Category Archives: Living Room

Living Room Updates

Posted on April 10, 2013 | 2 Comments

I about gave Ben a heart attack last week by making several big purchases including a BOB jogging stroller, maternity pics, a loveseat and a dresser! The Craigslist gods were smiling down upon me, what can I say?! Let’s begin by taking a look back at what our living room looked like before…
I’ve never felt like we had adequate seating in our living room. This was confirmed when we had some friends over and I watched a movie sitting in our chair. Most. Uncomfortable. Chair. Ever. We’re about to have a lot of company in the next few months when our little girl is born so I was on a mission!
Enter Mr. luscious microfiber Pottery Barn loveseat. This guy was sitting outside the PB Outlet last week begging for me to take him home! I kind of love that he only has 1 arm because it opens up the room. We decided that the other arm would have raised his price about $800 in the PB world, so we’re content:)
We just moved the couch down several feet and I sold the ~~chair from Hades~~ slipper chair on CL – good riddance! Ben has deemed it “his loveseat” since he can watch TV on it without turning his head to the side like on the couch.
I’ve also been on the hunt for the perfect dresser to go under our TV for 6 months! I wanted it to be between 60-70″, have lots of storage, legs (instead of being flush with the floor) and to be dirt cheap. Every single time I found the “perfect” one on CL someone would snatch it up out from under me.
This one was listed for $50 and after sending 3 emails without hearing anything back I decided to try something different. I offered the seller $20 more for it, they magically called and we picked it up that afternoon – whew! I’m thinking it would look great with a chalk paint makeover, but right now I’m loving it as is.
Confession: every CD and DVD we own has been in stacks on our guest bed for about 3 months now – the horror! These used to be stored in the dresser that we’re using in the nursery and it’s been driving me absolutely crazy!
The BEST part about this dresser is the storage – 9 beautiful drawers! I plan on emptying our filing cabinet which is still in the nursery into a few of them and keep the bottom ones empty for toys. Also, no cords show behind this piece!
Wonder where our cute PB console table went? We moved it to the dining room even though it’s a little squished in there. I plan on using this piece behind either the couch or loveseat in our next home which HAS to be bigger. Right now we’ll pretend that it’s a fancy buffet. I do love the blue under the frame montage.

I still have a couple of small projects in mind for the living room. What do you think about the updates? Anyone else hit a Craigslist wall trying to get a particular item? Am I in full-fledged nesting mode or what?!

→ 2 Comments

Posted in Dining Room, Living Room

How To Make Your Ceilings Appear Taller

Posted on February 20, 2013 | Leave a comment

Due to Project Nursery, we’ve been moving things around quite a bit which is actually one of my favorite things to do in our home to get a free, fresh look. I wanted to highlight some of those changes that I think make a big difference!
Don’t look now, but it’s a rare photo of our master bedroom! This mirror used to sit on top of the dresser we’re using for the nursery. The space above the dresser always needed something more and I love how the mirror makes the room appear taller. I also added a few decorative items I had laying around.
Remember my first attempt at camouflaging our TV? The mossy T mirror needed a new home after we replaced the living room dresser with a bookcase, so he replaced the too-small orange subway art that used to be there.
I also found a different close-up puppy pic of Cali and added an Antique filter in iPhoto for a smooth look. It makes me want to reprint all of the framed photos in our house. I smile every time I see this pic hanging above our TV:)
I replaced the PB photo frame with my thrift store art, but still wanted this photo displayed. My talented sis-in-law took this in their backyard on a freezing cold Oklahoma morning. It’s a beautiful reminder of our adventure to come!
Last but not least, I took the plunge and convinced Ben to hang my thrift store art vertically. Love. it. It makes our 8-ft ceilings look way taller! I haven’t 100% decided on painting the frames, but I’m thinking white with gold Rub n Buff like in this post. Sounds like a fun weekend project to me!

Well y’all, I’m off to see Safe Haven with a friend. What do you think about the moving and shaking I did around our home? How do you make your ceilings appear taller? What’s your favorite photo filter?

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Bedroom, Living Room

Thrift Store Art

Posted on February 8, 2013 | 4 Comments

If you follow me on Instagram, you know I picked up a piece of thrift store art a few weeks ago. Wait, is the Habitat for Humanity Restore considered a thrift store? Who knows! What you don’t know is that my artwork had a twin which I didn’t initially get, but couldn’t stop ~~dreaming~~ thinking about.
I decided if it was still miraculously there when I went back that it was a sign. Apparently these sisters did not want to be apart:) They are hanging in our living room and I’m excited to pull the orange out of the paintings in some pillows.
As a reminder, this Pottery Barn oversized frame is what was there before. I loved this piece, but the cream mat and mahogany finish clashed with everything else in our living room. I was also just ready for a change!
It was the bamboo frames that initially drew me to these pieces. I have a thing for bamboo in case you didn’t know. I’m still debating painting them, but can’t for the life of me figure out what color would work. I’ve thought about white, gold, black??? The distressed look is kinda growing on me.
I love how the art itself is pieced together in a cool, puzzle-like texture instead of just being plain jane. See what I mean about what color the frame should be?
I should also mention that they are currently hanging on the old anchors from the PB frame. I’ve been going back and forth about whether to stack them vertically to draw your eye upward or to just off-center them more.

So… this is obviously a work in progress! Should I paint the frames? How should I hang them on the wall? Anyone else score some thrift store art?

→ 4 Comments

Posted in Living Room

Christmas Musings

Posted on December 14, 2012 | 5 Comments

It’s beginning to look at lot like Christmas at our house. First of all, I have a big blog announcement after the beginning of the year – I hope to add some spice and a new direction for this blog! Let the Christmas tour begin…
I picked up that robin egg blue plate at Homegoods. I already had the sparkly JOY letters from the $2.50 section at Target last year, so I just used a command strip to temporarily attach it. I love how the blue compliments the red Santa!
Our kitchen rooster even got a little Christmas makeover:) Have I mentioned that Ben picked out this guy for our home as a gift to me? #whoknew
Moving on to the dining room. This is identical to last year except for I added the oversized brown ornaments I picked up at Target’s after x-mas sale. Notice my ginormous shiny red purse hanging in the background? Love.
We should start calling our tree Old Faithful because it continues to look exactly the same year after year. My plan is to add like 100 more ornaments next year and I’d love to incorporate some burlap, but it just didn’t happen this year.
I did switch up our “mantel” this year since it had a burlap background from this project. I added some greenery at the top and opted for that snowflake rather than a pic. The colors remind me of Katy Perry’s last tour.
Last but not least, I was super excited to pull out my star ornament candle toppers which make me happy. Well, that’s our little version of Christmas.

Anyone want to venture a guess about my new blog direction? What’s your favorite thing to get out of the attic for Christmas (a good friend of mine adores her mini snowman nativity scene:)? Who else is done with their x-mas shopping?

→ 5 Comments

Posted in Dining Room, Kitchen, Living Room

TV Layering

Posted on November 5, 2012 | 6 Comments

Apparently I love fall so much that I decided to take the entire month of October off from blogging:) I’m back with a simple, fun project! Anyone else feel like your flat screen tv is taking over your living room instead of blending in? Me too!
This was what our tv looked like before just kinda hanging around and sticking out like a sore thumb. You can tell this pic was from awhile back because of the old dining set and lack of frame wall in the dining room.
Then I came across this inspiration pic with the ingenious idea of laying BEHIND your flat screen. Why didn’t I think of that? I was a little nervous that this appeared to be a 32″ and ours is a 42″, but I was ready to give it a go!
I went to HomeGoods (we finally got one in Memphis) and picked up a couple of frames and some inspirational art in complementary colors. I also added that tall white vase (one of my favorite x-mas presents from my MIL).
Now for the close-ups. I decided to put one of our favorite pics from our recent Mexico vaca in this one. I haven’t 100% committed to this pic – I think Ben is embarrassed that we’re in our swimmies:) It works for now.
Cue the “awwws”. There is nothing cuter than a golden retriever puppy so I couldn’t resist putting one of Cali’s puppy pics on display.
I’m usually not a big fan of these subway word art pieces, but this one caught my eye with the color and the quotes. “CREATE SOMETHING EVERY DAY” and “SNUGGLE AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE” are my two favorites:)
You can see how I was easily able to hang the pics behind the tv so that it blends in better. I’m still on a search for a dresser to put underneath the tv for storage space and to hide all the cords, but this was a definite upgrade. This is a work in progress, but that wall already feels so much warmer in the space!

What have you put on the back burner to fully enjoy fall? Who else is loving this layered look? Does your spouse squirm when you display swimsuit pics?

→ 6 Comments

Posted in Living Room

A Glimpse of Summer

Posted on July 18, 2012 | Leave a comment

Oh how I’ve missed you, blog world! Let’s just say that I’ve been on an extended summer hiatus:) I’m back with a few budget-friendly summer decor ideas.
We’ll begin in the kitchen with my infamous staging shelf. You’ll notice that it’s very similar to my “spring shelf” minus the jute wrapped eggs. I just added the picture and candle. The “art” is a gift bag from the Target $1 section.
I also spied this coral dishtowel on a clearance endcap for $2 – holla!
See how it ties in with the coral lantern when you first walk into the kitchen? I feel like this room is bright with pops of summer happiness.
Next on the agenda was replacing another jute wrapped egg that was nesting in the spring wreath on our front door. I had almost given up hope of something “summery” when I saw this orange flower air freshener. That’s right, it adds that spark of summer AND keeps our entryway smelling ~~not like dog~~ fresh!
This may sound funny, but I’m constantly changing out our decorative kleenex boxes for the seasons. I love this pop of teal in one of our bedrooms.

I spent less than $10 on all of my summer decor (the air freshener was actually the most expensive thing at $5) – not too bad! What have you done to spice up your casa during these hot, summer days?

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Bedroom, Kitchen, Living Room

How To Create Gratitude Board

Posted on May 17, 2012 | 4 Comments

Ben sent me the link to this touching video which caused me to sob like a baby in the middle of Starbucks. Grab a kleenex and enjoy!

I loved the ‘Board of Gratefulness’ that Ian and Larissa created as a daily reminder to be grateful. My wheels started spinning. The stager in me wanted to use something that we already had instead of buying something new.

I’ve been wanting to do something with this piece for awhile now. We got it at Pottery Barn Outlet a long time ago. I love the size, but it lacked purpose.

I knew we needed cork board to make our pins stick. Due to the size, we opted for roll-out instead of the thick squares. Ben cut it to size and I grabbed duct tape to hold it all together. Then I wrapped it all in burlap to add texture.

It was curling up at the edges quite a bit so, instead of stacking books on top, we threw it under our memory foam mattress. Ben said it was like carrying 18 dead bodies when he and a friend moved it in, so we figured that would do the trick!

Here’s a close-up of my very professional duct tape job. I didn’t want that baby going anywhere, so I put loops of tape to secure it to the back board.

We printed off a quote by Thornton Wilder which says, “We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.” I loved it, but it was definitely lacking some style.

Nothing that a trip to Michaels can’t fix! There were too many options to choose from, so I decided to bring all my favorites home to test out.

These were the first ones I ruled out. They were too simple and uniform.

I didn’t like these buttons as much as I thought I would. Not enough “wow”.

I absolutely loved the different tints and shapes of these guys.

These were also a winner. The pops of color had me at hello. In the midst of all this, I decided to change the quote paper from green to an airy yellow.

I tacked up more of my two favorites and decided to let you all decide!

When it was all said and done, I spent about $15 on this project between the cork board, burlap and craft supplies. The joy this will bring having everyone who visits our home fill out a grateful note and doing it ourselves will be priceless!

So what do y’all think? Who else owns an 18-dead-body mattress? Any other gratitude board ideas out there?

→ 4 Comments

Posted in DIY Projects, How To, Living Room

An Unexpected Accent Color

Posted on May 1, 2012 | Leave a comment

Happy May, everyone! I’ve been doing Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred lately, and this has been my annoying view when I turn to do the Running Man…
There is some serious “wow” missing from this section of our living room! I started noticing how the off-white lampshade clashes with the bright white ceramic cow. The height of the lamp didn’t look good with the mossy T either.
I just threw this vignette together after the holidays and called it a day, but the beautiful ~~spring~~ summer weather inspired me to bring some life to this space.
Enter my good friend, orange! I’d been eyeing this Love vase for awhile now at Stein Mart so when I stopped there to get my dad a birthday gift, I finally gave in. The lamp height problem was an easy fix by stacking a couple of fun books underneath (thank you Chip and Dan Heath for making your book orange!).
See how the mossy T can still be centered on the mirror, but the lamp looks better being a little higher up? No? It’s just me and my crazy staging perspective? Now this space has some personality and a couple of conversation pieces that just happen to be two of my and Ben’s favorite books.
It also helps tie in this flower candle on our coffee table. Now, if only I could find some accent pillows with some orange. This isn’t the first time I’ve flirted with this Vitamin C filled fruit – remember this orange-inspired summer display?

What unexpected accent color have you used in your home? Any other orange lovers out there? Who else will admit to almost passing out while doing a Jillian workout video (I’m sticking to the excuse that I hadn’t eaten breakfast;)?

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Living Room

Living Room Refresher

Posted on April 24, 2012 | Leave a comment

I’ve been eyeballing our living room lately. Not like you would ogle at Ryan Gosling, but more like if someone has a tag sticking out of their shirt. This is the first room I tackled when I started this blog and I’m ready for a change! I love the soft gray walls + hardwood floors combo, so my focus will be accessorizing.
One of the first projects I tackled was making these curtains out of tablecloths. They were an awesome solution at the time, but I’d like to find some fabric that speaks to me and redo these babies. I’m thinking something like this…I’m leaning towards light and airy because I want these rooms to have a fresh vibe. We spend a lot of time in this main area reading, writing, and brainstorming about our businesses, so this needs to be a creative space!
Another easy, but impactful, change would be adding more pillows to the couch and chair. I really love these West Elm pillows I got for a steal at a house sale, but I’ve never found the perfect accent pillows to go with them.
The new curtains would extend to the dining room as well. I’d also like to add some ribbon around the lampshade I attached to our ceiling fan awhile back.
Thanks to my avid blog reader, Denise, I balanced out the pops of color on our frame wall – great tip! This wall makes me smile every time I look at it. Oh, and look who finally found a non-reflective camera angle – Oh Happy Day!

Just writing this post makes me want to sprint to the fabric store! Who else has a bee in their bonnet about a room in their home? Should I attempt pillow making for the first time (gasp)? Do you have a thing for paisley too?

Curtain image found here (they’re no longer on etsy.com).

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Decorating Dilemmas, Dining Room, Living Room

Shutters, Doors and Paint Colors… Oh My!

Posted on February 28, 2012 | 6 Comments

I feel like our house has had a broken arm coming up on a year now. Last spring we had a doozy of a windstorm that demolished one of our front shutters. That is until this weekend when my sassing finally paid off and Ben replaced it…
The original plan was to hang the missing shutter, wash off the others on Saturday, and then paint them on Sunday. I ended up being paralyzed with fear about picking the wrong paint color in a hurry, so (to the horror of our neighbors) this mismatched look is what’s going on right now.
My initial thought was to paint the shutters a neutral color (like muddy brown or gray) and then paint the front door a fun pop of color. I like the muted yellow.
If we went red again, I would want something more like this fire engine red. I’m not sure if it would work with the muted red stones on our house though.
I’ve also been drawn to blues a lot in my Pinterest searching. I think it would be a nice complimentary color for the stone.
I’m also keeping in mind that it would be nice not to have to repaint when we put it on the market someday. I could go with more of a muted tone of a color I like such as this soft turquoise – love it! I think ultimately I’m going to have to paint the porch a neutral color as well so it doesn’t clash with my vision.