It feels like home, not like a construction project anymore. We are creating beautiful memories here with family and friends, something we didn’t have before the fire and during the reconstruction process. There are evenings when Eric and I turn to each other and marvel at how far we’ve come. What a beautiful environment we created for ourselves. How we got through some really dark days and are now reaping the benefits of tremendous loss.
“Favorite Place to Read a Book? Anywhere quiet where I can fully relax my body and allow my mind to travel. It might be on our cozy living room couch, or on a wicker chair on the front porch, or propped up in bed.”
