Living Room Before
The very first room that we tackled was our front living room. We had never done any real painting before and chose a neutral color that we thought would look good on the walls. The art in the room said little about our family and more about Linens ‘N Things. The color, just one tiny shade away from white and had pinkish tones to it that I just did not like. I did not have the heart or time to rethink our decisions, but five years later we have returned to that first room to revamp it.
This lamp, for instance, was one of my least favorite pieces in the room. The lampshade was dirty from years of use and abuse from my children and the brass spoke of another era altogether. I purchased a $3.99 can of black spray paint and visited Hobby Lobby where I found a new lampshade (marked at $40, but on sale for $20) and gave this little piece a makeover.
This tired old lamp now looks positively perfect in my house. With the coat of black paint and chocolate shade, it reminds me of a piece I would love in Restoration Hardware. Notice the walls? That is the new color we chose Dutch Boy in Honey Bear. It was the perfect neutral yellow that brightened our room up and made it look more modern.
That Linens ‘N Things art that spoke nothing of our family and our life has been replaced with three black-and-white 8×10′s that I had printed at Sam’s Club for a total of $4.38.
The first picture was taken just a couple of weeks ago of Emily’s foot dangling as she was swinging in the air at the park. Her little lacy socks and Mary Jane shoes were too perfect not to photograph. It spoke volumes about Emily’s girly-girl attitude even for a day of playing in the mulch.
The second picture, was a shot I took this fall of my entryway with all of the pretty fallen leaves and my sweet little white pumpkins. My favorite fall boots are resting in the corner after I had come in from raking.
The last picture was my most glamorous day ever- a photo shoot in my home with Redbook Magazine. Those shoes aren’t even mine, they are my friend’s, Kathy Friend from Flourish Boutique, who had supplied the wardrobe for the day. It was one of the most fun & exciting days for our family and that moment sealed the deal on our credit card free life.
I found beautiful picture frames at Hobby Lobby in black, to match our “new” lamp for $8 each. When you walk in, it brings people into a conversation about what those moments mean to us, who photographed them, and that our family is more than stock art from a home supplies store.
The furniture remained the same, but the curtains were switched to a cotton beige that would match the lampshade in the room. I found these for $19.99 at Target, but did four panels instead of two since this window is larger. The only other addition to the room was the leather ottoman resting next to our new personalized corner to add a little storage space for $59 from Target.
Faucet Before
Faucet After
Little changes like a dripping and corroded faucet replaced with an oil-rubbed bronze one was a quick simple fix that brings me a lot of joy and less hassle when washing my dishes. We could have bought another white faucet, which would have been a lot less expensive, but it didn’t speak of our personal taste or have our personal stamp on it. These add personalization to our space and with each project behind us, the house becomes more about us and less about the previous owners that owned it before us.
With each project, we are able to modernize the house that I thought said nothing about our family. As we complete these projects that personalize our space, I find myself falling in love with corners in our home that I never thought I would love.
What have you done to personalize your home that you are most proud of?
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Amy! This is all GORGEOUS! I love, love, love the framed photos of your “real life.” That is our plan for wall art when we can ever just sit down and decide on some prints. Although, for less than $5 for three prints, perhaps we don’t need to overthink too much and just pick some favorites and switch them out later.
Thanks for sharing these. I love what you did to the lamp! Very inspiring.
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The photo of your daughter’s foot is the most adorable wall art I’ve seen in ages. Too bad my daughter is too old for this but thanks for the inspiration.
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I love it. It looks great. We’ve also replaced our faucet. But the biggest change is the paint job. We invested in paint for almost every single room. It’s the first time we’ve ever been able to paint, and it’s OURS. (Which reminds me; I really need to post some pictures.)
Hugs,
Melinda
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Wow! You are something! That is amazing! Great job Amy! Thanks for the inspiration!
Blessings!
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LOOOVE the b&w; photos
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LOVE the new pictures! How fun looking at your Living Room and knowing that I was in it! I have tons of pictures that I still need to get up on our walls.
Thanks for sharing!
~Liz
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Beautiful home improvements and inexpensive too. You’ve given me the itch to do something to really personalize my home!
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Lovely Amy, just beautiful! I love the paint color and especially the b&w; photos! Who took that one of your feet?! Couldn't have been you!
I do have one suggestion though. A good friend of my was an interior designer in B.C. times (before children) and she give me this hint. The proper height for a framed piece (photo, painting, mirror, etc.) over a couch is about 8 inches above the back. So maybe bring your mirror down just a bit.
Here is a link I found awhile back with suggestions for hanging pictures that mentions the same height:
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/27236
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I added a few pictures in black and white to the top of our tv unit. Now instead of empty cubbies, we have pretty pictures of the kids and 2 inexpensive baskets for storing remotes and magazines. I also have a little black wire bird from Target that is really cute. It just makes it feel so much friendlier.
When we moved in to our brand new house it was all a blank slate. We decided that our priorities would be the rooms we spent the most time in – kitchen and family room. After that were the kids rooms.
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You’ve done an awesome job!
Very cool, and I love how you emphasized that you did it credit card free!
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I love…love…love the photos
what a great idea. Pam, South Bend
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Love what you’ve done with your living room! Your prints are fantastic and such sweet memories
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What an inspiring post! Now I want to make our home more “us”, too! Well done!
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Amy, GREAT job!!!! I love the way the art/photos really personalize your home!!!! Your home should be all about your family, not some ‘look’! I know that your children will remember it!!!
Heather
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love the simple, yet elegant way you made over your space… love that sort of thing…and I love paint!
Here are a couple links to some of the recent projects I have done at our place…we are somewhat limited in what’s allowed as we live in a parsonage.
http://plentytopraise.blogspot.com/2009/03/nesting-projects.html
http://plentytopraise.blogspot.com/2008/08/shades-of-white.html
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I love the 3 black & white photos – especially the one of your shoes. It's amazing how pictures like that can hold so much meaning…and so many memories.
Thanks for the inspiration.
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oh my gosh… you did a great job…seriously beautiful!
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Wow, thank you all so much for the comments on this post. I am so happy with how everything turned out and I hope it provided some inspiration for personalizing your space without spending a lot of money. We are so pleased with our room!
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Enjoyed seeing these makeovers, Amy. Nice job! The photographs are aweseome!
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This looks great! I never would have thought about black and white photographs of shoes…but if those little girl feet aren’t cute, I don’t know what is!
Of all the things I’ve shifted around from house to house, my kids’ artwork makes it most personal to me. I love seeing the color and originality on the wall–could never replace those with a generic print.
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Great ideas Amy! I love the personalization to make it so much more "yours". I too have a bunch of LNT pics that I bought when I got my first place. What I've been doing is slicing open the kraft paper on the backs and reusing the fancy pretty frames for my own pics. Then I just replace the paper on the back & tape it up with mailing tape. Voila!
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