Living Room Makeover

Living Room Makeover

Last year I was happy do a little home improvement.  One project we took on was to do a little makeover in our living room.  Today I’m going to share some of the items we purchased and (hopefully) provide a little insight and inspiration on how you can decorate and do room makeovers on a budget! [Read more…]

When and How to Use Dark Wood in Your Home

Many people shy away from using dark colors in their homes for fear of making a space look smaller, darker, and less appealing. But with some of the most beautiful woods, such as mahogany, walnut, and rosewood, naturally coming in dark tones, leaving them out of your interior design is a shame, especially when adding a noble dark wood cabinet to a lightly painted room can really make the design pop.

Choose the Right Room

Remember that your choice of colors will create a feeling in your home, and using the wrong color scheme from the beginning will dictate how you decorate your space. While dark colors can be more intimate, they can also create the notion of a smaller space, so you should avoid decking out a low-beamed area, small downstairs toilet, or closet with dark wood. An open hallway or high ceilinged living room is a much better choice.

Create Contrast

Use dark wood wisely and you can create beautiful and stylish contrasts; go overboard and you can create a black hole. Don’t add dark wood to dark walls, as the wood and color will overwhelm the space. Dark wood works great when contrasted with light backgrounds and used in moderation. Nice soft neutral tones with dark cabinets on the walls can look amazing.

Too Much Wood’s Not Good

If you live in a wooden cabin, with wooden floors and wooden walls (especially if it’s dark wood), adding wooden furniture to every room can be overwhelming. And dark wood on more dark wood can look like a living nightmare. To add light and space to your home, think about using open glass sliding doors or windows with a dark wooden support in the middle. The dark wood will really stand out in the light space. If you want to mix up your furniture, try a combination of wood and steel, or a dark wood kitchen unit with white marble top. Check out vintage industrial designs if you want to modernize a rustic cottage feel.

Use the Light Wisely

If your home doesn’t get a lot of natural light, then make sure you position your artificial lighting carefully. Highlight what you want people to see and don’t fit powerful overhead lights that make people feel like they’re being interrogated. If you’ve got a lot of dark wood furniture, try painting the ceiling white and using brighter light bulbs.

It’s true that an excess of dark wood in your home can create an almost sinister impression, but if you keep these few key factors in mind when deciding on the distribution of your wooden pieces, you can achieve the right balance and convert your home into an interior designer’s dream (rather than a comic book nightmare).

Easy and Affordable Room Decorating Ideas 

home decor

Nothing makes a home feel more boring and drab than the same decor year after year. As the seasons change and styles come and go, your home or rooms may start to look dated or unappealing. If you’re tired of looking at the same living space day in and day out, liven it up with new and exciting home decor pieces.

If a full remodel isn’t in your budget, adding in fun and quirky pieces can change the look and feel of any room without breaking the bank. Whether you’re shopping for accent furniture or new paintings or bedroom sets, take a look at some easy and affordable room decorating ideas.

1. Shop for Accent Furniture Pieces

A brand new living room suit or bedroom set isn’t always affordable or budget friendly; however, adding in accent furniture pieces can revamp your old or used sofas, beds, or storage furniture. When looking for the perfect accent furniture, think about quality over quantity. An accent piece can be moved from room to room or be used in numerous home decor themes.

For a subtle look, a simple storage bench can add additional space and seating in your home while still changing the look of your room. If you love more quirky styles, a patterned or colorful armchair or accent chair can create a fun and exciting ambiance in your living space. For more affordable pieces, look for stores offering financing or credit options to get discounts on new purchases.

2. Customize Canvas Prints

Creating a new looking in your room can be as easy as hanging wall art. If your home has bare walls or simple decor, adding canvas prints can completely change the look and feel of the room. For seating areas or living spaces, adding canvas prints of your personal photos can take the place of outdated frames.

Similarly, if you prefer creating art yourself, canvases are affordable and easy to obtain to create your own artwork for your bedroom or bathroom walls. For families, letting your children color, paint, or decorate their own canvases can add unique touches to family rooms, playrooms, or office spaces.

Home Accents

3. Create an Oddities Shelf

Storage units are perfect for adding extra space in small rooms or apartments. If you’re struggling to find somewhere to put everything, don’t leave your room cluttered. Investing in a storage shelf not only gives you space for baskets to place your extra belongings, but also allows you more room for unique oddities.

Look at your local home decor stores or discounts stores for fun pieces to place on your shelving. Initial letters, what-nots, framed pictures, and small decorative figurines are perfect for adding character to your room while still keeping your furniture pieces functional and organized.

4. Install New Lighting

From side table lamps to overhead chandeliers, changing the lighting in your home can not only create a new ambiance and look for your old pieces, but it can add additional color and character to any room. Look for lamps and jar lighting that adds additional color into your home.

From patterned pieces to bright and eye-catching looks, installing new lighting can make your room pop. If your home has more subdued or monotone coloring, installing overhead lighting with more intricate details can bring the focal point away from older pieces without overshadowing your already styled decor.  You can take a look at Neon Mama for fun neon lighting in your room.

Bedroom

5. Create an Accent Wall

When you’re in a pinch and want to make over the look of any room, creating an accent wall is the perfect way to change up your home decor. Choose a complimentary color that not only matches your room décor but also adds in an extra touch of color or style. For drab monocolored rooms, a beautiful deep blue or green can take an ordinary space and make it look brand new.

Choose a bright or cheerful color for workspaces and a serene light blue for baths. If painting isn’t an option, add a fabric or create a picture collage to bring a new look to your space. Opt for colorful frames or paintings to show a piece of personality while still keeping your space free from clutter.

Friday Favorites – Week 298 – With Christmas Wreaths

Seasons Greetings!  Welcome to this week’s Friday Favorites party!  For this week’s party, I’m featuring one of my favorite types of decor:  the wreath!

This group of wreaths are all especially for the holiday season, and they are all do it yourself crafts!  Hope you enjoy!

After you link up your posts, I’d also love to invite you to enter these great giveaways: Vera Dog Treat Giveaway  and the $10 Paypal Giveaway.

 

Friday Favorites Link Party

Hosted by:

Simply Sweet Home
Twitter | Facebook | Google + | Pinterest | Instagram

MustLoveHome

Twitter | Facebook | Google + | Pinterest | Instagram

The Chunky Chef

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DIY Christmas Wreath

DIY Christmas Wreath from The Beautydojo

 

Felt Wreath

Easy Felt Wreath from Across the Blvd

Snow Wreath

Snow Wreath from The Country Chic Cottage

Thanks for partying with us each week. Please link up below!



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A Coca-Cola Holiday and 2 DIY Coke Bottle Christmas Ornament Tutorials

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #SipsOfJoy #CollectiveBias

Coca-Cola Holiday

With Christmas and holiday parties right around the corner, it’s time to stock up on drinks!  This year Coca-Cola has added even more fun to the festivities with their special holiday inspired Share a Coke bottles!  These 8.5 inch aluminum bottles are the perfect size for parties.  They also have little Coca-Cola Christmas balls on them, and they feature cute message like, “Share a Coke with Santa.”  How fun!  With cute bottles like this, who needs fancy glassware?

Coca-Cola is also helping us celebrate the season with a #SipsofJoy Twitter Party on Tuesday, December 8, 2015 at 1:00 pm EST. RSVP here.

I got my Coca-Cola products through a special Cartwheel offer at Target.  Just visit this Share a Coke page and enter the Twitter id of a friend or family member. When you do, they will get a 20% off Coca-Cola Cartwheel offer, and YOU will get a 20% off Cartwheel offer! [Read more…]

Easy Home Makeover Projects: Stenciling Your Kitchen

Stenciling is among the cost-effective and a creative home improvement technique. It can work with any décor from contemporary to traditional. It can also be used on a variety of surfaces including the walls. Stencils are particularly ideal for a kitchen where you may not have adequate space to hang artwork, photos, and other decorative elements. Here are some stencilling tips that can help give your kitchen a dramatic look.

Spruce Up Kitchen Furniture

Easy Home Makeover

Image Courtesy of www.cuttingedgestencils.com

A stencil design can give your shabby kitchen cabinets and furniture an instant makeover. If yours is a themed kitchen, you can consider adding stencils to the centre of the cabinet doors with imaginative shapes, like yachts for a beach theme. [Read more…]

Peanut Butter Pie and How to Make a Fall Porch and Photo Booth Scene

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #SpreadTheMagic #CollectiveBias

Peanut Butter Pie 7

With fall festivities comes the opportunity to get creative on so many levels!  I love getting in the kitchen and making some yummy fall recipes for my family and outside events, and I also LOVE decorating our porch and living room for the fall season!  Today I’m sharing a little bit of my fall creativity.  I’ve got a delicious Peanut Butter Pie recipe, featuring yummy fall flavors, and I’m going to share a tutorial on how I create the fall scene on my porch.  The fall scene also doubles a fun photo booth for your trick or treaters and fall guests!

[Read more…]

Friday Favorites – Week 290 – With Halloween Decor

Happy Friday to you!  Even though I’ve put my party post over every week, I feel terrible that I’ve missed out on doing features these last two or three weeks! And I especially regret that all this business happened during what is perhaps my favorite time of year for blogging….I LOVE featuring fall and Halloween ideas!

But on the flipside, one of the thing’s that has kept from me from doing features is all the great blog work I’ve been doing.  Lately I really feel like I’ve cranked out some fun and creative posts!  If you have time, I’d love for you to take a look at all the recipes and projects we’ve been busy with!

Now without further ado, let’s get to this week’s party featuring some oh-so-creative Halloween decor!

Friday Favorites Link Party

Hosted by:

Simply Sweet Home
Twitter | Facebook | Google + | Pinterest | Instagram

MustLoveHome

Twitter | Facebook | Google + | Pinterest | Instagram

The Chunky Chef

Twitter | Facebook | Google + | Pinterest

Halloween Decor 1

Halloween Decor from Curly Crafty Mom

Halloween Decor 2

Fall Mantle from Sondra Lyn

Halloween Decor 3

Crafty Halloween Pumpkins from Debbie-Dabble

Thanks for joining us this week! Link up below!


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Bedroom Makeover and Tips for Working with Small Spaces

Don’t you just love a good room makeover? Me too!  And I especially love it when it’s dramatic! And you can make the simplest of changes sometimes and still make a BIG difference.  For me, it’s all about the bedding.  You can add a new floral quilt, and it can dramatically change the look of your room instantly!

 My husband and I are in the process of making a lot of changes in the house.  A while back we swapped out the furniture.  Shortly thereafter I purchased new bedding, and last week we moved the furniture to an entirely new room.

Think Beyond the Bedroom for a More Cohesive Refresh

One thing I have learned while making changes around the house is that a room makeover feels even better when the rest of your home starts to “match the mood” too. Even something simple, like noticing how the outside of your home looks as you walk up to it, can influence how you feel once you step into your newly refreshed space. If you have been updating paint colors, swapping out textiles, and leaning into a cleaner, more modern vibe indoors, it can be worth considering whether your siding still fits the overall look you are creating. You do not have to tackle everything at once, but keeping your updates cohesive can make your home feel intentional from the outside in.creating. You do not have to tackle everything at once, but keeping your updates cohesive can make your home feel intentional from the outside in.

Here’s the old room:

 

Old Bedroom

 

This photo was taken a long time ago, so it’s not my best, but you get the idea….here I had a green bedspread, featuring red flowers.  It seemed very vibrant when I first purchased it but the pattern definitely got old for me and was starting to feel a little old fashioned.

As for the furniture, I’ve always liked this set.  It had a very classic appeal with ornate features, but it’s always nice to have a change!

Here’s the new bedroom: [Read more…]

Friday Favorites – Week 279 – With Decor Makeovers

Hi everyone.  Welcome to this week’s Friday Favorites party!  Can you believe we are at the end of July?  I feel like I say things like that all the time, but it truly blows my mind sometimes!  Here among all of my summer and back to school content I’ve got running, I’m also in the process of sharing a few home makeover and DIY projects my husband and I have been working on this summer, so for today’s party I decided to share a few makeover projects our fellow blog friends have been working on.  Take a look!  And then I’d LOVE for you to share your projects with us in the linky below!

Friday Favorites Link Party

Hosted by:

Simply Sweet Home
Twitter | Facebook | Google + | Pinterest | Instagram

MustLoveHome

Twitter | Facebook | Google + | Pinterest | Instagram

The Chunky Chef

Twitter | Facebook | Google + | Pinterest [Read more…]