The Living Room: A Lesson Learned from Paint Drama

Has this ever happened to you? You see something that needs to be fixed, come up with what you think is a grand plan to fix it, put said plan in action, and then realize that you made it worst than it was before you started?

Yeah... that was me this weekend. To give you better context of what happened let me tell you a short story. About a year or so ago I found some oops paint for about $30. It was a 5 gallon container that covered pretty much my whole downstairs except for one wall and two other smaller areas. I went back to get the paint matched but no matter what they tried it could not be matched. So... I just went with the almost matched paint and put it up. After painting the wall I immediately hated it. I tried to deal with it by hanging curtains and alot of stuff on the wall... but even that didn't help.

Fast forward to this weekend.. I had had enough of that wall. The match was awful, it looked horrible in pictures and I was tired of looking at it.  The back wall just was not matched up enough for me. In the grand scale of things, was it small, yes, but I felt I HAD to fix it. Here it is before:

My favorite feature in my living room is my striped wall. So I headed out to the store to get some paint.  I thought it would be near impossible to match the darker shade so I figured I would match the lighter shade on the striped wall. Yeah, bad idea. Here is what happened. 

See that wall behind couch, It was bad ya'll..It dried to a gray-blue color,  just terrible. Not sure where I got the idea to get that paint color. I honestly had no plan, I just picked a color at random and figured I would update the stripes. Brandon said it looked like white-out. He was right :( 

I went back to the drawing board. I am one of those lazy and impatient persons who will not buy paint samples, so I took some paint card booklet. I ripped out some of the chips and put them up against the wall. That was my process. Much more planning that the first time and it paid off. I also decided I would match the darker color and not the lighter.

After another hour of work, I had the perfect match and was feeling much better about life. I ended up going with Causal Khaki from Behr. Luckily, it is a perfect match so no more trying to figure out about oops paint matching. 

I learned a serious lesson in patience..... 

THERE ARE NO SHORTCUTS. This small yet powerful lesson can be applied to ANYTHING in life. You can't shortcut your way through things, well maybe a little, but in general, you have to do the proper planning and proper work if you want the proper results.

Not only was this an extra cost to buy more paint, but it also took up time that I could have been devoting to other things. 

It reinforced what I actually already knew: Prior Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance... It's so true ya'll!

Anywho, all is back well with the world, I'm feeling much better about the color and happy to move on from it and get my living room completed!

So tell me, what lesson have you learned from home that you can apply to everyday life?

Adding Curtains to the Living Room

For a while now I have thinking about adding curtains to the living room. I have been working on finally completing the living room. Believe it or not, I've been in my home 4 years and I STILL don't have many completed spaces. Shame I know, but it's hard for me to settle down on something when I love to decorate.

Well, now I feel I have come to a comfort zone with the living room and now I am in the process of adding finishing touches. Today, I added curtains to the living room! I have been a bit indecisive about this, but after some reassurance from some of my blogger buddies I went ahead and got it done.

I haven't completed the room, so I'll only be showing a small section today. Here is what I started with:

I purchased a pair of white curtains from IKEA. The great thing about their curtains is that they are super long, which works well for my house because I have high ceilings.  They are semi sheer and are pretty lightweight.

I wanted to add a little pop of color so I paint the top and outside border of each curtain using paint from Home Decorators Collection called Indigo Ink. I have been majorly inspired by this picture here of my daughter in between me and her father. The colors have been an inspiration throughout my space.

For the curtain rods, I thought I'd be smart and try to make some DIY curtain rods using electrical conduit. Long story short, it didn't work out, so I purchased these curtain rods from Home Depot. I love the simplicity of them and the finish matches my other accents in the room well.

With the curtains being so thin, the paint bleed right through onto the drop cloth. I wasn't sure if I would like the look but once I got them hung, I actually like it. It has a weathered, finished but not finished look.

and here we have the curtains. I think it was the layer that my living room needed. I realized the curtains also solved another problem I had. I've always felt my couch looked too short and the ceiling being high made it worst. When I added the curtains, the couch instantly didn't feel too short. I believe it's probably the way the curtains frame the window behind the couch.

So tell me what do you think? I am so happy that I finally decided to add curtains to the living room. I hope to have this space fully done and some pics up soon!

If you are interested in stenciling curtains and need some ideas check out some of my stencil curtains I have around the house:

Dining Room Curtains
Polka Dot Curtains
Master Bedroom Curtains

How To: Coffee Table Styling for Fall

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

Is anyone else counting down to Fall like me?? Fall has always been my favorite season, I love the cooler weather, the clothes, the home decor for fall, and let's not forget the fact that all the spring and summer bugs go away. It's wonderful!

I've already started my Fall fashion shopping and now I'm preparing my house for Fall. I have finished my coffee table and I have the easy how to guide that I want to share! You can create a great Fall coffee table set up by keeping these three things in mind:

1.Texture Combinations
2. Nature Elements 
3. Varying Heights

TEXTURE COMBINATIONS

I love to combine glass, wood, metallic, and whatever other texture I can find. By layering different textures you give your coffee table so much interest. Having everything just wood or just glass can be quite boring frankly. So jazz it up a bit with some texture combinations.

I placed this wooden bowl here to collect remotes, or other small things that need to be easily accessed. It fits perfectly on my coffee table.

The tray I am using here is actually a piece of wall art that I made a few years ago. I searched high and low for the perfect tray and then one day sat this down and it just worked. I love re-purposing items and using items for their unintended uses. So keep in mind if you ever need a tray, try out a picture frame.

This is another way that I have included texture. The silver pops very well with the wood.

NATURE ELEMENTS

Regardless of the season, I believe you always need nature on the table. In the Spring or Summer I like to have flowers. For the Fall and Winter I like to have branches. You can either purchase faux branches or scavenge the yard for some. You can also include other outside items such as pine cones or berries.

These are some faux branches that I had lying around the house. I broke them into smaller pieces and placed them into a vase on the coffee table. Add a piece like this to your coffee table to incorporate the nature elements.

VARYING HEIGHTS

Varying heights adds a lot of interest. You can use any grouping of items. I like to group my items in odd numbers. You can use candles, accent pieces, decorative balls, or anything that you would like. 

I usually use candles for varying heights.. There something about a warm relaxing fragrances that makes me think of Fall. You can easily incorporate fragrances with American Home™ by Yankee Candle® Brand. These candles can be found at Walmart in the Home and Candle section.

My favorite scents are Sweet & Salty Caramel, Buttercream Frosting, Banana Walnut Bread. The fragrances are wonderful, it fills the room but is not overpowering. The perfect blend. 

The prices are very reasonable, I purchased a 4oz Small Tumbler Candle for $4.93, a 12oz Medium 2-Wick Tumbler Candle for $10.93 and the 19oz Large 2-Wick Tumbler Candle for $14.93. 

I tend to burn more candle during the Fall and Winter, so I am always sure to read the instructions very carefully, to prevent any kind of incidents and I never use them in my daughter's room. So please make sure you do the same, especially if you have kids.

So now you have my guide to styling your coffee table! From texture combinations, nature elements, to varying heights with American Home™ by Yankee Candle® Brand. Please share me me which of these tips will you be incorporating for your coffee table? Will you use them all?

To Sectional or To Not Sectional....That is the Question!

How do you all feel about sectionals???  I have been battling back and forth over rather or not to put one in my living room. Well actually, I have one, so I should explain better. When we first moved in I purchased a sectional from World Market. I absolutely loved it! It is very versatile. All the pieces come apart so you can arrange the set how you would like. For the first year it was a sectional, then broken up into pieces, then some pieces were put in other room and I had one couch with two chairs.

Well now I'm back on my sectional train so it's back in the living room... and I'm not sure how I went so long without it! I need you all to tell me what you think about it.

Here's the room before

Now with the sectional.

I personally have always like them. I think they instantly make a room feel cozy. The sectional helps to divide up my living space since I am in an open concept floor plan. Also, they are great for lounging! My daughter is already kicked up on it.

What I love most about this sectional is that it is so comfy. I'm curled up right now in the corner as I type this post.

So now I have the sectional and this gorgeous chair I will share about sometime soon. This room is still very much under construction so once completed I will have a post about the finished living room.

Ok and this is not the prettiest picture and my child has completely taken over the TV, but it gives you an idea of my sight line now with the sectional. I can see all the way through to my entryway.

So what do you think? To sectional or to not sectional? ......that is the question!

My Friend's Space: Eclectic Beauty

This past Sunday I visited my friend's house. She recently purchased a house that she is renovating. I really love her house and it has a lot of great potential. She is about finished with her living room, with the exception of painting. I love how it looks. She chose an eclectic style...it is so gorgeous!

(Please excuse some of the quality these photos as I took them with my cell phone)

I love the blue tones in her space! and let's talk about this coffee table. It is gorge! She got it from Restoration Hardware.

She also found some great pieces at Goodwill. She had the couch on the right reupholstered and the chairs to left are as they were purchased. I love both pieces!

She used accent pieces to bring in pops of orange into the room such as this orange pillow and the orange and yellow accent piece against the wall. The wall art also has the hints of orange in it.

And here is another view of the room. I so wish I could have gotten a good picture of the front of these brown chairs. Unfortunately, the lighting and my cell phone just could not get the job done. But please know they are also great pieces she also found at Restoration Hardware.

A special thanks to my friend, Cyana for letting me show off her space on my blog.

So what do you think of this space?