in my house: living room redo part 2

So - I am finally ready to share my Living Room with you. Back in February I posted part 1-  what prompted me to redo my living room. I know it took me two months to get back to this, but I wanted it to be complete when I shared it with you again and with the exception of the finish on my coffee table it is all done!

Two items on my BUDGET BOARD were my intended focal point and grounded the room perfectly - this furniture and my antique chalkboard. I gave my old toss pillows a face lift with burlap & duckcloth shams, adding linen ruffles and medallions. The wreathe is one I made with recycled materials.

I tackled the dark laminate tv cabinet with one coat of this primer and two coats of this awesome paint which I had tinted to Natural White. Once dry, I sanded the cabinet roughly with an electric palm sander, creating deep grooves and rounded edges.

I loved the gray with the hard wood floors, so I opted to tie in a few antique pieces. I gave an old dresser a new coat of my favorite wax in Natural, and it now serves as added storage for games, coasters, and blankets. An oversized library table gets the same treatment and houses school and kids arts and crafts supplies.

I don't like things to be "matchy matchy" so I tied in a few old chippy painted pieces as well. I am in total love with this green side table. It just so happened to match my walls perfectly - which are painted a very pale shade by Ralph Lauren called Killington Traverse. This little round beauty still shows signs of the original floral tromp de l'oeil design visible on the table top surface.

I went ahead and bought the wooden lamp base at Target but found my burlap shade at Wal-Mart. The floor lamp also came from Wal-Mart. I just swapped out the original shade for this one.

 Because my Kitchen and Living Room are basically one giant room, it was mandatory that they tie together seamlessly, without being exactly alike. I was able to achieve that with color. The kitchen cabinets are a coordinating shade of white and the antique gold curtains picked up the warm hues of the wood and burlap. I like the cohesion this rug from Ikea gives the entire room and since my kids love to hang out on the floor I made two oversized floor pillows using duck cloth and left over linen and ribbon scraps from Christmas projects.

The small things on my BUDGET BOARD were easy. Metal trays and vintage ice buckets were picked up for pennies in local shops and at goodwill. Grainsack material covers a recycled oversized pillow. I had fun embellshing it with burlap and a hand crocheted flower with a vintage bling center. Books and more vintage trophies filled with flowers line the cubbies on the tv cabinet and giant metal stars I lugged back from PA years ago got a new coat of silver paint and hang on the walls.

I love it. That is a surefire way of saying I will tweak it down the road, no doubt, but I do love it.

in my house: living room redo part 1

This is my BUDGET BOARD. It is a board of all the items I wanted to see in my new living room makeover. It was really crowded at first, but then I remembered I actually HAD a budget and so some things fell off of the board.

This is what prompted the board. A simple but fatal mistake when it comes to me and decorating - I moved something. Just one thing.

And I had motive, two motives actually. My family of seven had been enjoying these WHITE LINEN sofas for over six years. And while they certainly proved their worth, this lovely dim photo doesn't show their true loving wear & tear. The second motive being this beautiful (uhum) laminate TV wall unit. It was the only thing I could find to fit. That's all I will say about it.

This is similar to how it looked at the store. I loved that it filled a big empty wall. I loved that it will so slim - the shelves only about 18 inches deep. I loved that it was super sonic cheap. I DID NOT LOVE, NOR WILL I EVER LOVE the dark color. I couldn't even find a photo of mine if that tells you anything. But what I did LOVE was this.

I took a dark, laminate, Target Library Table and turned it into this shabby white beauty. (See how here) And so I wanted more of this... If you would like to see how it all turns out, check back often. I will have it all done and ready to post soon! And it is GOING TO BE PRIIIIITTTTTTY!