My Sister's Living Room

PORTLAND, OR I'm sure I've told you guys before that my sister and I are identical twins and as close as any two siblings could be.  Here we are at 18-months, circa 1983.  I'm sure you can do the math.  That makes us 22. Plus ten.

I'm pretty obsessed with those shoes.  What girl doesn't need a pair of double-strapped mary janes?!

Anyway, living in different cities is not easy for us.  We talk every day, but it's not enough.  We really miss each other.  And if either of us could manage the move, we'd be living next door to each other in a heartbeat.  Visiting each other is really important and we try to do so at least monthly.  But lately we've been lacking in visits and I really needed some sissy time.  So for the New Years holiday Garrett, Wilder, and I packed up and headed her way.

Today I'm going to show you the awesome living room my sissy and her husband have created in their 1926 Portland, Oregon home.  It's nice and bright and has the perfect mix of comfy furniture, antiques, and family photos.  You really have no choice but to feel at-ease in this room.

It's beautiful, right?!  I have a ton of favorites in here, but lets talk about photos, paint and flooring.  I absolutely love when a room has something personal and interesting to look at.  I mean I could stare at all those family photos for hours.  Granted sis and I are related so they're of my family, but I think I'd be equally excited if I walked into a stranger's house and saw photos like these.  I mean how great is that picture of my Granny Annie standing by the fish in Mexico (bottom left):

Okay, on to the paint.  My sis and Doug chose to go with BM's Simply White, which must mean that color preference is genetic, because it's my g0-to white as well.  I'm not sure they're sold on quite how white this room turned out (especially since their living room has 7 windows on three facades so it gets a TON of light), but I think it really helps the decor and wood pop in this room.  And speaking of wood, did you notice those droll-worthy floors.  They're not original - the house was built in 1926 and unfortunately the floors were beyond salvaging - but the new floors are oh so lovely!  Uncle Dougie's family owns a hardwood company so when it came time to install new flooring, he knew exactly what he wanted: wide-planked quarter sawn white oak (hand selected for extra medullary rays - described best as character in the wood) with old-school plugs.  Doug laid the floors himself with help from Garrett, his dad, and my dad and than had them professionally finished and plugged.  And now not even kids with tonka trucks can scratch those things.  They. Are. Amazing.

And can we just talk for a minute about the books 18-month-old Winnie is reading?  Wilder is here reading baby books and Winnie is reading the classics.  I mean talk about literate!

Okay, that was a joke.  But aren't these cloth-bound classics beautiful?!  I'd love to buy the whole collection!

So what did you guys like about my sissy's living room?  Would you dare to go this white or display so many family photos?

xoxo

-Cathy

p.s. A beautiful Apartment Therapy home tour I stumbled upon this month.  This one is pretty great too!

p.p.s. Obsessed with Emily Henderson's old Spanish home makeover.  Did you guys catch the living room?

p.p.p.s. I made this wintery dish from Joy the Baker last-night.  It was ah-mazing!