Living Room Makeover

I was going to wait until everything was finished before I posted pictures of my living room makeover, but I’m really beginning to like how it looks, so I thought I would share. Besides, I can’t think of anything else to blog about today.

In case you haven’t seen the original state of my living room, you can see it here.  I wasn’t really happy with the way it turned out.  It seemed very dark to me.  On the one hand, I love color, but it seemed as if the colors I had chosen were just too dark.  The biggest problem is that my living room doesn’t get a lot of natural light.  The windows face the side of the house, so I get a good view of my fence, and the side of the house next door, which is about 10 feet away.  Thus, not a lot of natural light and not much of a view.

My makeover had to be extremely low cost, and I’m proud to say that I only spent $3.24 on paint.  Everything else I’ve used, I already owned.

Although I’m not yet ready to paint the walls, I could paint furniture.  So, I painted a couple of open shelves, arranged china on the shelves (as I was not happy with how the china was hidden behind the glass of the cabinets in the dining room), rearranged the furniture, switched out a few pieces from other rooms, and did a few other projects.

As you will be able to see, I still have several things I need to do.  The windows still don’t have anything but the blinds.  I’m searching for fabric to create some sort of swag, but can't decide on a color.  I’m still working on the desk behind the sofa, and have a few other projects that need to be completed.  But, the room is much lighter and prettier than it was before, so I’m happy.

The view from my desk.  One of my future projects is to give the black fiberglass planter some sort of paint treatment. 

This is the area behind my desk.  I decided to use my grandmother’s old frame to frame some of the fabric, as I absolutely love this fabric, but am still not sure what big project I'd like to use it for (I have about 10 yards of it).   The dresser has had multiple uses in its life.  It was in my bedroom when I was a little girl.  Just recently, I used it in my kitchen.  It may be getting some paint soon. 

A view from a mirror. I would like this picture better if I had done a better job cleaning the mirror (and painting its frame), but I do like the mirror image.  The pink drape is actually not on a window, but on an unused door.

When my flower garden blooms this summer, the flowers in the foreground will be real. Maybe some gladiolus.

I haven't made up my mind yet about whether or not to paint this small thrift store table.  At some point, I would like to have the chair reupholstered.

I was going to paint this shelf, but I really like how the china looks in front of the periwinkle color.  And I particularly like how the glassware on top of it gleams when the sunlight shines through.

My favorite pansy china.

I would love to find a crystal chandelier for my living room, but this little crystal candlestick is the closest I'm going to get for awhile.  It belonged to my grandmother.

You may notice that I haven't shared a photo of one of the walls of the room. I hate this wall, and struggle to figure out how to improve it.  There is a door in the middle of the wall (this is opposite the wall with the other door, which I have draped), which leads to the garage.  I can't really drape it since I use it all the time, but I would like to find a way to make it look far less noticeable.   I'm thinking of painting it the same color as the wall, but if anyone else has any other ideas, please share.

This is also the wall where the TV resides on an old dresser.  The dresser needs to be replaced, as it noticeably sags.  Until I can find a vintage armoire that will hide all the electronics, the ugly dresser stays. 

I'm really liking the makeover so far.  Although it isn't what I would have done had I been able to spend some money on it, I'm pretty happy that I was able to improve it on $3.24.

Hope everyone has a good weekend.