The suspense has been killing you, right? As I mentioned earlier, I don't feel my pictures adequately showcase the transformation, in part because I'm not a gifted photographer and also because some things are just better seen in person ... so come visit!
Let me also say that this was all done on a tight budget and I'm truly astonished by the impact you can make on your house just by moving some things around, using pieces in new ways, leaning on Walmart and Lowes when necessary, etc. When I gagged a bit at the curtains we were perusing at Walmart, Jay reminded me that they look bad because they're in Walmart! Take them home, get them out of that context and you might feel differently.
With all that said, here are a few snapshots that might give you an idea of what took place:
The living room dilemma was solved by moving the desk across the room, making a cozy reading corner and "stair-stepping" some pictures. Other fun touches included propping a huge heavy mirror against that awful mirrored space above the mantle, spray painting the coffee table that I will soon attempt to re-tile myself, and hanging some curtains. We also switched rugs with the master bedroom rug, which has done wonders for both spaces.
We didn't do too much to the dining room, since we had already had it painted and the drapes made and hung. We did endeavor to show off the new sideboard by hanging some botanical prints above it instead of that big heavy, dark mirror that's now above the fireplace. Turns out the mirror wasn't doing the sideboard any favors - how were we to know?! Jay was very helpful in showing us where we needed to brighten things up a bit and where we needed to leave "negative space" (i.e. have nothing in some places), etc.
You can also see through to the breakfast nook in the last dining room shot, where we tried out this fabulous
budget curtain fix - hang a fitted sheet over a tension rod, tie up with some fun ribbon, and voila, drapes on a dime!
Speaking of the breakfast nook, there it is, as well as my little helper who tried her best to keep up with me as I scurried around the house taking pictures.
This is one of my most favorite touches - after we moved the food painting to our bedroom we had quite a bit of white space to deal with. I wanted some type of chalkboard, but never thought I'd get something as cute as this for so little. It's a $5 window we found at the Habitat for Humanity store in town. We painted one pane with chalkboard paint and got a big poster of Paris at World Market to crop and tuck into the other pane. Then we painted the window the same bright green that's in our breakfast nook. (I say we - Matt's mom actually did all of the work!)
As you try to avert your eyes from the horrid ceiling we are not fixing right away unless a money tree begins to grow in our backyard, you might notice how Jay artfully arranged more botanical prints flanked by two beer growlers - a little bit of me, a little bit of Matt!
This shows the beginning stages of Emery's room, which still needs to be painted pale pink. Again, fitted sheet curtains saved the day. We also moved Matt's nightstand into the room, switched around some lamps ... you get the idea, just keep moving things around till you get the right effect!
And for the third time, fitted sheet curtains in the guest bath.
I never would have picked this print myself, but it works!
And finally, here are a couple shots of our bedroom, which now has the luxury of the nicest rug in the house, a painting we originally thought belonged in the kitchen, $1 lamps shades for the wall sconces that we found at a thrift store, among other things. Jay also suggested that we not center the bed along the wall in order to create more space on Matt's side and keep the room from looking too crowded. It worked! (thought it's probably hard to tell from this picture)
Our work is far from done and there are many more pending projects to be done, including fixing up the nursery and the playroom, repainting ceiling fan blades, fixing and hanging an old light fixture, possibly painting some dressers, finding a chair, a few rugs ... oh my, I'm getting tired just thinking about it. But fortunately we're off to a great and astonishingly affordable start!
