House Tour: The Living Room (Update 9/26)

 A lot has changed since the last time I showed you the living room.  To recap, it looked like this:

 And here's the list of things I had yet to do:

 -Frost the window panes on our front door.
Status: I bought the frosting spray, then put it in the hall closet and forgot about it until writing this post.
 -Paint/organize interior of coat closet.
Status: I took out the shelves and hanging rod to prep for paint, and then got distracted and lived with it torn apart for two weeks before putting the shelves and rod back up in the still unpainted closet.  I also moved all the junk from our old desk into this closet when we sold the desk and built one with less storage, so I guess you could say I've moved backwards on this one.
 -Entry storage solution.
Status: I put a shallow thrift store basket on the entertainment center for keys/sunglasses/whatnot.  I also put a basket in the cabinet next to the kitchen sink for Patrick's phone/work phone/wallet/safety gear/other miscellaneous junk.  Those two baskets have majorly cut down on clutter and stress getting out the door.
 -Put up some curtains!  
Status: Done!  Err, maybe.  We hung curtains in what was supposed to be a temporary fix, but they have kind of grown on me.  I'll share more about the curtains soon.  Hopefully after I've figured out if I love or hate them, so I don't sound like I have multiple personalities when I write the post.
 -Find storage for the coffee table. 
Status: N/A.  We ended up selling the coffee table because Madison hit her head on the edge twice, and we were over it.  I'd like to have an upholstered ottoman there eventually, but for now Madison and Bella are enjoying the open space.
-Accessorize TV wall.
Status: No progress.  
 -DIY some ottomans or a bench.
Status: This was supposed to be for the left of the sofa, to complete the seating arrangement.  Instead, I put our $3 Chair.  I'd also like to get a side table for next to the chair, but it works for now.
 -Paint touch-up
Status: No progress.
-Install quarter-round
Status: No progress.
-Possibly paint the rug.
Status: The rug we had in the living when this was written was flatwoven, and Bella's hair was REALLY hard to get out of it.  We decided to move it into Madison's room, where Bella is not allowed.  We moved Madi's old rug into the playroom, and bought a new cheapo polypropylene (aka a huge fire hazard) rug from IKEA for the living room.  It's much easier to get clean, but I'm still not sold on the style of the rug I hate it (just don't tell Patrick).
-Balance the art over the couch.
Status: After staring at the art in the living room for over a year, I decided I didn't like it after all, which was really painful considering that we paid like $70 for it.  In an act of desperation, I moved the piece to our bedroom, where I was shocked to find that I LOVED it.  Unfortunately, I haven't replaced it with anything in the living room.  Blank walls womp.  
-Redesign the buffet. 
Status:  The main concern here was the safety issue with the glass doors.  After much debate (and a bit of manipulation cleverly disguised as procrastination), Patrick and I have tentatively decided to leave them as they are.  Madison is pretty good with the one finger rule (you can touch "it" with one finger), and our house isn't baby-proofed enough to leave her alone in the room anyway, so she's always supervised.
-Find a purpose for the weird nook.
Status:  Partially complete.  We shifted the furniture away from the front door just a little bit more, making the weird nook slightly wider and way less weird.  Now the plan is to add a shallow bench behind the loveseat to create a little entryway.  It'll be a mini mudroom of sorts.

Finally, before the current pics, one last disclaimer: I took these pictures before Madison woke up this morning.  There was no natural light, and I was reluctant to pick anything up or clean and risk not getting any pictures.  What you're about to see is our living room in real life, as in not what I would let normal company see, but what I'd probably be okay with my mom seeing.  Because we're close like that, right?  Right.

As you can see in the above picture, we used a less than traditional method of hanging our curtains.  I'll share more about that soon.

Phew!  I didn't realize until now how much our plans for the room had changed!  Am I the only one with design ADD, or do you change your direction a lot, too?

-Kelli