Our Living Room Journey

Transformation of our "Cave" Living Room
(from mud brown to happy yellow!)

BEFORE

This is after we got some lighting in the room.
I thought it was pretty, but mostly pretty just in pictures and not really in person.
Now, the yellow is prettier in person than in pictures.

PLANNING THE COLORS

I helped too!  In between photos. :)

Now the Shelves...

3 coats of paint later...

 

Listening to Pandora Radio - Gaithers :)

 

New Rug is cat-approved

The room is not really this dark of a yellow...

it's a lot softer in person than in the photos.

Only 3 more cabinets to go!!

This is more the yellow that it looks like to me

And just for kicks...he's too cute not to post

Guest Room Progress

I was in Target the other day picking up some prescriptions and they told me to give them 15 minutes.  So I wandered around looking at things.  And added things to my cart.  They're smart, aren't they?  Well, I ended up in the clearance furniture/decor section.  A dangerous place to be.  Blake and I have been keeping our eye out for night stands for our Guest room.  It didn't have any, so we needed some.  We'd been looking at antique stores and on Craigslist and hadn't found anything I really liked.  But I found some in the clearance aisle in Target!!  One was 50% off, and the other one was damaged (but I could hide the damaged part) so I got it for 80% off.  Crazy, right?

Here's our new night stands.  Now I need to work on a piece of art for the headboard area.

Beautiful Chairs! Craigslist Score!

I'm always so happy when my romance with Craigslist is renewed.  Craisglist just hasn't appealed to me lately because so many people are posting crap junky things at laughable prices. But, Blake and I had been desiring a chair for our Living Room lately because the big black contemporary chair just was an eyesore.  So, I casually pulled up Craigslist yesterday around 4:50pm as I was wrapping up work, and low and behold, 2 of the cutest chairs EVER were posted!  For $30 for both!  Immediately I started salivating.  I called Blake and asked if he liked the chairs and if we could go get them last night. He said sure, always sweetly indulging my craigslist escapades, even though they usually don't work out exactly how I planned. This trip, however, did.

We scored 2 matching chairs that go with every room in our house.  They're even clean, not a stain on them.  So, we're playing musical chairs with them to see what rooms they fit best in.  For sure, we are keeping one for our bedroom. It's just too perfect for a reading nook and comfortable.  I can do my "quiet times" in this chair now and read comfortably without having to lay in bed with the ceiling lights glaring in my face.  (see my other Craigslist purchase? The table/lamp thing?  I need to paint it and get a new shade.)

We have 2 other spots that the second chair would go in.  I think I like it best in our guest room, but since that room isn't used often, we have placed the second chair in our living room.  It goes pretty well, but isn't a completely perfect fit.  It's a small chair and at the moment looks a little odd scale-wise.  But, it's better than the black chair we had in there, which has since been moved into the guest room now.  This picture also shows off my little houses my mom gave me.  They had been a Christmas gift from my dad to her early in their marriage (I believe) but after 20+ years of prominent display in their house, they redecorated.  And I got the little houses :)

Here's the chair displayed in the guest room.  The chairs have this cute satin/cotton hatch design which matches the unpictured white comforter on the bed.  The yellow really adds a splash of color to the guest room, so when we finally get a real TV for the living room, and rearrange the furniture appropriately, I am pretty sure a yellow chair will end up in this room instead.

What little pillows or throws should I get for these 2 chairs!!??

More Decorating!

Blake and I had a great weekend, though it was more full than I would have preferred for a holiday weekend.  I tend to become a homebody when I have a day off work because we travel so much.

Friday we got off work and went to our next door neighbor's house, their daughter was celebrating her first birthday, so we were there for a while.  Also, Friday was the day I was trying to decide what to do with the stray cat that I found our doorstep.  He would come around every couple of weeks, and he would tear my heart out because he was so injured.  He wasn't neutered and appeared to be on the bottom of the totem pole - so he was really torn up every time I would see him.  His face was pretty disfigured from old wounds, he had a large area of his face and cheek that was without fur and had thick scar tissue.  He had trouble opening one of his eyes.  But that wasn't the part that got me.  He had a wound on his shoulder that was about the width of 2 quarters, and it was gaping.  You could see his muscle underneath.  It wasn't pouring blood or anything either, so it looked like it had been open for a while.  I saw him twice over a couple of weeks and each time that wound was open.  And he was all scruffy and his coat was really thin and dirty.  He wasn't interested in cleaning himself.  He'd just sit occasionally on our stone wall out front.  He didn't seem to be hindered walking around, but that open wound was just serious.  I fed him a couple of times, and he seemed content to adopt me as his new home.  He wasn't concerned when I'd approach, just watchful.  I brought him dry cat food, and then a half serving of tuna.  He gobbled them down.  On Friday when I got off work, when I gave him the tuna, he was so appreciative that he rubbed his head on my hand and it just broke my heart.  I called the vet to see what they do for strays, but they didn't quote a price break to fix him up, so I had to decide to take him to the OK City Shelter.  Saturday after we had sound checks at a local church, we came home and he was still on our wall out front (Sticker was not a fan of this guy). So I coaxed him into a carrier with more tuna and we took him to the shelter.  I really hope they try to heal him and not just put him down.  I know it was the right decision, but it was hard to take him there when he trusted me.

So, Saturday, after that heart wrenching task, we were invited to go to a friend's house with a bunch of people.  Sunday we had a concert at a local church and Blake got to do a few songs, and even one patriotic song.  He sang really well and everyone loved it.  We are always so tired after a concert, we went home and made another appearance at a friend's house for a few hours.  Then we crashed at home until 11pm when Blake got inspired to hang the ceiling fan I recently got for the guest room. With flashlights as our only lighting, he got it hung by 12:15am.  He did good :)

Monday is when the fun started!!  Inspired by the success of the ceiling fan hanging, Blake and I set off to find more guest room decor.  Kohls was having a great sale so we were picky and found exactly what we wanted for the bedding.  Here is our guest room now:

I really wanted to recreate a wheat field look so I'll be on the hunt for more items that are organic and textured with that wheat color.  I'm thinking also of doing a "frame collage" with empty picture frames above the bed. I saw that in a magazine, too, and it looked so cool!

I'd seen in a magazine a really cool burlap bed skirt that was $60.  So I thought, well, I could probably just get some burlap from Hobby Lobby.  And yep, only for $15!!  We just tucked the burlap fabric under the bed (we'll have to figure out how to make it more permanent) and it looks great and adds the organic texture that I wanted for the room.  I have one more accent pillow to get that will be the same green color as the throw.  Doogan loves the new bedding; we have to watch him because he likes to bite the throw.

Here is a pic with the new ceiling fan and I tied our curtains back with chocolate brown ribbons.

The sheets are a green paisley print.  And, if you'll notice, I have my lamp I redid, and I got a little antique clock for the bedside table.

So Blake and I keep peeking in this room, proud of our creativity and that the ceiling fan is the most expensive item in the room!  Everything else we got at over 60% off!  I really suggest going to Ross for bedding, too.  We got the sheets and throw there, as well as the curtains (at $4 each!) 

It is very possible to do a cheap room makeover.  Just be extra selective and have a general look decided on before you start.  That way you can predict what items will help you achieve your overall look.  For this room, I decided on "Wheat field after a rain storm."  So that decided my colors (white, blue, green, wheat) and textures (classic and clean, with accents of rough fabric and organic leafy-ness).  As you can see, it's not done, but the feel of the room is decided and will be easier to find accents to complete the room.

Absent

Yes, I've been absent lately.  Last week was a challenging week.  Blake upgraded some of his sound equipment and there was a bigger learning curve than we expected.  But, we are past it now, and smarter for it :)  I'm proud that he and I figured it out.  That's all I will say about that, and will spare you the recap involving tears and late nights.  We're sane again now.

I've been reading a lot lately, still.  It really is my escape and I love that I love to read.  It's so "me."  My office manager here at work, oddly, has the most awesome taste in books.  Some of my best reads have been suggested by her: "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle", "The Pillars of the Earth" (which started my love affair with author Ken Follett)," another fun author named Lisa Gardner, and most recently, the author Jodi Picoult.  I just finished "My Sister's Keeper" which, yes, was recently a movie that was deemed "awful", but the book was really good.  After that book I am now reading another book by her called "The Plain Truth", which I am liking even better that the Sister's Keeper one.  Her writing does have a way of grabbing you and flowing you through the story.  Her subjects of her novels are always some contemporary controversial topic.  They're clean novels and thought provoking.  I'm enjoying her and will continue to read through her repetoire.

I also have been listening to "The Swan Thieves" by Elizabeth Kostova on audio book.

I listen on my 20 min drive to work, and that has been really fun.  My recent book club read was "The Bufflehead Sisters" which I enjoyed a lot but don't feel comfortable recommending because of some scenes in the book.  It mainly focused on a deep childhood friendship and it's evolution into adulthood.  Our next meeting is this Saturday, I'm so excited!

Blake gets home from Arkansas tonight - he headlined at a Festival there last night.  In the rain.  But he said about 40-50 people stayed and toughed it out in their lawn chairs under their umbrellas :)

Haven't done anything to the house lately.  It's kind of a wreck right now.  I'm counting on this weekend to inspire me to clean up.  Then, my immediate to do list includes:

• Painting the Guest Bath laminate counter-top - yes I'm going to paint it.
• Find wall sconces that do not require an electrician to wire them
• Finalize my decision on Master Bed, Guest Bed, and Living room ceiling fan purchases
• Hang the new Hobby Lobby decorations I got in the office!
• Hang the framed prayers I made for Blake at Christmas in his practice room - yep, they still aren't hung

I think that should keep me occupied for a bit.