House Tour: The Living Room

Since one of my main goals is to finish our house in time for Madison's first birthday party, I thought it might be a good idea to show you guys what needs to be done to meet that goal.

This is the view of our living room as you would see it from our front door:

This is from the kitchen:

Side note: Any post I make is made possible by the swing in the bottom right corner of this picture.  A special thank you to Ronnie and Becky!!

This is the view you'll have if you look directly to your left when you come in the front door:

Lovely, right?  More on that later.  Moving on, this is a view of the "entertainment center" (read-buffet with a tv, antennae, and xbox on top) from the couch:

So here's a list of things I'd like to have done before the party:
-Frost the window panes on our front door. (Our privacy issues became a little more urgent when we started nursing in the living room!)
-Paint/organize interior of coat closet.  I seriously considered showing a pic as is, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.  Maybe I'll show you the before/after once there is an after.
-Entry storage solution.  Right now our shoes, keys, wallet, purse, car seat, diaper bag, leash, etc. end up all over the house.  I'd like to make a logical place for everything to make getting out the door a little less stressful.
-Put up some curtains!  Pat really wants blackout curtains like the ones we put in the nursery.  I will admit that the nursery stays cooler than the rest of the house, but I'm still not sold.  The nursery can handle the solid colored curtains because there are enough patterns going on in there already, but our living room is so basic.  I think curtains could be a good opportunity to bring in some interest!  We'll see...
-Find storage for the coffee table.  I'm thinking baskets for blankets, boppy, burp rags, etc. to go on the shelf, and something decorative on top to conceal her vitamins, mylicon, and hand sanitizer as well as all our remote gadgetry.
-Accessorize TV wall.  I've got some ideas floating around in my head for this one...I'm thinking BIG!
-DIY some ottomans or a bench.  I'd like some form of backless seating to round out the living room arrangement.  I want it to be backless so it doesn't obstruct the view of the kitchen/dining.  I'm torn between something a little bulky that can act as additional storage and something super lightweight that shows the floor and keeps the space feeling large.
-Paint touch-up
-Install quarter-round
-Possibly paint the rug. If I'm brave enough to try this, I'd like to try either chevron stripes, concentric rectangles, or maybe even a stenciled design.  The rug is from IKEA, so it wouldn't be a total nightmare if I ruined it.  $30 lost.  Actually, to me, that is a total nightmare.  So we'll see.
-Balance the art over the couch.  I'd like to add a couple small stacked pieces to the right of the large painting.  But if I can't find the right ones in time, I'll just move it over.
-Redesign the buffet.  To start with, once Madison starts to crawl, the glass fronts are a MAJOR safety issue.  Let's face it...she already likes to hit!  I'm hoping to find a good solution that doesn't involve permanently losing my pretty glass doors.  I'd also like to brighten it up a little.  I've toyed with the idea of painting the back.  I'll at least yank the dingy books and stick in some bright and interesting elements.
-Find a purpose for the weird nook.  You may have noticed that our loveseat is removed from the wall by two or three feet.  That is for the sole purpose of having the couch be centered in front of the tv.  Unfortunately, this leaves a weird blank space as the first thing you see when you come in the door.  I've got a few ideas rolling around in my pretty little head, but I haven't sold Pat on any of them yet.  When I do, you'll be the first to hear about it!

I'm sure there's more that I'll want to do once I finish this list, but that's all I can think of for now!  Thanks for reading, and please post any suggestions you may have!

-Kelli