You know what it’s like to have something in your house that bothers you and you could easily fix it, but it’s not an emergency, so either due to time, budget, laziness or a combination of these things, you just keep living with that one thing that makes you unhappy? Yeah, I know that feeling well. It’s those little things that can really irk you over time, but if you just fix them, it’s those little things that can make you really happy in the end. I wrote about this a couple of years ago when I made several minor changes, which you can read about here. I don’t do New Year’s resolutions, but I do think that I need to stop letting so many little things go, so I’ve tackled a few more.

First stop is in our living room. The living room has basically stayed the same for the past few years, and you can catch up on all things living room here. But Daniel finally got a brand new oversized television that he’s wanted for a couple of years and that spurred me into action. There had been two decor decisions in the living room that had been bothering me and I decided it was finally time to make a change.

The first is the floor lamp tucked in the corner. We didn’t have a floor lamp when we moved in and this room doesn’t have any hardwired lighting so my parents gave us a lamp they’ve had since before they even had me, I think. It provided great light but it was clearly of an era and wasn’t doing this room any favors in terms of design. I spray painted it in chrome to give it a certain je ne sais quoi. It was a horrible spray paint job and didn’t make the lamp any more fantastic, but we just lived with it because it wasn’t any emergency. Besides, I wanted to find the perfect light.

What I wanted was a light that makes a statement since that back wall is the first thing you see when you come down the stairs or turn into that room. I thought a hanging light would be good as long as it was plug in since we weren’t going to hire an electrician to wire in electricity for this. I kept my eye out online and at various stores, including thrift and vintage, over a couple of years but nothing really excited me. Right before Christmas, I decided to give it one last try before the new year and found this beautiful, milk glass pendant light at vintage shop Furnish Green. (It’s a great spot for any of you in or near New York City.) And finally, we had our light. Because of the milk glass, I knew it would provide the right kind of diffused light that could be hung high enough so it wouldn’t be bothersome if we wanted to read or watch TV. The chain makes a statement and the glass is large enough that it looks like it’s part of that collage of artwork in the corner.

The curtains in here had been bothering me. I ordered the fabric online and we loved the color and pattern, but I went cheap and didn’t order enough fabric, plus we went budget on the curtain rod and hook, and it just never looked right, in my opinion. In addition, I go back and forth on whether I like a curtain for a single window. I wanted to get rid of these for so long but Daniel did not agree. He loved the colors and pattern and liked that we saw that vibrancy as soon as you walked into the room or came down the stairs. But this had been bothering me so I found a compromise. I got these roman shades in blackout (for TV watching) and folded and hung the existing curtain in such a way that they cover the roman shades when they’re all the way up and the color and pattern of the fabric is there all the time.

And now for something truly stupid. See this?

When we did the beautility room renovation, we switched the washing machine and dryer spots. The dryer used to be on the right, so opening the door to the right made sense. Then we switched the order but didn’t switch the dryer door swing. Instead, I bent over that stupid dryer door the last two months of my pregnancy and a whole year even after that to put and take out clothes from the dryer. Ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous. Well, enough of letting that little thing bother me and snowball into a bigger thing! I fixed it and now the dryer door has the correct swing. Ta da!

Cheers to the little things and I hope this inspires you to take care of those little things in your own home!