It's all coming together

This all started back a year or so ago when I was cleaning. I was getting ready to steam my living room floor and lifted the curtains up out of the way and noticed how much lighter the room was. I didn't realize how much light they were blocking out. I started to get the idea that I wanted to redo that room and reclaim the light.

The front room had never been a real priority. There were always other projects I wanted to do more. When we built this house we hadn't had a separate living room before and didn't have the furniture to fill it. When we moved in we bought new couches for the family room, I bought slip covers for the old ones and put them in the living room. My mom made curtains and pillows for me. I painted the one wall gold and did a metallic glaze finish on it. It looked good, and the room was just fine, but totally unused. Mostly that was my fault. I am OCD, and the slipcovers drove me crazy. They looked fine, but if anyone sat down they would be all messed up and I would go crazy fixing them. I declared that the room was for decorative purposes only. 

So to make the room usable and reclaim the light I started planning. I have been picking up little accessories, painting things I had, and gathering ideas for awhile. I finally finished up everything last week. 

I don't have very good "before" pictures though, sometimes I just decide to get going and don't stop to take pictures until I'm done. I don't want to stop the momentum. 

So this is a picture from long ago, but I gives a good idea of how the room looked, just ignore the birthday party games going on to this side. 

You can see the slipcovered couches and the curtains in the front window, they were also in the side windows too. 

This picture gives a good view of the back of the room, with some games being played too. It's supposed to be the formal dining room, but it's much better spot for the piano. We are just not too formal around here. You can also see just a bit of the new couch we picked up. My mom also gave me a couple of chairs from her living room because she was changing things up at her house too. I had been looking for some anyway and she came along with them just at the right time.  Repainting that gold wall, buying a couch, and taking down the valances,  were the most major changes made, it gave a start to it all. 

Now for a few, or maybe more, "after" shots.

The entryway once looked like this...

...now looks like this.

Again, not major changes, but it made a fun difference.

I took down the picture above the piano and added a blue vase so it now looks like this...

I found the idea for the mats above the piano on pinterest. They are just rubber door mats. I found them on clearance for $3.75, spray painted them and then sanded them down a bit to get a weathered look. 

I repainted the chairs from my mom, brought my end table from the family room in, it goes with the coffee table in there already, painted the lamp and added a few spray painted accessories for this...

My mom was nice enough again to make me new pillow covers that were added to the new couch

The last thing I wanted to do was a plate wall. I got all the white plates for free at an RS give and take activity. I picked up the red plates at pier one. I bought the blue mirror in Utah. It was the first thing I bought when I started planning the room.

So the wall once looked like this...

...now looks like this.

I am still looking for an area rug and I sure I will continue to find things to add in there, but for now I am really happy with the results. 

My goal was to keep the furniture and walls neutral and then just add color through accessories.

 I can't believe how much lighter the room is now, it made such a difference. And the best part is, I don't even care if people sit in there now.