Living Room Progress…Finally

I have been working on our living room on and off for ages now. It’s been a slow and semi-painful process because 1) I’m still learning the ins and outs of home decor, 2) I had zero to little furniture in this room and 3) funds. I really wanted to stay true to my promise to either thrift and/or DIY the things I needed for this room. And if I couldn’t do that I would only shop super sales and clearances. I’m pretty proud to say that I stuck to my plan and despite the ‘semi painful‘ comment I made above; I’m having fun decorating and re-decorating this space. Yes, I’m constantly changing things around because I’m not sure I’ve quite nailed down my style yet.

Let me apologize now for the awful before pics. These were taken before I started learning how to shoot in manual mode. OK enough of the jibber-jabber lets see some horrid before images shall we?

While the wall color looks greenish in this pic it was more of a mustard yellow.

Our living room is pretty small; long and narrow, so I’m posting all the angles so you can get a feel for the room.

Hello fugly, tired furniture.

Now, lets get to some ‘after’ photos where the color palette is a tad more ‘colorful’ and the photos a tad brighter!

Here’s the left side of our living room sans large mirror on the wall. I’m repainting it and due to yucky weather I have yet to finish it.

Goodbye mustard yellow walls…Hello Ashen! The pillows on the left were purchased on clearance from West Elm and the pillow on the right is made from napkins also purchased on clearance from West Elm. I’m not very handy with a sewing machine so I had my mom make them and had her add the white ribbon around the pillow. The rug is and indoor/outdoor rug purchased for $70 at Christmas Tree Shop. It is SO easy to keep clean! I’m ignoring the turquoise side table for now because you’re seeing it uncompleted. Pretend it’s not there that’s for a future post and Event 3 of the Bloggy Olympics!

And because I said I’m constantly changing things around…here’s another shot of the left side with different colored lamps.

I’m trying really hard not to be too matchy-matchy but I have yet to find lighting that I like for this room.

Notice a trend here? My little man loves to be in my photos. On the back wall is my DIY Canvas Art and the window treatments are made from drop cloths, thank you Pinterest.

The right side of the room leads to the front door/entry way. The orange chair and ottoman used to be in our bedroom but has made a new home for itself in our living room to offer more seating. My little green console table fits nicely in the odd little nook. Don’t ask me why or what the home builders were thinking when they planned that side of the room. Thanks for taking away 4 feet of space!

The media stand was purchased on clearance for $90. I loved it the minute I saw it and thought it was a steal for that price. The shelf above the TV is from Ikea (Lack Series). When we first put this shelf up we did not hit ANY studs….not one. We had to get a little creative and drilled our own holes into the metal bracket that came with the shelf allowing us to hit 4 studs and securing that sucker nicely. The items on the shelf were either taken from another room in the house, thrifted or DIY’d.

So there you have it, my work-in-progress living room. In the not too distant future I hope to get rid of sofa/loveseat recliners from hell. They’re comfy but man I don’t know what I was thinking when I gave my hubby the thumbs up to buy these.

*Edit*
I totally forgot to mention the Bloggy Olympics being held at Hating Martha! If you don’t know what it’s about head on over to get the deets!

Here’s a quick look at the schedule of events!