I know...I should enjoy every bit of my summer vacation and stay away from work for as long as possible. That's easier said than done.
Because....I'm a huge dork who loves my job.
It could be worse. :)
To motivate myself to keep going on my home projects, and to mentally check some things off my Summer To Do List, I'm going to share a few small changes I've made so far.
First of all, let's just say that my poor bedroom gets neglected every year whenever I renovate or change up the decor in my house. To be honest, it's probably because it's not a "common area" of the house, and I like to decorate not only for me but also for anyone who comes for a visit.
But....I think next summer I'm going to give it a little more attention. It's been a good sport so far.
I already wrote a post a couple weeks ago about a small change that I made in my guest room- decorating the wall with some frames and antique shelves that I spray painted.
You can read more about that process here.
The other room that I've made some updates in, nothing huge or expensive, was my living room.
There was nothing really "wrong" with my living room. It's functional, I have lots of storage, and nothing needed to be replaced.
It was just a little....well....blah.
Neutral may be a better word.
My couch is dark brown, all of my furniture is very dark wood, the carpet is the typical neutral color, and the walls are light brown.
The one "colorful" piece in the room is my loveseat....a crazy light green.
I kid. Yes, it's actually green, but it's not crazy. Very subtle.
Here's how it looked back in the fall of 2009 when I moved in to my house:
Crazy to see this picture....my dining room isn't green anymore!
Check out that transformation here.
Since then, I've added a new coffee table, a new flat screen TV, and a shelving unit with lots of baskets for storage.
But still.....it's all very....brown.
Last summer, I also took down the ugly "wooden-looking" vertical blinds from my front window and replaced them with this curtain rod and somewhat neutral pattern on the curtains. But....it wasn't brown. I was making a little progress!
You can't tell from this picture, but the leaves are actually a dusty green-blue color. They look a little gray here.
This summer, my goal was to add some color into my living room....and a little more interest and style in the process.
Here are a few of the small changes I've made.
Like I said, I wasn't making any huge investments here.....just moving things from one room to another, or buying a few new items to change the overall feeling of the room.
Before....all brown or beige accents on top of my dark brown storage unit (which also has dark brown and tan baskets, so that was kind of boring).
After....the small lamp was replaced with a bigger one (lamp base on clearance at Meijer, lamp shade from Target), and I added a few color accents that I purchased recently- all on sale of course. The blue frame is from TJ Maxx, the vase was from Michaels, and the "orchid" is from Kohls.
Yep, it's not real because I've already killed the real one I got from a student this year- I'm horrible with houseplants.
Before....last summer, my green loveseat got two brown throw pillows to add to the matching green ones that came with it. Still very neutral.
After....two colorful pillows replaced the green ones. The different size and patterns/colors complement the brown pillows and loveseat much better. And, let's face it....they're more interesting.
Both of these were from either Home Goods or TJ Maxx....I can't remember which one.
Before....I've had these two framed photos on my wall since I moved in. I bought them both from an Art Fair before I got my house and just loved them. However, having two small frames on this wall seemed a little off scale-wise.
After....I found a similar photographer at an art fair this summer, and bought a larger print to frame and put in the middle of the two smaller ones. I was so lucky that I didn't even need to reposition the small ones- there was the perfect amount of space left in between them.
Plus, the frame I bought (which was a really hard size to find) was very inexpensive at Michaels (it's actually a poster frame, but it worked even with the matted print) and they were buy one, get one free so I have another one for a future DIY project.
Before....right by my front door is a console table that I bought from Target right after I moved in here. I loved how it filled that space, but what I put on it wasn't too exciting. Again, very neutral items and a tiny lamp.
After....another (larger) lamp base from Meijer and lamp shade from Target and a new colorful frame from TJ Maxx add some needed color here.
Before....last summer, my brown couch got two patterned throw pillows to add to the matching brown ones that came with it. These at least had some color, a dusty blue that complemented the color in the curtains.
After....I found these large blue patterned pillows at Kohls to replace the brown ones. The larger size goes better with the scale of the couch, plus they aren't flattened and camouflaged by the couch like the old ones.
Note: That orange tray and adorable chevron coaster set (both from World Market) and red vase (from Michaels) were also added to my coffee table this summer. More "pops of color"!
And I did consciously add in blues and oranges to my living room since those are the two predominant colors in my kitchen and since the rooms flow together I wanted them to complement each other better. I'm pretty happy with the results!
My summer goal....to add color and interest to my living room, without breaking my budget....has been met. Mental check!
Now.....onto my "big" project of the summer.....the bathroom!
0 comments:
Post a Comment