The Living Room Take over

Charlotte is slowly taking over our living room! We wanted to add a space for her stuff but also still wanted it to be an adult room since we spend A LOT of time in that room as well.

We decided to add a small bookshelf next to the bar. We picked one up at Target for around $50 and anchored it to the wall. The shelves store some of Charlotte's toys and books. We made the top of the bookshelf into a "docking station" for us.

The shelves above the new bookshelf have been there for a bit. They were also a Target find. They two shelves came with 2 5X7 frames to match. The framed print was our anniversary gift this year and I am kind of obsessed with it! It is one of the "What a difference a day makes" prints that you see all over Pinterest BUT I found one Etsy shop that printed on burlap. I had her customize it to fit a few extra dates but I LOVE it. 

Another major change in the living room was the addition of a gate. I do not understand why babygates are SO ugly! I mean honestly, they are either gray plastic or made of mesh! We had a large opening which narrowed our options even more. We wanted to be able to block off the opening into the living room and keep Charlotte off the tile. The opening use to be a sliding glass door so it is LARGE. After scouring the internet and coming up with nothing I liked, we decided to make our own. Other than coming up with the idea, I was not AT ALL involved in this project. My dad and time spent around $60 on supplies at Lowe's and set to work. They used wood and PVC pipe to construct three panels: two to be mounted and the other to act as the gate. We coated everything with Oil rubbed bronze spray paint and let it dry for a few days before installing. We used a simple latch for the gate and secured it to both walls. SO much better that the mesh gates!