May 30, 2011

so long television (and a family room tour)

Recently, I was talking to a friend and she told me how her friend liked our house and vintage furniture, particularly our vintage television. Well now, it is not exactly vintage, but we haven't yet succumbed to a be a flat screen television family.

Our television is about 14 years old and was bought by Ben when he was a bachelor livin' it up on the east coast. It has moved from D.C. to Texas to California and followed him into married life. It has been great and thus have never thought to trade it in for the ever popular flat screen. It is funny because when most of my friends got married, a television was usually the first thing they purchased, but we didn't cause we already had this trusty square tube. It has worked fine and dandy and my only qualm is that it isn't easy to hide. I personally don't think televisions (flat or not) are that good looking and it is not my preference to mount it on a wall to be a focal point (I would much rather have it hiding in a cabinet).

So here we are today and our television bit the dust a week ago. It became a teleaudio as the vision part when kaput! We have tried different things to fix it, but it just wouldn't bring back the vision. Now I will admit, I did a little happy dance when it bit the dust because tv's aren't that cute (that's why it never gets photographed), but also because we finally could get rid of another piece of new furniture in our house (most things are vintage and that ikea tv stand was one of the few new items left). Also, I have been saving a vintage, french pie safe to put in place of that stand that would be perfect for the one day we would get a little flat screen. While I would still prefer to hide a flat screen in a vintage cabinet of sorts, propped up on a cool vintage pie safe is good enough for me!

My family came over yesterday for dinner and we had all the boys lug that television out of the house, as well as load the ikea stand in my parents car bound for their house, so we immediately brought the pie safe down. It is now in place with nothing on top. Currently, we have no plans to get a new television because those things are just darn expensive and we have got certain bills to pay before we could make that purchase. We will be tv-less for now and that idea is kind of exciting to us. The only thing we really watched were Spurs games and Food Network, which is what I will miss the most because my girls get super duper excited watching their favorite chefs in action.

So in honor of our television, I thought I would give you a little tour of the family room that it lived in. You have seen it here and here before, but I do change tiny things up from time to time and thought I would share it before it changed slightly again. Plus, I did get a cool vintage piece at the Found & Oh hello friend yard sale (thanks Jenny for the awesome trade!) that I can't wait to clean up and get in this room.

Without further ado, say hello and goodbye to our television...
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The chalkboard canvas holds True's latest installation and there is my Bravey playing by herself because she was in time out. Next to it is my collection of vintage sap buckets. I always love me a big pop of color!
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And yes, that is a white, child sized eames chair there in front of the iron bed/sofa. It is a good looking kid chair!

Our vintage rolling industrial cart/coffee table that holds our family sketchbook, along with an old trash can full of bocce balls, a plant, and a vintage brownie camera.
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In the back, you could see our breakfast area and the beautiful sunflowers Ben and True surprised me with on Sunday. We also don't have proper lighting in the family room, so we use the strung up Christmas lights along the curtain top until we figure out what we want to do. It will probably be up there for awhile.
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I really love using outdoor furniture inside, so that pink lawn chair is another one of my favorite things.

A vintage medicine cabinet holds a plant, photobooth pictures from True's 4th birthday, and a wooden eiffel tower.
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And alas, the little cove with a vintage pie safe and no television...
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The little cove looks strange and I am not sure what to put on top in the meantime, but it is kind of nice without a television. We aren't that much of television people anyways, so maybe we may never get one! Heck, I get my world news from all of you via reading your blogs or your emails!

This weekend has been pretty crazy with the yard sale and a wedding on Saturday, then Sunday we had to take True to the doctor because she had a bug bite that had swollen 15 times bigger than what it was earlier in the week (she has antibiotics now), then my family came over for dinner Sunday night and Monday was spent cleaning and purging. Not much time left for resting and tomorrow it is back to work for Ben and we will be counting down until it is time for him to come home.

Oh! And just tonight my camera has decided to act up! Ben thinks I am messing things up to get new things, but that really isn't the case. I don't want to have to dish out money for a new camera just yet, so let's hope that my Nikon d40 can hang in there just a wee bit longer!

How was your weekend? Was it much more low key than ours or did a couple things go kaput on you too?!!

22 comments:

  1. TVs are SUCH a drag.

    I love the new pie safe!

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  2. Ha, same happened to us, we bought a big television for my husband when he was living in the barracks in the Army, then it came into our married life, then one to four children, it had moved about 15000km with our postings & still it wouldn't die. There was one exciting time it reacted with a speaker & had green stripes, then they went, it was never leaving us. After 16 years, we decided enough was enough, we're going flat screen & sadly we took it to the tip & paid $50 for them to keep it (to on sell no doubt). You can't dump electronics in Australia without paying for them, printers, computers included!! Love Posie

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  3. I love the style of your house!

    We had a really awesome vintage tv- the kind built into its own wooden cabinet, with legs! Sadly it is no longer with us. I resisted getting a flat tv for ages but they are much less hideous than the old kind... I think they draw your eye less :)

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  4. Hey who needs a TV anyway. I haven't had one since I was 6 or so when my parents became christians and decided there was better things in life to spend your time with. That was over 25 years ago now. If you need some entertainment there is a few things to check out online. But do like not having a big dust collector in my lounge room.

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  5. You have such a cute house:):) And my tv is just as "vintage" hahah!

    I am not a big tv person at all, i watch everything online:) The wonders of modern technology! BUt since a share a house with other people we get basic cable since its practically free with our internet. I really hate tvs in bedrooms though, so id rather have one in the living room then in my sleeping space!

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  6. Your house is so cute! I love the buckets(or whatever they are) on the walls...

    I also hated how our big old television never seemed to quite fit into our living room...so I got rid of it! WE've been TV-less for almost three years and I never miss it. Pretty much everything you'd want to watch is available online in one way or another...

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  7. I love seeing glimpses of this room! I also have Christmas lights up around the window in my living room, because it's just a nice extra touch on summer nights :)
    My weekend was pretty great, apart from getting caught in a crazy rainstorm on Sunday morning (and even that makes for an entertaining story).

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  8. lovely room! we haven't succumbed to a flat screen either...and guess what? our TV (about 10 yrs. old now) sits on a small bookshelf filled with movies and our DVD + VCR players, and is actually in our living room coat CLOSET. the doors slide open and the coats hang all around it, but hey, then i just slide it shut and hide it all when company's over! it's fabulous! people just assume we don't have one and my kids don't know any better! we're not very big TV people either, and i think we're better for it - there are better things to do! props to you and your creativity. there's tons of fun to be had without a TV. :)

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  9. I love this room, it's so cheerful! We had our old little box tv forever too. Last year it finally broke and my in laws bought us a flat screen as a gift, it's not too big so it's not a real focal point which I love! But mainly, we use it for family movie nights :)

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  10. The chalkboard canvas is amazing. I am totally going to do that. I got chalk board spray paint and have been looking for something to turn into a chalkboard for a while now. A canvas is so simply perfect!

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  11. I wish we didn't have any tv's... I would choose to read more. One of my old boyfriends didn't have a tv in their home and the found all kinds of interesting things to do instead. But if you get one, I totally agree... I like them hidden.

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  12. We attended a wedding too! i love weddings :)

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  13. We had a birthday party for my now 4 year old this weekend. I made the a-frame tent using your tutorial! See pictures of it here: http://mamabeefromthehive.blogspot.com/2011/05/camp-out-party.html

    Thanks for the great idea! Beth

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  14. wow you guys have such a lovely home:)!!! Who needs a television anyways^^? I'm glad I barely watch tv to be honest:) Altho I still like watchin shows on the internet so it's not like I dont watch anything anymore:D!!
    my weekend was goooood:) had a good time at a bbq and partying with friends and my boyfriend:) Have a good week!
    xx
    camouflÄsh

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  15. Your eye for interior decor is so inspiring. I love how bright and cheery your home is.

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  16. Congrats! You're going to love not having a tv. I've lived without for 26 years (minus about a 2-month stint when a roomate had one and I watched Losing it with Jillian once). I'm sure you can find something a lot more wonderful to put there!

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  17. My hubby says our TV is 3D - because it goes back to the wall - the good old fashion one like yours that takes up too much room. But it won't go until it dies.

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  18. Same! Our old box tv had been dead for a while (but still could be used for dvds) and I was totally happy to be tv-less.But recently the Mr felt that it was time for a flat screen. Sigh. And you know what? Guess who's watching all the trashy shows again now that's she's adjusted to all that hi def clarity? Hmm.

    p.s cute family room :)

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  19. Did you make the paper-chain across the mirror? Would LOVE to know how to do that!!
    Beautiful living space! :-D

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  20. My (not so) trusty laptop went kaputz! I moaned about it for 2 days before using it as the perfect excuse to buy a Mac. Heh.

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  21. della-nonna- i didn't make the garland. it is a vintage one that i bought on etsy awhile ago. i love the faded paper coloring!

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