How Much Funiture Can You Switch Around in One Weekend?

Y'all, I my brain has been in over drive again. We finished a TON of projects around the house last month before my sister's Wedding Reception. I was looking forward to a month of nothing much going on around our house for the month of Nov. as we gear of for Christmas decorating in Dec.

Yeah, that didn't happen.

Thursday night I was sitting on the couch editing pictures and my lap top died. I got up to get a charger and then moved the couch I was sitting on to plug it in. Somehow when I did this, I imagined our living room laid out completely differently.

It was now midnight and I couldn't shut my bran off. When we moved into this house, almost 4 years ago, my husband told me that the cable HAD to go where it was in the living room. I just listened, and have been working around it. I was now questioning whether it HAD to be this way, or if it was just EASIER if it was this way.

I talked to my husband about the new plan and found that he could actually move the cable to the interior wall that I wanted it on. It just meant I was gong to have to stand on a ladder outside and my sweet husband was going to have to make several trips into the attic.

The short version is that my wonderful husband executed my plan beautifully! We moved the cable and rearranged the living room. But, you know what that means. The SNOWBALL. It always happens. It creates other projects and messes with other rooms. I now have a long list of new projects.

This post is getting long.

I am not going to show you how much bigger our living room now feels, but I am going to show you the bookcases that got moved to our den. They got the boot from the living room and are now at home in our den. We just removed the center one that was meant to hold a TV. I obviously had to paint the backs again, because that is just what I do. I am planning to fill you in with all of the details, but for now, you just get this one picture.

The Den is DONE!

I am so happy to finally have this room D.O.N.E! When we moved into this house 2.5 years ago I had no idea how we were actually going to use this room. We already have a living room with a T.V. and this room has two exterior doors, so it gets a lot of traffic. This room has gone through a lot of hand me down furniture and then I sold everything in our house that wasn't just right and was able to trade or purchase the rest of the items that I needed to make this room function for us.

 

The built-ins are finally teal! They were cream when we moved in, and then I painted them navy shortly after. I really liked the navy, but soon realized that I would rather carry the colors brown, teal, and green throughout the whole bottom floor of our house for a more cohesive feel, so the navy went away. I actually painted them teal briefly, but we didn't have much furniture in here, so it didn't really do much for the room. We eventually got my parents hand me down red and gold gingham love seat so I painted them a neutral color so that things didn't look crazy and they stayed neutral when we got my in-laws love seat. They are going to stay teal for a while.

Do you remember the Threshold Shower Curtain that I used to recover my dining room chairs?

Well, it made an appearance in the den as well. This time I used it to make a fixed roman shade for the door that leads to the garage, and a pillow cover for the pillow on the love seat.

I thought about adding more pillows in another print, but they would just end up on the floor and I would spend my days picking them up over and over, so I decided that just one was more practical.

I took the mirrors down that were originally over the love seat and moved them to another room. I searched and searched for something to put over the love seat and then happened to come across this poster print that was on sale at Hobby Lobby for 50% off. I already had the frame, it just needed a quick paint job and it was good to go. I have always liked peacocks, mostly because my Grandmother did and my Mom always talked about how much she liked them.

I finally found a mirror at Target that I like over the console. One day I need to do a post about what is in this console. It is basically a mini mudroom/drop zone/office for my thirty-one business.

It is so nice to have this done! I plan to do a source list later this week, so if you have any questions feel free to leave them in the comments.



Linking up to these Blog Parties Tatertots and Jello - A Bowl Full of Lemons - The Bliss Diaries - It's Overflowing - The Shabby Nest -House of Hepworths

Den Decor Board

Oh, Hi!

I feel like I keep having to explain my lack of very inconsistent blogging. I have had computer issues, we are trying to finish up the school year, and I have been knee deep in making changes around the house. Blogging just hasn't happened. I am hoping that with the computer issue resolved I should be a little more consistent. I really do have a lot to show you.

You may remember that I have been working on adding some color to our very brown den. I made a quick decor board to show you some of our main furniture items and a few of the ways I am bringing in some color. I am hoping to have the full reveal ready sometime next week.

Have a great weekend!

Den Update

The last time I mentioned our den I had picked out a brand new love seat that I was waiting to purchase, and planning to paint the back of our built-ins. Fast forward to now and almost all of our furniture has changed.

The original plan was to sell what I didn't want and purchase a love seat, but through a series of events, being patient, and needing to be creative with my resources, I managed to get a lot more than just a love seat. I didn't get the original love seat that I had my eye on, but I did get one that was only a week old, a new rug for the room, new dining room chairs that fit the dining room much better, and new living room furniture without spending any money out of pocket. I only used the funds that I got from selling pieces of furniture that weren't right for our home.

I am now starting with a very neutral/brown den, and couldn't be more thrilled about it. Now the plan is to bring in some pattern color. I just have to figure out what I want.

To Do List
sew a new window shade for the door, something colorful
possibly paint the mirrors...what color?
paint the back of the built-ins
add colorful throw pillows
art over the credenza

Anyone else switching all of your furniture around?

How many thirty-one bags do you spot? Join my private thirty-one page on facebook, Nikki Has A Bag For That. Stay up to date on current customer specials, and request info on purchasing or fundraising.

Don't forget to enter the giveaway for the Custom Design Board. Winner will be announced on Saturday, May 4th.

The Built Ins - Restyled

It is no secret that I have been working on some updates in our den. It has been a slow change, but it has been in a constant state of change since we moved in a little over two years ago. Sometimes in takes living in a place for some time to really know how you want to use the room. Sometimes you can work with hand me down furniture, and sometimes it's better to sell it all on Craigslist and just start over.

I tried and tried to work with what we had, and were given, but the den has never felt or looked just right to me. Sure, every change has been an upgrade, but it has never been cohesive or exactly what I wanted. It has basically been a room full of other peoples' castaways that just didn't go together. We were blessed to actually have furniture in this room to use for all of this time, but I was ready for it to feel like us. I also REALLY wanted the boys to have the leather loveseat in their playroom. I am still working on the whole furniture thing, but we are making progress. The red chair is gone and the leather loveseat has been moved to the playroom. I am getting a new neutral loveseat and a vintage chair from my Mom's house that used to belong to my grandmother. It will need to be reupholstered, so I will be picking out new fabric for that as well. I am getting way ahead of myself. I need to get back to the built ins.
 

 

I restyled the built ins again. I am going to show you what they look like now, because they are actually going to change again very soon. I have painted the backs of these 3 times, but with the revolving furniture they had to go neutral for a while to not stick out. I like that they feel nice and calm with mostly white pieces and books that have been turned around to blend in.

Overall I am pretty happy with the "stuff" on them. Will they change again at some point? I am sure, I can't leave stuff like that alone forever.

Since I am getting a new loveseat in a very neutral color and a brown rug, I plan to bring some color in by painting the backs of the bookcases again. I still haven't decided on a color, but I have it narrowed down to two. I am waiting until I actually have the couch so that I can pick out fabric for the chair, and then I will pick a color for the bookcases.

 Here is a look at the progression of the styling on these over the last 2 years.

Do you have bookcases or built ins that you are constantly tweaking? I can't be alone...



Linking up to these Blog Parties Tatertots and Jello - A Bowl Full of Lemons - The Bliss Diaries - Positely Splendid - Delightful Order - It's Overflowing - The Shabby Nest 
-House of Hepworths 

The Den

I have done a terrible job of blogging about the updates, changes, and tweaks that have happened around our house this year. I have gone back and forth about how to catch you up to speed, but all I can really do it just jump in. You would probably be bored if I gave you a play by play of every little thing that happened/changed/or I changed my mind, so I am going to try to keep this somewhat condensed to simply catch up.

I plan to go one room at a time. I will started with where we started, where we are now, and where we are headed. I didn't say any of my rooms are done, but I do have a direction in each on that we are heading towards.

Let's start with the den. The one place in our house that I had no idea what to do with. We have never had 2 living areas in a house, so we didn't have enough furniture. I still haven't been able to purchase exactly what I want, but we have been blessed with some hand me downs.

The jumping off point for this room was the rug. It is the only thing that I picked out new for this room. I wanted this room to be very casual, comfortable, and kid friendly. There is no t.v. in this room, but we spend a lot of time in here. We also use this room at the main entrance to our house so it's a busy place most of the time.

 Here is the before. Right after we moved in and the floors had just been finished.

 In-between.

In-between. Hand me down couch from my parents that I liked better than the one we have now, but it wasn't my style or practical at all with our boys for right now. Bookcases looking extra clutter-y.

And the room today. With a different hand me down couch that is more practical with our boys, but still not my style of color preference.

I will tell you that the built-in book cases have looked better. See here. We just got a new entertainment center in our living room and I needed most of what was originally here in the new space or somewhere else altogether. I recently held a thirty-one gifts fundraiser for my mom at our house 2 days after getting the new entertainment center, so I needed everything to at least look pulled together.  I used my stuff in the living room, and then raided my mom's house for fall decor and books to fill this in until I could decide what I wanted and then purchase more stuff.

                 

               
 

We enter our house through this room, both from the garage and the back door when the kids are playing so this buffet helps store most of the clutter.

I hot glued contact paper to the back of the glass doors so that you can't see the mess.

This room still has a ways to go. I want to upgrade the loveseat to something more like this.

I also want to upgrade the chair to something more like this one in a grayish tone.

Once furniture upgrades have been made I will have a brown, brown room. Not a problem, I'll just add some nice colorful pillows, and maybe paint the backs of the built-ins again. And change the mirrors and artwork. Does it ever end?

The good thing is at least now I know where I am headed. I know for sure that I do better with nice neutral pieces of furniture so that I can add in color, pattern, and texture with pillows and accessories. I am that girl. The one that likes to change things up.  A red chair and a navy couch just don't do it for me. One day this room will be a better reflection of my real style.

mirrors

First, I have to make a confession. I have been leaving you our of the loop on my den. I have been frustrated with it. However, it looks nothing like the last pics I have posted. Almost everything has changed. I'm still not done, and there is still some major progress to be made. But, I have some new mirrors that I thought I would show to you. My husband was about to throw them in the dumpster at a job site. He decided that I might want to see what I could do with them so he brought them to me.

He was right. After a little primer and Krylon Ivy Leaf spray paint and they look like this. Now I just have to figure out the best way to get you all up to speed on my den.

another gallery wall

I will always be a fan of gallery walls. Matching frames, non matching frames, random items, black and white pics, colored pics, initials, it all goes.

One of my main goals in our den has been to incorporate more items that are personal to my husband. Now, I still have full veto power of all things on display in our home, but I do want our home to represent everyone that lives here.

When we were unpacking all of our stuff after we moved in, just six short months ago, I came across several things that my husband has been carrying around with him for may years. Some items have moved with him through 20-30 moves. I decided that if they were important enough for him to hang on to for that long, then maybe they should be on display. Things like flags, menus, and cassette tapes didn't quite make the cut, but he had a framed pic of Spicy the pony (the pony that my husband's grandfather had on his farm when my husband was a kid), and a skateboard that was drawn with a marker (during Sunday School) by one of his buddies.

I decided that a gallery wall above my husband's desk in the den was the best place to create a gallery of all the things that have meaning to him. Our fav photo of Prague (my in-laws used to live there and still travel there pretty frequently), a stained glass pic that is special to my husband, a pic of our sweet boys, a skateboard marker drawing, and of course,  Spicy the pony in her original frame.

I'm still looking for the perfect empty fame to put around the stained glass pic, I just haven't found it yet. The frame is small and I didn't want to reframe it because the actual frame is part of what makes it special, but I do want it to look more prominent so I think a larger open frame around the exiting frame will do the trick.

What is your fav type of gallery wall? Do you have any in your home?