From Blah and Boring to Bursting with Boldness... Living Room Reveal

I am going to give you a fair warning, right now.  This reveal is not for the faint hearted.  If you're way too afraid of change and color, stop reading NOW.  You may hurl from color overload.  If you are sick and tired of your boring construction grade beige walls, then follow along with me.  Also, if you were expecting this area of my home to mimic my Master Suite, then you're in for a surprise.  I no longer follow the rule of one home = one theme.  I want to love my home, but love all the rooms differently. 

Below is a reminder of how humdrum and lifeless my living room used to be.  It was so crammed and tight that I could almost hear it screaming to stretch its legs.  The couch was tiresome to look at, the ottoman had turned into a dumping ground for backpacks, remote controls, jackets, sweaters.. you name it - it ended up on that ottoman.  The entertainment center had also turned into an eyesore.  I am by no means a minimalist, but I hate hate hate clutter!

Note the old drum set chair is being used to hold Mr. Smitten's coffee cup.

So are you ready for it?  Brace yourself.  If you need a reminder or extra preparedness time, click here to see what color palette and decor I chose.  When I revealed to Mr. Smitten the color I chose for the accent wall, he looked at me like I had definitely been dropped on my head as a baby way too many times.  Guess what?!  It turns out I'm not as crazy as he thought!  

Taa-daaaaa!!!

How's that for stimulating the senses?!  I freakin love my living room!  With just a few changes and a small budget, you can wake up a room.  In my case, I didn't just gently shake my living room awake, I barged in with a marching band in tow.

Just another angle

Here's what I changed:

 Changed the accent wall color

Added an area rug

Gave the ottoman an overdue eviction notice

Added more eye candy

Finally found a storage solution

Cleaned up all that clutter

Do you love my ginormous Ikea light fixture?

I gave Mr. Smitten his very own table for his Friday Night Game Time necessities: Coffee, remotes, iPad, Xbox controller

Now he's ready to pull an all nighter for Halo Reach

 I found a tufted side chair in the perfect shade of green at Marshalls.

My favorite aspect of the entire chair is this great nailhead trim design.

No, I didn't give in to Pier 1 and spend $100 on each ceramic stool.  I found these lovelies at Ross for $29.00 each.

I can't seem to get the lighting right, but these stools are navy blue with an amazing glaze job!

 When I'm determined to find a piece of furniture, I never throw in the towel until I can claim it as mine.  I stormed through over seven stores until I found this mirrored dresser at TJ Maxx in Riverdale.  This stores over 350 dvds, all of the hubby's video games and a couple gaming systems.  My sister, Winnie from Fam Och in the Yukon will show you how she taught me how to accomplish just that in a future post.

So purdy

Added a touch of Asian to the mix.

 I will always stress in every post that I am on a budget.  I cannot afford to splurge on a fantastic piece of art on a large scale.  Have you ever checked out the prices on those babies?!  Not my cup of tea.  What do I always do if I can't but it?  I make it myself!  Since there was already enough going on with my dresser vignette, I needed my art piece to be simple, but at the same time make a statement.  I also needed it to be fairly large.  Paint canvases can get pricey and Walmart couldn't accommodate me with a huge one, so I used a thin piece of plywood.  I am resourceful, if nothing else.

Easiest painting I ever created!

I used a couple of the same pieces of decor I already had up.  Love this giraffe and charger  so much and it was perfect for the color scheme!

If you haven't noticed, it's all about circular objects for this project.

One more look at my *Color Splashed* living room.

Did I do David Bromstad proud?

Are you ready for more???  I've started a new project today.  The picture below was my old office before I moved down to my Marie Antoinette Inspired Art Room/Office.  It has slowly accumulated junk and transformed into a storage unit.  I'm turning this room into a guest bedroom that my out of town visitors will love to sleep in.  And my inspiration?

This little blue box

~*Abigail*~