Picking out Fabric

Armed with my free DIY décor color pallet from this post I ventured out with my mother-in-law to the fabric store.  Our quest was to find the perfect fabric for drapes, I was picturing something in navy.  After we painted the paneling in the living room we definitely needed something to soften the look, and drapes seemed like a great solution.  Well…I found the perfect drape fabric at approximately $18.00 a yard, and that was on 50% clearance.  I needed 12 yards so that would bring the total to right around $216 plus tax.  Ouch.  I just couldn’t bring myself to fork out that much for drapes.  However I did fall in love with another fabric that was also on sale, for a much slimmer price. 

It went perfectly with my color swatch for the living room, and I knew from the moment I laid eyes on it I had to have it.  Did I know what I was going to use it for? No.  Did I care? No.  One yard please!    

On the way home from the fabric store a lot of ideas were tossed around for the fabric, but nothing special.  At the least I was going to use them for throw pillows when we finally got our gray living room couch.  Then, as we were gathered in the living room (which still only has two chairs) and my mother-in-law was sitting on the floor she said “why don’t you do some floor pillows with that fabric”.  YES! I loved the idea!  It would add a huge punch and pattern to the room, and also function with added seating.  I had toyed around for a while with adding a bench under the big long window but thought it would be too cluttered.  Floor pillows will work perfectly because they aren’t as bulky and permanent as furniture but will definitely add some spunk!    

The Trim is Done!

After lots of painting, primarily in the dark we are finished with the trim! PS don’t pay attention to the hot mess of the window to your right.  I try to ignore it every day.  It’s what happens when you  have a handy hubby who lost his motivation.  

I used a small trim roller to put the finishing touches on the paint job.  Like I said I was painting in the dark, so we did turn out with one drip line.  We plan to sand it down and do a nice top coat to correct this.  There was also some paint bleed where the trim met the wall, but luckily not on the floor!  It’s on my to-do list to go back and fix the bleed spots with a small art brush freehand style!

All in all I like it and I am glad we did it.  All white on the back wall makes the room a little …well cold. BUT I am confident that with the right curtains, and um.. something on the walls, it will pull the whole room together!

Living Room Update

As promised, I am now just getting to updated living room pictures.  Remember when I painted the wall here? Or got the new chairs here? Good times.  Everything else in the room I already had so it is a truly work with what you’ve got room.  A lot of the stuff is temporary but I am pretty pleased with results until something more permanent is created.  Is it close to finished? Of course not!

I brought these throw pillows in that I re-covered for a pop of color and used the ottoman from here as a temporary coffee table. I also used my sand hurricane from my coffee table update, and the electric insulators from this post. 

My amazing bird finds, and globe that was a gift from my sister in law work well with the texture of the woven tray.  My sister in law bought the globe at a rummage sale when she was, like 7.  I think it is very charming!

These old keys were salvaged from a friends Grandpa’s garage and are placed on top of some vintage books.  I used a lot of different shades and colors of blue to create a monochromatic effect.

I used this vintage basket as a holder for all my magazines.  I like how the basket brings a rustic and vintage touch to the room to create an eclectic feel against the more traditional cottage looking chairs.

I transported this pale blue Ball canning jar that holds my sentimental wine corks to the mantel.  I tried to keep the mantel color pallet very basic with blues and whites as to not overwhelm the room.

 

I love that you can put a starfish almost anywhere and it will look great!

 

As we think about what we want this room to eventually look like we are going to be adding the couch, possibly DIYing a coffee table, and adding a funky rug.  We will definitely be giving the back wall, which is still wood, a makeover and adding some bold curtains.  A new side table is potentially in the works and something needs to be done with that mantel.  There is a lot I have going on in my head for this room, and I am excited to see how the vision comes to life!