Behind These Old Windows :: Children’s Living Room

Behind These Old Windows is a series I do here, from time-to-time, to share repurposed and handmade ideas while decorating around the house. We live in a 90 year-old house with huge windows and the original wavy glass. They fill every room with character and inspiration.

The featured space is used as a quiet reading area/books on CD listening center for the girls. The sofa is great because it fits all three girls plus an adult storyteller. The space also doubles as a toddler/baby play nook because, well, the little ones always want to stick close to mama. And thankfully, those cabinets close up and hide more toys, and the not-so-pretty but well-loved books.

The redesign of this living area was inspired by a drop-in visit to an estate sale in our neighborhood, where I found the two corner cabinets that are on either side of the windows and the matching desk. While trying to find the perfect fabric to replace the glass doors on these handmade pieces that were meant to display kitchen dishes, I decided it was time for the walls to go gray. (Previously they were a creme yellow color and had endured some serious abuse the last six years – baby doll stroller banging, writing on the walls, cracked plaster and so on.)

Besides those items, the lamps and the new rug – everything else got reused and rearranged. The sofa is vintage and was purchased before I got married to go in our tiny carriage house that we referred to as “The Love Shack.” The gold 1970s chair was in my house as a child and was what my mom refereed to as the “Thinking Chair,” before our generation coined it timeout. The bookshelf seen in the third shot, and the three baby beds, were handcrafted by my dad and and given as gifts throughout time. The curtains are freshly sewn, using an easy inside out pillow case style with simple straight lines.