Aloha New Living Room!

Aloha! It's been 8 months since I moved into the house on Tyndall Air Force base and I finallllly have the Living Room looking decent enough to share some photos! I was going for a Hawaiian type of look. We were ready for a change.....and John basically begged me to get rid of the pastel pink and lavender shabby chic look I had going on in the previous house! It seemed like a fair request so now our main living space is a gender neutral Hawaiian theme we both love.
I know you're probably thinking that a Hawaiian look should have tons of aqua and turquoise and ocean blue. But I was really more inspired by the warmth and the lush tropical rain forests of Hawaii so I chose lots of greens and browns and oranges. I used 8 different fabrics (most of them are from the Meadowsweet Collection by Sandi Henderson for Michael Miller) and made tons of squishy pillows. I decided to make simple knife edge pillows because I had so many different prints and vibrant colors that I didn't think the pillows needed extra borders or piping or fancy trims. O.K.......seriously.......even I can't say that with a straight face. The REAL reason I made simple knife edge pillows is that they're quick and easy and I wanted to get this project done fast.
And those paddles aren't just props for our Hawaiian theme. John is a huge water sports guy and he got me into Stand Up Paddleboarding. I'm actually getting pretty good at it and I haven't fallen on my face YET. That's a pretty impressive feat for someone who's so clumsy. And that pink floral paddle in the front is my brand new, very own paddle! Don't you love it?!
Ohhh......you can just barely see our new vintage travel prints hanging on the wall of the dining room behind the sofa. I scoured the internet looking for the perfect prints to pull this look together and I think I succeeded.
And this is my big cushy chair and a half where most of my hand sewing occurs. I live in, on or around this chair in the evenings and on weekends. There's only one little "piece" of my living room that's not quite done yet......
Of course the new living room needs a quilt! This will be the final piece that will make this room perfect and homey. I'm still cutting out the pieces for the quilt and hopefully I'll have this done sometime in the next few weeks. It's just going to be a quilt of simple squares with simple borders sewn together in simple rows. The decision to make a simple quilt REALLY was based on the fact that I have so many vibrant colors and prints! I sooooo can't wait to see how my quilt turns out!

I'm off to go cut more squares and strips for my quilt!

Aloha and Happy Sewing,
Jenny

P.S. Since everyone always seems to ask about wall colors when someone does a decorating blog post, I'll just tell ya - It's Ambitious Amber by Sherwin Williams. But if I had my way I would re-name the color Golden Retriever Fur because that's exactly what it looks like - warm and golden and happy all over!