Living Room Before and (Kind of) After

I'm calling this the "Kind of After" because this room is not really done, but has come a long way since we purchased about six years ago.  Actually, I always joke how my rooms are never really done because I'm always changing them and this room is no exception.

This house has been a bit of a challenge because it is a very basic builder home lacking any character.  I love older homes and had never lived in a new home prior to this (previous house), so this move was hard.  It was also previously owned, so we had no say in any of the design choices that had been made before we moved in. But I like a design challenge and firmly believe that any space 
can look beautiful.

This room is the first room you see when you come in so I wanted it to be a bit more formal...you know, first impressions. I always like relaxed, formal spaces--if that makes sense.  We had also had a lot of stress before purchasing this house and I wanted the palette to be very calm, so I chose the soft grays.

  

So here's the before...boring, right?

You can see from this before pic that the room is quite small, (8'x12') but it has 9' ceilings. One design trick to use when you have a small room is to use long pieces to draw the eye up and out. I chose to visually lengthen it by using a couch (not a loveseat) with end tables flanking it to extend the focal wall.  I also bought three wooden Indonesian screens from HomeSense and put them on the wall to draw the eye up, and to add some drama to the space.  (These screens would also look amazing as a headboard, and I'm itching to change my headboard, so they might move).

Another before pic...apparently these window treatments are coming back...

These are the realtor's pics of the room...sorry not that clear but it shows you what the room

 looked like when we saw it.

The heavy valance and sheers the previous owner had just brought the window down.  I chose to buy longer curtains (90") and extended them to their fullest, giving even more height and width to the window (again making the room visually appear larger than it is).  You can see that I hung them above the window trim and also took them right over to the wall.  I also used lots of layers, like a chair in front of a desk and a fern in front of the window, to extend the room.  Layering is another design trick to make a room appear bigger.  The Spinet desk and chair are antiques that I purchased years ago...I love a mix of old and new.  (And the curtains are lined & velvet and were only $30.00 each at Fabricland...such a great deal!)

The lamps and mirrors are also from HomeSense, and the endtables (which are one of my favorite things) were from Walmart...Can you believe that?   I got them each for $98.99 about five years ago, but sadly, I don't believe they carry them anymore.  The shape reminds me of these ones.

Another way I saved was buying the coffee table at a garage sale for $25.00 and painting it a gray (Stone Harbour - Ben Moore)...it's very similar to this Ikea Isala coffee table.  You'll notice my outdoor chairs in this pic.  I haven't bought any chairs for this room yet, so I just bring the chairs in for the winter.  Because I love gardening, I always like to bring some of the outside in and have some garden elements in my spaces.   I'm also in need of a rug and I'm thinking about this striped one in gray.

Oh ya... I forgot to mention the couch...it's a very light gray velvet from the Steven & Chris line...great quality and beautiful lines. 

And I'm still in love with my black stairs.  Can't believe it took me so long to do them...they also add some real drama to  this room.

(Photos taken by me with my iPhone.)

So there you have it.  The living room.

Seems like every January I purge, paint and move things all around...Is this just me?  This year we did a big bedroom switch and some furniture changes...more on that later.  

Have a great weekend!

Pergola Progress

Sorry for the delay in my posts this week.  I've been a little under the weather.  I'm feeling a bit better today and wanted to update you on our pergola which is now up and we're loving it!!  What a great purchase this was from Home Depot.  Most people like the Gazebos but I'm not a big fan of them.  Although we have quite a small back yard, the space actually feels a lot bigger now because of the pergola and garden.  Similar to designing inside, when you take a small space and make the eye look vertically and horizontally, it gives the illusion of a bigger space. 

 

I bought 2 drop cloths (below) and made them into curtains. I draped the drop cloth over the pergola with an overlap of about 8", measured it and then cut the drop cloth. The edges are sewn, so I just used fabric glue to hem the cut edges.  I then cut adhesive Velcro strips in to 2" sections, folded the top over about 8" and stuck the Velcro to the drop cloth.  ( This isn't the first time I've used a drop cloth for something other than it's purpose.  I've also painted and used a drop cloth for art).

I really like the weave of the drop cloth.   It looks like linen.  The down side is that the one side has plastic on it to make it waterproof.  I thought this would be a good idea because I was putting it outside.  However, the plastic doesn't allow for the drop cloth to breathe and therefore, it blows in the wind.  I don't think I would buy this type of drop cloth again for this purpose, but I still love the look.

  Hopefully I'll start feeling better soon, so I can look for outdoor pillows, lighting etc. 

Summer Curtains

Just got these crazy new Ikat curtains for my dining room at Fabricland.  I also got the grey velvet curtains next to them at the same place a few years ago.  Where else can you get lined velvet curtains for $30.00 a panel?  I love to lighten up the space during the summer months, and changing out the curtains is an easy way of doing this.  Come to think of it, my black bedroom curtains are from Fabricland too.

And on a completely other note, I finally got my pergola up  and it looks amazing.  

I'll have more on that later.