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!

Linking up at:

Hating Martha – Bloggy Olympics!
Chic on a Shoestring Decorating
Five days 5 Ways
Between Naps on the Porch
Our Delightful Home
Not JUST A Housewife
House of Hepworths

Victory

We had 2 major goals for the start of the new year. #1 Potty Training our youngest & #2 Eating cleaner.

January has been a busy month in our household but most importantly a triumphant one. Our LONG & EPIC battle potty training our little man is over. He is officially potty trained & wearing his big boy underwear proudly! Our youngest is 4 and we’ve been struggling well over a year with getting him potty trained. That was one roller coaster ride I was dying to get off. Special thanks to our pediatrician who helped keep me sane and assured me that when he was ‘ready’ he would let us know.

And she was right.

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Filling in the Gaps

I recently revealed my Drab to Fab with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint makeover on my dining room table and chairs. The room itself has come a LOOOONG way from the desolate hole it once was and I’m so pleased with the way the room has really come to shape. BUT like decorating a Christmas tree everything is all fine and dandy when you’re in the thick of it. Take a few steps back and you begin to see all these gaps that you frantically try to plug up with ornaments. Well after stepping back and mulling around in this room for a few days I realized this corner needs something STAT.

Now that I’m on the ASCP bandwagon I can’t wait to paint another piece of furniture, experiment with distressing and get my hands on some of that dark wax but finding something special for this room is going to take time. I want it to be perfect. And I’ll know it when I see it. So for now I’ve decided to shop around the house for things to help fill this space.

First I needed something to hang. I grabbed the chargers I purchased at Target last week ($1.99 each), marked out the wall for spacing and hung them up.

How did I hang them you ask? Well I could have popped out and purchased those adhesive plate hangers but it was cold and I really didn’t want to spend any money doing this so I decided to use a little tip I found perusing Apartment Therapy (slightly modified of course).

A few Red Bull can tabs and some hot glue. Although this photo doesn’t show it; I hot glued the entire bottom part of the tab. A big ol’ globbity-glob of glue.

I grabbed our small entryway table and a few Pinterest projects I completed this past month.

I { heart } the tomato cage tree to pieces. It was easy and inexpensive (free). Everyone who has seen it is in awe that 1. I made it and 2. they can make one. It’s just that easy.

Wine bottle spray painted white with a hanging Dollar Tree ornament to make it a tad more festive. And see poor old Santa with Polar Bear sleigh? That is the first Christmas decoration I ever purchased. I can’t part with him even though he’s falling apart and apparently Santa parked in the bad part of town because someone swiped his wheels.

The room feels so much warmer now and I have this incredible urge to paint that table now that it’s in this room but I won’t because this is it’s temporary home for now. And now back to craigslist for that perfect antique piece.

Thanks for visiting and