Sad, schlumpy little old sofa!

It's patina!

Such a nice room, especially with the kitties.

What a great space to cuddle up with a good book. As well as a cat or two, of course.

I love your shelves. Did you build them? I might be remembering a thread about designing them?

I love your house. The sofa looks great for lounging. We have a leather chair that is well loved and so comfy. We can’t get rid of because it is owned by our 140 dog and sometimes he shares with the cats. Once in a while he even lets us sit in it!

Hmmm, yes...I’m now looking at our second floor den/tv room and contemplating a wall of built-ins...this place is dangerous.

It looks good, Ocotillo. This place is very dangerous.

Dangerous indeed! But now I'm all stretched out on the LIBRARY sofa and it was well worth the effort. (Except for how the media room looks now. Oh well, that's DH's domain and his favorite chairs remain front and center to the TV so he doesn't mind.) I should've done this long ago. I'm going to be spending more time in this space now. In a prone position, of course.

Oh, Daisy, we had the bookcases built in a few years ago. Hired a couple of lovely young men to do it, and were quite pleased with the outcome.

Nothing is perfect in this room though. I kinda have to love it all the more for that very reason. Also, the cats are super excited to have a new furniture setup from which to launch themselves airborne. Yay. 🙄

It looks wonderful! Inviting, cozy and comfortable. Big congrats!

Wow! That is so just what Lynn said!!! Is this really a living room (fireplace) that you're using differently or an additional room with a fireplace? I would live in there.....so inviting & I love the table too!

You’ve achieved the golden trifecta — Books, cats and old comfy furniture. Very nice!

Thank you so much for the kind words!

Lizzie, this was actually called a game room by the builder, presumably intended for a pool table, but we wanted a space without TV for reading and turned it into a library. The fireplace is just an electric heater with surround, probably considered cheesy by some, but it throws some nice heat that adds to the coziness. I do wish the room had doors that could be used to really close it off, but that would entail having the arched entry reconfigured and we don't have an interest in that. Anyway, it serves our purpose well enough as it is. It's a good little getaway room.

If the sofa is comfortable I would not even have it repaired. The worn aspect is very endearing.

It's extremely comfy. We had it in the living room of our previous home for many years and I'd forgotten how easy it is for me to lie down and fall right asleep on it, but I revisited that aspect a while ago. 😁 I just added some Gorilla tape to the side where it's coming apart at the seam, so as not to have it completely spill its guts (don't want our new kitten to have any extra incentive), but don't at all mind the lumpy and misshapen form it's taken on. I know how it feels.

This chair! LOL! Now I don't feel so bad!

Your room looks so cozy and the couch is perfect for a library.

I especially like how you’ve arranged your bookshelves . As for the imperfect sofa, well, he, you know perfectly well that's what yummy throws are made for. Hmm isn’t there Welsh one in your future?

Purrrfect!

That is some serious slice of heaven. Congrats! The arched entry is beautiful and I wouldn't want to reconfigure it for a door either. But if you do need to close off the library for more quiet, perhaps some sort of moveable screen with "sound-dampening or proofing" materials? Just a thought. I'm sure there are a few ways to finagle a solution. In any case, you've created yourself a pretty nifty cocoon with this room. Enjoy! (Your built-ins have me revisiting thoughts of gussying up my Billy bookcases. :P)

What a great idea! All you need now is a beautiful welsh blanket for that sofa (wink, wink).

Love this room and the sofa is a great addition! I second teeda's recommendation for a welsh blanket ;)

Absolutely scrumptious! I would never leave that room. It is so warm and inviting. I can not imagine changing one single thing about it. You have a good eye and great taste and I love all of the furniture, placement and those bookcases are gorgeous!

Oh gosh, I really like your room. That leather sofa, great.

My library furniture is late 1920s, early 30s. mohair. You can imagine after all that time the shape they are in. But the bones are solid, still have upholstery plans in the future but weighing the expense. I've had it in my home since around 1990.

Yes, throws are my go-to. ha And Elmers glue on splitting seams. Just recently I stitched together a long tear on the back cushion of the sofa with needle and thread. Good enough for now. Esp. these days, who's going to visit and see?

I've determined that I need something small and low next to the sofa, and brought out what is (I think) a printer cart to place my drink on. This is a cheap piece of particle board junkola, and while it actually serves the purpose perfectly size-wise (and nice because it easily rolls out of the way), can you think of anything that might work and be aesthetically pleasing instead? There isn't really room for a coffee table, and I'd like something that's narrow enough not to have two legs up on the rug. Must be stable as well. Ideas are welcomed!

It works? Size-wise and function-wise? Cover it if you don't like the look of it. Fabric, paper, paint... ! You have a such a great eye; I'm sure you'll have a blast finding a new pattern or colour that will make you smile.

Not sure if this has been mentioned but should you decide to buy a new sofa I was told that cats don’t scratch velvet and velvet like fabric. Might be worth pursuing.

Tartan, I was just thinking ... maybe I throw a Navajo rug over it and call it good!

Thanks, Anna. I'd love a velvet sofa. They are so scrumptious! Maybe someday.

Totally, Ocotillo. Whatever works for you and your space. The beauty of junkola is its lack of value. It can easily be customized inexpensively with few qualms of "ruining" it. :)

I love the new look in your room! Very cozy. :)

It looks so warm and inviting!

Thanks y'all!

Maybe I will just use the junkola cart. I topped it with this piece I picked up at a Gallup, NM flea market for now, which was crocheted by an elderly Navajo lady. It's ok. I tend to think in terms of "this works fine, but it's not 'normal', so I must look for something better", and really, that's kinda silly.

I was told that cats don’t scratch velvet and velvet like fabric.

Anna, that's very interesting. I have a 15-year-old club chair and ottoman (inexpensive Cost Plus) that's upholstered in velvet/velour. I'm not sure of the dividing line between the two fabrics. It was a hand-me-down from my daughter whose two cats left it alone. My two cats were initially interested in the front edges but I applied Sticky Paws tape and that seemed to cure them. It's the cats' favorite afternoon spot (sunny) and it looks virtually new.

I have small ottomans in my room that I can use as tables if a tray is placed on top of them.

Won't lie, Ocotillo, your particle board cart would be a "project" for me. ;-) I'm not particularly crafty but I'd be falling into the Society 6 rabbit hole searching for gift wrapping paper to mod podge it...

Particle board can also be painted.

In any case, you're absolutely right about "normal" being a silly way to define what suits our interiors.

I don't think I've ever used Mod Podge but am intrigued. Sounds like it'd be pretty easy for this application, no?

I went down yet another rabbit hole today searching for prints or photos to hang above the window. I decided I want to move the deer skull and hang a series of things above the window, to sort of add to the feeling of the room being "collected and cozy". I settled on a series of 12 original wildlife photos found on Ebay, and am eager to see what all is included here as the seller only posted a few examples. Of course I can't hang all 12, but it'll be fun to choose my favorites and frame them up. Here's a few in the series ... and yes, I adore owls.

Will hang however many will suitably fit above this window, and probably move the skull over the artwork above the desk. It'll be a "full" look, but why not.

I love your room! So cozy and comfortable, cat scratches and all. The eBay prints are perfect!

Beautiful, cozy room. Absolutely love the bookcases. You have created a wonderful place to relax.

I like the cart. If it were me, I would just paint it a darker color. ai think thr fabric on top looks great!!

Thanks so much for the very kind words!

This is a sad little mockup that sort of shows my vision for the wildlife prints. However, this only works for 5 of them, and I'll have 12 total ... I suppose I could hang them elsewhere, all together in a grid. Not sure though. Anyway, for now, this is where I'm leaning on putting a few of them.

Love your library...makes me want one too. The lighting, wall decor, bookshelves, variety of furniture all come together to say "sit and stay awhile".

Cats are so weird. I've never had one interested in leather. For a while we could only have leather upholstery and hooked rugs.

The cart is too useful to not use. Crochet on top is very good. Paint it, decoupage it, or...veneer it!

This is a bad thread. Makes me want to move my library wall (not built-in because I can't commit) over one room to be by the fireplace. The kid currently using that room as a classroom would be most annoyed.