Week One: Living Room Refresh

Once upon a time, we bought a farm with a small ranch-style house. It needed cleaning and paint and some updating - which we've been steadily doing for the past 6 years, getting it ready for the some day move there full-time day. In the meantime, we enjoy getting away on weekends and occasionally a week at a time.

 One space I've struggled with is the living room - it's tiny...11x14' tiny... with a huge angled fireplace that eats up lots of space.

I call it cozy and I've done my best using second hand finds to make it comfortable BUT the decor has never felt quite right. I rearranged the furniture several times and finally hit upon what I feel was the best layout.

And yet it still felt off. So I enlisted the help of my friend KariAnne of Thistlewood Farms. She's brilliant. We talked and discussed my likes and all and she came up with a wonderful plan.

Use red. Lots of it. With wood accents. And a bigger rug. With a touch of blue. Here's the mood board she put together for me.

I ran with it. The rug is ordered and on it's way. (I found one I think will be perfect).

I made new pillows. All of them with red.

I have material to turn the miniblinds into a roman shade - And it has red too. My color- loving heart is very happy!

And we're taking the beast from the art room and turning it into an entertainment center for the tv. Bruce will have to do some modification on it then I'm going to paint it to refresh it. (Right now it's pretty ugly but the size is perfect for the space).

Sorry about the poor quality picture. It. seems this is the only photo I have of the beast.

I'm excited. It's going to finally looked pulled together using furniture we already have.

And that fireplace that takes up one whole wall? It's possibly getting a makeover too. I can't wait.

*If you need help with your spaces, you can find KariAnne over at her wonderful blog Thistlewood Farms. But if you want to jump right into decorating, may I recommend her super cute, super helpful DIY Home Planner book?

It's like having KariAnne with you each step of your decorating journey plus it helps you keep track of all your decisions as you go. (I have one and I've been busy putting samples and fabric swatches in it, sketching floor plans out, and so on. I wasn't asked to mention her book, but I really do find it extremely useful when planning your home decorating. And did I mention cute?).

Next week, I'll be talking about the rug and pillows. Be sure to hop back over to see what I ended up with.