Monday, September 10, 2012

Officially my favorite room in the house

As the summer draws to a close, I find myself doing a lot of "fall cleaning" instead of "spring cleaning".  I'm preparing for the long and (in my opinion) dreary winter.  You have probably figured out by now that I'm no stranger to color.  It's something that really makes me happy.  The constant is color, but what color it is can change like the wind.  So, in our transition from summer to winter, my husband and I decided it was time for a family room update.  Something bright, fresh, and clean.  

I can officially say that this is my favorite room in the house.  It's happy, uplifting, and soothing all at the same time.  The major pieces are neutral, with pops of color being the interchangeable accessories, with exception to the window treatments which I make myself so they are typically cost friendly.  



The starting point was the sofas that I absolutely fell in love with.  With a budget friendly price tag, they were a nice fit for us.  I love the clean lines, but that they still pair well with a vintage/eclectic/coastal/cottage style.  The coffee table we have had since our very first apartment.  So, though it's nothing special in appearance, it has some sentimental value.  We bought it(with change we saved in a jar!) from an antique dealer, but it's actually handmade and solid wood.  It's gone through some changes, recently being sanded, restained, and painted and actually started out as a small kitchen table before we chopped the legs off.



Every time I was out and about I kept my eyes out for the perfect throw pillows, but I just couldn't find anything that spoke to me.  I, instead, opted to go to the fabric store and make my own.  I wanted something that had a fun print, but that was a thick woven fabric because let's face it, we use our pillows so they need to be tough.  I couldn't be happier with these cheerful and colorful fabrics!



I am head over heels in l.o.v.e. with the large mirror above the sofa.  This was a $20 flea market find that was gold and had been stowed away in one of our closets for a couple of years.  I knew for $20 I could find a place to put it and I think with a fresh coat of white paint it looks perfect in it's new home.  Also, it's hard to tell in the picture, but there's a white bird cage on top of the T.V. cabinet.  I hope to find a few more to fill the space and may paint them green and aqua.  Not sure that the white is doing the trick for me.



The window treatments are one of my favorite features of the room.  My husband and I married in October 2008 and had a peacock colored wedding.  Not so much peacock feathers, though there were a few, but more just the jewel tones of the peacock.  Anyway, ever since then I have a little "thing" for peacocks.  I've had my eye on this fabric for a few years, so to finally have the chance to use it was fun.  One of my favorite tricks when hanging window treatments is to hang them high, which draws the eye up and makes your windows appear larger, and your ceilings higher.  There's nothing worse than a squatty window ;)  I also had a hard time finding a large(and affordable) piece of art work for the wall in between the two windows so I decided to pick up a brush(for the first time since high school) and attempt my own painting.  It's not a Monet, but I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.  It incorporates all of the colors I wanted with an ombre effect to it.



This is another little piece that's been with us for quite a while, and now that the walls are aqua, needs to be painted white.  The pretty bird picture is more cheap art.  It came from an Anthropologie calender several years ago and worked quite well in my new space as well as the old.  So, there it stayed.  



Opposite the sofa is the start of a gallery wall.  I'll eventually add more art as I find pieces that fit, but Rome wasn't built in a day(I have to remind my husband!).  With the exception of the temporary cut of fabric in the small oval frame, the rest are Etsy finds.  The tree is cool because it has R+J 2008(our initials and year we were married) in the trunk as if it were carved in there.  


(poor picture quality here)

This print in particular has some sentimental value because it was specially made by the artist(on Etsy) who created our peacock wedding invitations.  I really love that she was able to do this for us!  

So, there you have it!  Our new family room.  I'm sure it will receive a few more things here and there, but for the most part I am thrilled with our new space!