THE BEGINNINGS OF A FARMHOUSE STYLE LIVING ROOM...

So the first thing you see when you step inside the front door of our new house is......no surprise....the living room...

It's not huge, but I love it.  Even though there is only one window (and a beautiful window it is, though most would say it's outdated) there is plenty of natural light.

I decided I wanted to go SIMPLE in this room...well the whole house really.... 

I want bright, casual, easy and comfortable....no fuss and no frills, with no real colors to speak of or worry about.  I want a clean palette that takes care of itself with no hard and horrible decisions to make when it comes to choosing paint colors, finishes and fixtures.

I decided on a simple black and white modern farmhouse style.

I was fortunate that the wonderful couple who purchased our little vintage house wanted our existing living room and dining room furniture and all the decorations with the house.  It gave me the opportunity to buy new furniture and decor for this house.  YAY ME!!!!!

I decided on a gorgeous white entertainment cabinet and a super comfortable black leather sofa and loveseat to fill the room (I think I chose black furniture this time because of all the guff the hubs gave me over the white slipcovered Ikea Ektorp I had...:)).  He hated that thing, thought I was REALLLLLLY stupid for buying a white sofa with kids....and reminded me of how dumb he thought I was daily.  On the days I had to wash the covers he really gave me grief, but I digress...hehehe.

Anyway....

(I guess I could've at least picked up the dog's toy before taking the picture, huh....doh stupid me.  hehehe.)

The black recliner was a freebie and I painted my old drum table white and put it in the corner.

The big ottoman and little clock table next to the recliner were flea market finds at REALLY good prices.

Well I think you can clearly see who the queen of the house is...

Yes she's my girl and she is spoiled ROTTEN.  She surely rules the roost around here. 

I found the gorgeous (yet somewhat humorous) highland cow print at the furniture store and just couldn't pass it up....if anything says farmhouse....that's it!!!

AND...last but not least...I found the black and white cowhide online at Cowhides Direct and it was larger and cheaper than even Ikea's hide rugs.  If you want a cowhide...a real cowhide..at incredible prices...check them out!!!!!

I think it really grounds the space and finishes it off nicely.  Don't you?'

With the exception of getting a few more accessories and a new light fixture in here, all I have to do is paint...oh yes, this room NEEEEEEDS paint.  Hopefully that will happen once the weather turns from Winter to Spring for good.  I'm going with a crisp, clean and slightly warm white...Alabaster by Sherwin Williams.

I'm not going to do any kind of shiplap or other wall treatment like everyone else is doing.  That's just more tedious and more work than I want to go through at this point.  Besides, it's trendy and would do too much damage to the existing drywall when and if I decided to remove it in the future....AND, I believe I can achieve  the modern farmhouse look without all that.

 What do you think?