Adding Contrast to our Living Room

I've recently shared our dining room, where you caught a glimpse of our living room, but there are already a few small changes so I thought I'd do a room tour to share. As I've fine tuned my style over the years I've found myself more and more drawn to contrast, neutrals, and natural materials such as wood, rocks and shells, linens, etc. Now, I love change and I love decor which can be an expensive and materialistic combination.  I think there's something to be said for "good enough" and not always trying to change your space for the sake of newer and better (see this excellent article on the subject), but I also think changing things up at home are one way I use my creativity and as long as it's done economically and in a meaningful way, I'm OK with the frequency I tweak our space. As you'll see, these changes were all very meaningful and most were very affordable (or free).

I love how the little black pieces add pops of interest in the room. I used to have pops of colour for that purpose but as I've leaned more and more to neutrals in recent years I like how black does the same thing in our mostly grey and white space. 

The first change was adding the black cushion to our Eames-style accent chair. Before we had the white cushion with small black details (now on the couch, contrasting against our grey couch), but I love how the black one shines against the white chair. I was gifted this pillow as a set of four cushion covers from Valiant Home which sells for $40 on Amazon. All of the cushions in the set are minimal and neutral but I think the black is my favourite. 

The next change is on our floating shelves. As you have probably read, we love getting meaningful souvenirs when we travel. The Face is a famous archaeological find from the Greek Islands and you'll find replicas of it everywhere in Greece, so when I saw this small black one at a shop on the beach in Klima (our town on Milos, our favourite Greek Island) I knew it would be the perfect souvenir. It was around $10 and handmade in Greece. The hourglass was a fun discovery as we were walking around on Milos one afternoon during siesta time and everything was closed except this sand museum. It was the coolest thing! There was sand from literally everywhere in the world, and our guide explained to us how black sand is magnetic. When we found the hourglasses for sale we both thought it was a really beautiful piece to bring home. It sealed the deal knowing that the black sand within was from Klima, our little beach! 

The stack of Bibles on our fireplace mantle are so beautiful and so special to me. They're from Bibliotheca, a new print company who aims to make God's word easier to read. Bibliotheca hasn't changed the text of the Bible at all, but has redesigned the text, font, magrins, and paper to give the experience of a true book. Typically, Bibles have small font, extremely thin pages, and each page is in two columns. This saves space and makes reprinting affordable, but as a book lover I have to say it doesn't contribute to readability. This set isn't a cheap purchase, but I foresee us keeping it for a lifetime, and you really are paying for quality. The Biblitheca books also divide the Bible into literary genres and eliminate verses and chapter numbers, so it truly feels like reading any book. As an avid reader, I was amazed at how much more of God's word I read when it was presented to me in this style! The books are also stunning and incredibly well made. Definitely take a look at Bibliotheca's Bible set, especially if you find yourself loving to read but struggling to find time in the Word. 

The black floral print is a favourite from Juniper Print Shop and I love how it looks against the white frame and pale grey walls. It's not new but felt appropriate to add in a post about black accents! On either side we have small vessels of shells, sea glass, and driftwood that we've collected over the years from the beaches of PEI, Iceland, and Okinawa. They're all so different and beautiful and we love looking through them regularly. Those little treasures are the best that cost nothing and bring memories and character to a room I think!

This post was in collaboration with Biblioteca and Valiant Home.

Those products were gifted to me and I truly love them! 

To book a collaboration, please contact me.