[Updated on July 15, 2020] I know, I know! 42 Things in Your Living Room, Family Room, and/or Great Room is an exceedingly long title! But it didn’t seem right to create three separate lists for these three separate types of rooms because, well, they are so similar. So, if by chance you have all three of these rooms in your home, you’ll need to create the list three times.
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What the heck am I talking about? If you are new to my blog, welcome! For several years now, I have been creating what I call my “lists of 42.” These lists of 42 are lists of different things in and around a home for household inventory purposes grouped together to total 42 in each space. Why 42? To “brand” the “4 Two” in the name of my blog, of course!
These lists are, primarily, to help people who have lost their homes in a catastrophic event like a fire, flood, hurricane, or tornado. If you’ve suffered such a loss, my heart goes out to you. Dealing with a catastrophic loss is life-changing and overwhelming. I know because it happened to us. I’ve written a series of posts on this blog telling our story, which you can find starting with this first one: Any Way the Wind Blows.
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Getting back to creating this list three times, if you have a living room, family room, AND a great room in your house, you will need to include each room’s contents on your insurance claim submission. In my house, I have one such room. I have a great room combined with my kitchen. We do have a separate living room, but it is a much smaller space more like a sitting room. When we had the opportunity to choose a new floor plan, after our house burned to the ground in the 2007 Southern California wildfire known as the Witch Fire, we decided we’d rather have the one large room to include the kitchen because I wanted everyone to be together at family events and parties.
You see, in our old house that we lost in the fire, we had a separate kitchen, a separate dining room, and a separate living/family room that were separated by walls, doors, and hallways. Too much separation, in my opinion. So, when I was in the kitchen cooking (which was often), I was always isolated from the activity that was happening in the rest of the house.
Plus, when we had a party or a family gathering, all the women were in my small kitchen and all the men were in the large living room watching TV. Now, this really isn’t a problem for most, but in my family, we have mostly women and very few men! So, the women were in the small kitchen getting in each other’s way and the men were in the large living room yucking it up and screaming at the sports events happening on the TV.
Well, I’ve solved that by having this one large room and when we have family events and parties, chaos rules! But, its wonderful chaos, warm-fuzzy chaos, happy chaos, and I’m a part of all of it!
It took us 9 months of working nights and weekends on our whole house inventory list that was a requirement for settling our personal property insurance claim with our homeowner’s insurance carrier. If I can help lessen someone else’s burden by creating these lists that are always available on our website, then I’m happy to help in this small way.
By the way, here are a few pinnable images that I’ve created for Pinterest. Please take a moment and pin them to your Pinterest boards. That way you don’t have to stop what you are doing to review this list but can come back over and over again as you work on building your household inventory list.
Love the painting in the photo above? It’s called Blue Tango. I’ll explain more about it and the others in a shameless plug later below in this post.
This Pinterest pin showcases nine different and beautiful living rooms to inspire you in your redecorating efforts. When we were furnishing our newly rebuilt home, I was completely overwhelmed by the idea of starting from scratch. It was before Pinterest (we moved into our new home in December 2008) and how I wish, in hindsight, that Pinterest had been around!
The painting over the brown leather sofa above is called Solar Flare. Full of vibrancy, don’t you think?
So, here’s the shameless plug: my dad, who died in 2013, was a fabulous artist (I miss him every day; he was a great dad). He created many works of art throughout his lifetime – both paintings and sculptures. I rounded up several of his paintings, had them photographed, and now offer reproductions for sale on Great Big Canvas. My way of sharing his genius with the world.
I chose Great Big Canvas because I love the various options they have available. Not only can you order canvas prints in various sizes, but you can choose various framing options. They are beautifully packaged and shipped and they come complete with the hanging hardware including a mini level – so cute! I know all this because, unfortunately, I do not own all of my father’s original paintings. I had to share his work (darn it!) with my siblings and other relatives and not hoard it all for myself. But, once I was able to get this going with Great Big Canvas, I ordered several of the ones I don’t own and they now hang in my home alongside several of the originals. And, unless I point out to visitors that some are reproductions, they don’t even realize it!
Anyway, the paintings in the beautiful living rooms in the three Pinterest images above are some of his paintings. Below are a few more of his paintings in beautiful, modern living rooms for design inspiration whether starting from scratch again, remodeling, or updating, with a link to them on Great Big Canvas should you want to check them out:
I named this painting by my father, Chuck, Emerald City. When I was a little girl, it always made me think of the Yellow Brick Road and the Emerald City in the Wizard of Oz. Love the yellow sofa? Check out these yellow sofas for more inspiration.
My dad didn’t name most of his paintings. He didn’t want the viewer to have a preconceived notion of what he was trying to convey in his art. But, he did name this painting – Homage to Rothko. Love this purple sofa? Check out these purple sofas for inspiration.
This painting in the gorgeous all white living room above is called Wild Blue Yonder. Want to recreate the look? Check out these white sofas for inspiration.
Looking for more drama in your living room? How about textured black walls, floor, and furniture? The pops of color from the throw pillows along with my dad’s painting called Blue Flash make for one extraordinary room.
Is the modern industrial look more your vibe? The painting, Aqua Daze, parks between two dramatic windows in this high-rise space, and it is complemented with an industrial-looking floor lamp.
I’ll stop here and leave more paintings from my father’s collection for another post!
42 Things in Your Living Room
I have some exciting news to share – I’ve taken all my 55 lists of 42, added 20 more, and wrapped them all up together in an eBook called: The Complete Book of Lists: Room-by-Room Checklists for Your Household Inventory Project! You can purchase it for $9.99 through the link (it just takes you to another section of this blog). If you are in the midst of creating your own home inventory project, The Complete Book of Lists is a great value.
Here’s the list of 42 Things in Your Living Room, Family Room, and/or Great Room for household inventory purposes:
- Sofa
- Love seat, chaise
- Chairs, recliners
- Ottoman and/or footstool
- Coffee table, sofa table
- End tables, occasional tables
- Decorative pillows, floor pillows
- Sofa blankets
- Television
- Media cabinet
- Bookshelf, decorative ledges
- CD player / DVD player
- Cable box, satellite receiver
- AM & FM receiver
- Surround sound system & speakers
- Floor lamps, table lamps, wall sconces
- Drapes,curtains, valances, curtain rods
- Window blinds, window shades, window shutters
- Telephone
- Books, bookends
- CDs and DVDs
- Plants and plant containers
- Fireplace screens & fireplace tools
- Paintings,prints, posters, photos
- Decorative objects & knick-knacks
- Magazines, magazine rack,basket
- Rugs, carpet pad
- Desk and chair
- Ceiling fan, overhead lighting
- Light bulbs
- Extension cords, surge protectors
- Wall clock, table clock
- Candles, candleholders, lanterns
- Mirror (standing or hanging)
- Trunks, baskets, boxes
- Game table and chairs
- Games, puzzles, toys
- Armoire, étagère, display cabinet
- Coat rack, hall tree
- Screen, room divider
- Computer monitor and hard drive
- Dog bed, cat bed or cat tree
This is my cat, Coco. He’s giving me the “evil eye” because I am taking his picture, yet again. He’s in our living room on one of our chairs. He hates it when I stick my camera in his face and works hard to ignore me or worse yet, closes his eyes right when I click the shutter. So, guess what? He’s closed his eyes now and is ignoring me – happy and secure in one of his favorite places! No more cute photos of Coco today! But, for a Coco overload, visit Meet Coco!
Don’t forget to sign up to receive my newsletter in your inbox. As a thank you, I’ll send you a freebie! Look for the sign-up boxes near the top of this post and again at the bottom of this post. Thanks so much!
Tootles,
Related Posts from Toot Sweet 4 Two’s Archives
42 Things in Your Master Bedroom
42 Things in Your Master Bathroom
42 Things in Your Master Bedroom Closet
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