Friday, April 1, 2011

Living Room Make-UNDER

Living Room BEFORE
After visiting good friends of ours (and eating at their AMAZING restaurant - please do yourself a favor if you ever find yourself in the Portland area and check out St. Jacks in East Portland) i left so inspired by their house. my girlfriend has done such an amazing job decorating her house - so peaceful and filled with art and soft light and i came back to my den of a living room and knew that i needed a change!

Living Room AFTER
These flowered curtains came with our house and i never changed them because...well...moving in always takes extra cash and changing out curtains was not in the budget...also i felt like i would need to spend a lot of money and so i put it out of my mind.

I dont know how you are with changing up your decorating - or making rooms "new" but i always think i have to go and redo everything...so i go big or dont do it basically. i am trying to re-train my brain into thinking about corners at a time and especially tackling things that i look at and hate or rub me the wrong way - whatever...these curtains were definitely that. i went to IKEA and found their cheapest canvas white curtains - and changed out all 8 panels for $80. I find that a bargain! i also found this fuzzy white throw pillow at Target for $20 - i normally dont buy throw pillows, but i loved the furry little thing. and that is all i spent - everything else i made or repurposed form elsewhere in my house - so i got a total room makeover for $100.

Reading Corner BEFORE
they made the room so dark - they were a pain to open and close, plus the room was so cluttered that i didnt want a lot of light exposing it all...so i de-cluttered...i took away a lot of useless furniture and all those silly throw pillows and the result is understated in these pictures, but has been so amazing. i love this room now. i am at peace in this room now. sometimes the best way to tackle a room is to remove the unnecessary parts.

now i want to sit in that supremely uncomfortable knock-off Eames. I also want to keep the room clean...so i have vetoed all noise making toys and send them off to their own room if they so wish to pollute their ears.

I plan on changing up the mantle every so often. i already have an idea involving some antlers i found at a flea market...if my husband lets me...we'll see!

What do you think? Did you like it better with the tropical curtains?



Reading Nook AFTER


Living Room AFTER

Mantle AFTER




Mantle

Sweet Camping Print - thanks Jena!

3 comments:

jena said...

love it, carlee! it's so light and inviting. i especially like the garland on the mantel (and that rad camping print)...can't wait to see it in person next week!

Paige said...

It looks awesome Carl. I love it when one simple thing can change the whole feel of a room.

Jenna- You guys are coming down? For how long??

jena said...

hey, paige! we're just going to be in so cal for two nights - my grandparents are flying us to down to newport so they can meet our little ezra. i wish it were going to be a longer trip so we could make a real vacation out of it, but we'll take what we can get...