I am a huge neutral palette lover, but dark neutrals have become too gloomy for me and that is mainly what my home's walls consist of. Every few years, I seem to get sick of the decor around me and need change - it is that year! One of my New Year's Resolutions was to brighten up our home. There is a certain style that I have always loved... think Urban Outfitters (but cheaper) mixed with a little rustic charm. This is the year that I am going to make that look happen, slowly but surely! I am sticking with the neutrals, but going lighter, and I still want a pop of color in each and every room - but not in the usual way. I want all of the color to derive from our family photos, living greenery, and our book, movie, and record covers! I want it to seem fresh, but homey.
Here we go, a little bit at a time! First, I am tackling our living room and our kitchen - both of which have dark brown walls. Before I started, there were dark browns everywhere - with turquoise as an accent color. Our wood floors and our living room sectional are both deep espresso, in color. I plan to lighten it up, by going light "greige" on the walls and lighter neutral shades of decor. For those of you who haven't heard of the new popular color, it's basically a mixture of grey and beige. Think driftwood! Typical, right? Yes, but I'm in love with it.
Things I Purchased (recently - for the redo):
- Spray Paint - a DIYer's best friend. Usually I purchase spray paint from Home Depot (each can is around five dollars). Hobby Lobby sells spray paint, as well, and is sometimes cheaper on certain sale days. I purchased three different shades of tan and used them on my current decor: frames, wooden accent chairs, flower pots, sconces, etc. I chose to go with matte finishes, but there are glosses for those who like to shine. If you want a distressed look, have some sandpaper on hand and use it to scuff the edges and corners.
- Fabric - Recovering cushions is one of the best (and cheapest) ways to refurbish and renew a piece of furniture. It's also super easy, as long as you have a staple gun! We have an antique piano that is the focal point of our living room. I bought one yard of fabric, for six dollars (with a printable 40% off coupon), at Hobby Lobby. The piano is also a dark espresso color, so I chose a creme based fabric with a tan trellis print.
- Light Strands - After Christmas is always the best time to find great deals on all types of light strands! I picked up two strands, with large clear bulbs, at Walmart for seven dollars each. Another new trend that I've noticed is copper strands with the miniature LED lights attached - they give more lighting and the wire is completely unnoticeable. I found these, on sale for five dollars each, at Bed Bath & Beyond. I had my husband place a corner hook, in our ceiling, above his record player stand. I was able to wrap the miniature lights around the wires of the larger strand of bulbs, and then draped them beneath the corner.
- Wooden Stands - These were our two most expensive purchases, for our living room redo. We've had the same, cheap, vinyl television stand for about six years. Our actual television grew in size a few years ago, so we figured it was finally time to upgrade! It is simple, but real wood and sturdy - we ordered it, online, from Walmart. We purchased it, for $125 dollars, after Christmas and it was 25% off. The second piece of furniture that we purchased was a stand for my husband's record player. We sort of made our own! Target was having a storage sale, so we bought a 2-cube storage shelf that was similar to our new TV stand, in color. We also purchased two sets of wheels that we were able to attach (by drill) to the bottom of the shelf! So now my husband can easily move his record player, around the house, whenever we have company. In total, it cost us forty dollars to create.
- Knobs/Pulls - This is actually something that I purchased a few years ago and just now put to use. Why it took this long, I'll never know! I've previously bought decorative knobs and pulls from Hobby Lobby, when they are 50% off. Individually, they are still pricey if you're trying to redo a whole set of kitchen cabinets. We found an entire set, at Home Depot, for around twenty dollars. I'm pretty positive that our previous knobs were from when our home was originally built, in the 1960's. They're still gorgeous, but rusted and some had broken apart. Our cabinets are a creme color, so we chose a very dark finish for the hardware - but that were also edged with a light copper finish (to coincide with my new copper mule mugs, that I've proudly displayed above our pub table).
House Plants & Pottery - Here comes the color! I have no knack for Herbology (for my "Potter Heads" out there), but have a serious love for plants. My husband is the one with the green thumb. Hopefully, I can keep these alive - but thank goodness that artificial plants these days look more realistic, just in case! We bought two groupings of succulents, at Home Depot. Both came in super cute pots and were only five dollars each. My husband picked out a Spider Plant and some Devil's Ivy, both are short in height and need little tending too. We also went with a taller, tree type houseplant (don't ask me the name - sadly, the tag got thrown away). Each of those cost $10-$12 dollars, each.
- Sconces & Frames - Two words (spray paint).
- Wall Art - I love to move things around when I am redecorating! I am still looking to keep some color, when I begin to redecorate our bedroom. I moved all of our turquoise decor into our master bedroom - and brought all of the neutral decor out into the living room. I took everything off the walls and redesigned how I wanted each thing to be placed. I moved around some of our wall shelves and some larger window pane photo frames. I also brought out a white wire birdcage, that has a flat back and hangs on the wall, from our bedroom and put it in the living room.
- Shelves - Another DIY favorite item, pallets. My husband works in the lawn care business, so pallets are abundant! Last spring, we painted and distressed a larger sized one. It was then placed above the piano - on it are photo frames, a large wooden/burlap "Y", candles, succulents, etc. We used another pallet and cut it into pieces, making two wall shelves to place record albums in. Super easy to paint and hang on walls! I added some burlap trim to give them some visible texture.
- Baskets - I know that everyone has some type of basket laying around the house. I move them around and refill them, frequently! I had several, for Jude's changing table, when he was smaller. Now they are being used in random places, for different things. I wanted Jude to be able to have easy access to some of his favorite toys, in the living room - so in the baskets they go! Now they're easily hidden and the baskets are super cute. I also have a few wire baskets, , that were once used in my bathroom, placed under my TV stand to house books.
- Curtains - We have an older house, with very large living room windows. I have the same type of curtains in our living room, our bedroom, and in our son's bedroom. They're sheer and simple, but each different lengths. I wanted floor length ones in our living room, so I simply switched our living room ones with the curtains from our son's room! Gave them a good washing and "ta-da".
- Bench Seating - We initially bought a small 3-cube storage bench for our hallway, the space was so empty. I decided to bring the bench out into the living room, to create more seating and storage. I replaced it, in the hallway, with a small couch table that we were using in the living room (in between accent chairs).
I'm a slow mover, when it comes to redecorating. I hate settling for a look - I want it to be perfect - but it doesn't have to be expensive to be perfect (or to even look expensive)! Pinterest is always a huge help, if you're looking for other decorating hacks. It is definitely my "go to", in the world of DIY decor. Hopefully this blog has given you some tips too - I'll be posting more of my favorite decor dos, as I go!
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