Get a Load of My Living Room, Ladies.

You're eyes aren't fooling you. That's my new Ikea couch (I caved-- but I am happy about it) and yes, that is a birdcage hanging from my ceiling. Pretty cool, huh? I have made an "eclectic bird's nest" for my husband, bridgette, and myself. Let's get started on the tour, shall we?

My mantel. Pretty basic, but with a few antiques here and there. The owl vase I got here (sadly not online anymore), the buddha and the Chinese lunch box are gifts from my China-bound brother, and the two bookends are antiques from the Salt Lake antiques store Euro Treasures. 

These candles are amazing and perfect for every home, especially one that houses children, because they are battery powered. That sounds cheesy and kind of stupid, but they are so realistic looking: *they actually flicker* and smell like vanilla. I found them at Smith's grocery store for 75% off in the Holiday aisle.

 

Ah, my birdcage that houses Patrick the owl. I bought Patrick to top my Christmas tree. I am so in love with Patrick and his cute nest that I couldn't put him away. Now he hangs in my birdcage with battery-lit candles. How precious. 

My ikea couch. I hunted for an affordable couch in 6 different furniture stores until I found this $600 couch. It is so hard to find a gray modular couch in that price range, let me tell you. I went into a RC willy or some other store like that, and the guy helping me needed me to define the word modular for him. I did not stay there long. Ugh...

 

 My lamp that holds pictures of my brother and his wife, Yusha. Also a picture of me and Steve. The framed napkins above the couch have embroidered birds doing household tasks. These were made by Steve's late grandmother and they were passed down to us. These napkins were framed in all different silver frames. Another picture of them here.

My entry way table and shelves of dishes. I changed the nobs on this table from chrome "modern" nobs to blue and white nobs to go with the dishes and my curtains a bit better. I got these nobs at World Market (half the price of Anthropologie nobs). My blue and white dishes were a gift from a very nice neighbor for my wedding. The blue and white bowl on my entry way table is another gift from my China brother. The 1930's looking radio is actually a reproduction with a built in CD player. I got it on Ebay as a Valentine's gift to Steve a few years ago (best gift ever I say).

My dining room table is farmed by two posters (that are actually wrapping paper) from Details in Salt Lake. The candlesticks were a gift from my sister Anna from zgallerie. The candlestick will look better on a longer table when I have a house someday, I think. It does look kind-of funny on such a small table. O well. I still like it.

These bird nest pictures were a gift from my mother, also bought at Details. 

The birdcage, in all it's glory. I love it love it love it. We had to use some of Steve's famous "handicrafts" to get this thing hung. The tiers of the birdcage are not fastened together for easy storage, so we had to think of way to fasten it and hang it without hurting it (ie: drilling holes). Steve had a genius idea of using twine and rope-- does the job but still looks good. Thank goodness he is an engineer and not a banker, or else this cage would never have come to fruition.

Handicrafts: wrapping twine between the tiers to keep them together.

I've learned to just watch TV while Steve does this stuff. Sometimes we get in little tiffs when we do these projects (which happen a lot). Best to just let him work.

Yay for Steve! Hanging things like birdcages or other items from tall 11" ceilings like ours is a great way to use up other wise unused space. More fun and more creative than just using a table. 

That was a lot of photos and words. Holy Moly. It only took three years to create.