living room and, driftwood?

I should probably admit I've been putting off sharing the full view of the living room because I'm still not even close to being in love with it, but I'm slowly on my way. Remember when the living room looked like this:

Just a big, blank space lacking any character at all. Well although it's not anything to "write home about", it's certainly an improvement.

Oh, what is that you see? Driftwood? Inspired by (& copied from) Holly at Life In The Fun Lane. The moment I saw that post of hers I knew I wanted to do the same thing. The problem? We live in, Ohio. Can't say I figured there'd be a ton of places nearby to search for driftwood. But, when my parents visited from Florida earlier in the summer they stayed at a beautiful campground on the Ohio River and thanks to a dad with some muscles and a supportive stepmom, I came home with driftwood to spare.

Is it too much? Honestly. I started to feel like the walls are now looking too "busy". And I'm not one for a "cluttered" space. So the Ikea shelves and my recent made over bookcase looked like this before:

And after removing some "clutter":

Better, right? My only issue has been wondering if the photo shelves are too 'modern' for what I'm going for. Since a slipcovered sectional is not in the budget right now, the plan going forward is to...

• remove the white sofa
• remove the recliner (for sure!)
• repaint the buffet turned media cabinet white to match the coffee table
• move the sofa so it faces the tv
• put two slipcovered wingback chairs where the leather sofa is now
• prime, paint, and distress a side table I recently purchased to sit between the wingbacks
• and, finally get pillow covers made for the leather sofa pillows

Other than that I'm still trying to decide on what to do about those photo shelves. Leave them? Remove them and hang the driftwood there? Remove them, leave the driftwood in place and hang a vintage sailboat painting there? (More on that in an upcoming blog post. *wink) Maybe with a few baskets lined up below it filled with pillows and blankets for movie nights/snugglefests/guests to cozy up with? I'd LOVE to replace the ceiling fan with a lovely iron chandelier but Travis isn't having that. He says we "need the air to circulate since this is such a big room". Blah. :) And, the light that hangs above the entry, that can go too.

Before I end this less-than-exciting post about the 'always a work in progress' living room, I wanted to add that I've seen a few posts from fellow bloggers lately about heirlooms or things in their homes that have a special meaning and it inspired me to share a couple of mine. That conch shell you see on the bottom photo ledge? That belonged to my aunt we lost many years ago to breast cancer. Mid-thirties. Healthy. A huge heart. And, a caring soul. Taken so quickly from us. My uncle eventually remarried and understandably passed on some of the posessions he shared with my aunt to other family members. Recently my grandmother passed the conch shell to me. And it shall forever remind me not only of my love for anything ocean related, but of my love for my aunt who will always be missed. And, although the driftwood isn't something passed down to me by family, the memory of that morning near the river with my dad, stepmom, youngest brother, and Jack all walking along collecting the "prettiest" pieces while they affectionately laughed at my adventures will never be forgotten. It really is the little things in life that mean the most...