Does the new year have you itching for fresh changes and updates? Perhaps a fitter you, a new ‘do, or maybe a facelift for your home? Here is an idea from the lovely and talented Wendy of The Shabby Nest blog for a living room that utilizes a neutral pallet with surprises that pop!

Hello, my lovelies!! I’m so excited to share our living room with you all today! It’s been a really fun room to put together with some interesting details that I can’t wait to share. So off we go!

First, the BEFORE photos:

 

Exciting, wasn’t it? As you can see, the room was just begging for some interest. So we got busy working on it.

Let’s be honest. It was a lot of work. But we had a lot of fun in the process.

So without further ado, here are the AFTER photos:

I am a big fan of neutrals, and in this room I went for a neutral palette, but I didn’t want it to be boring, so I mixed it up with some great patterns.

I also wanted to warm up the grays and blacks, so we chose to add some brown to the palette.

The rug is from Flor (more on that later) and the coffee table is from World Market.

The sofa is an IKEA Ektorp series. The pillows are from Etsy. (The large one in the center is from my fabulous sponsor Elisabeth Michael.)

That cute rustic birdcage was a gift from my mother.

 

 

We changed the stair wall from chocolate brown to this fabulous charcoal gray, Magnetite by Martha Stewart.

I had been thinking of doing a gallery wall in the stairwell, but the Hubby suggested we create one on the charcoal wall. I love it!! The white frames against the gray are beautiful! Our plan is to add more frames as our budget allows until the whole wall is filled.

The tufted chairs are from TJ Maxx.

The white frames are from IKEA.

 

On the window wall, I framed out the windows with natural linen curtains from IKEA. To create architectural interest (since there was no fireplace) we put a bookcase, and topped it with a beautiful large-scale charcoal done by the hubby’s father.

 

The leather chair is the hubby’s and was purchased years ago (pre-blogging days) so I don’t remember the name of the shop. The faux fur pillow is from Target.

I hung the curtains, higher and wider than the windows to create the illusion of the windows being larger than they actually are.

The antler was a gift from my mother. I love it coupled with the folded book I made a few years ago. It adds such great texture.

The entry is one of my favorite parts of this whole room design. What appears to be wallpaper on the wall is actually hand done. I’ll tell you all about how I created it in an upcoming post.

I topped the console with a photo purchased from IKEA, as well as the hubby’s photo of train tracks in a tunnel.

I’m really happy with how it all came together! It just proves that neutral doesn’t have to be boring. In fact, they can be down right lovely!!

Wendy is the author of the popular decorator’s blog, The Shabby Nest. Decorating is her passion, and her family is her inspiration. Her goal is to create a warm, welcoming environment without breaking the bank. And she loves to share her ideas with you.

Some of you may remember the story of our “rescued” (a.k.a. stolen) Christmas tree. For those of you who are fortunate enough to not have read the whole drawn out saga…let me sum up.

Husband is cheap (I say with love) – real trees are disposable, thus not a bargain – neighbors are tossing a faux tree, as they have been blessed enough to be able to upgrade – husband sees aforementioned tree in neighbor’s trash pile and tiptoes over early one morning in his pj’s to rescue it – drops the box on the way back across the street spilling faux tree parts all over the road and holding up both the trash truck on its way to remove tree AND the owner of the discarded tree (much to his embarrassment and my “I-told-you-so-kinda-in-an-amused way-but-now-we-have-to-move” type attitude).

So that chapter in out lives has closed (read: the dumb tree from the trash tore up – go figure!), and Tom purchased a tree at the after Christmas sales. Now, I am all about a bargain…but it was plain to see that there was a reason this tree was still at Walmart in March. It made the Charlie Brown tree look like something whisked from a forest of giant Redwoods at the peak of its prime! It was so scrawny Tom could take it – stand and all – up the attic stairs completely assembled to store until the following year.

So this year I took matters into my own hands. Not a good plan. At all. I arrived home yesterday with the bargain of the century! A nine-foot pre-lit lovely tree. No need to untangle all those strings of lights that make you think of anything BUT the birth of the Savior. No need to try and fluff a five-foot tree with three branches that cannot be fluffed. No need to have the “discussion” (read: knock-down-drag-out) about the pros and cons of breaking down and purchasing a real tree. Just pop that puppy outta the box plug her in and VOILA! – Christmas spirit overfloweth!! Yes! That’s how it would indeed work for any of YOU! Us? Not so much! After two hours and no mention of the joyous season upcoming, this is what we have…

Some of my favorite parts of the photo? The MANY dark sections of the tree awaiting some magic word or force to make them come on. The splendid contrast of the ninety-nine cent stark white extension cord snaking up the trunk of the tree (who would ever guess it was a fake tree with THAT there?) The 75,000 volt flood lamp getting ready to set the carpet on fire as it is laid down to assist in the search for “whatever the darn freakin’ crazy thing is wrong with the cheap-as-all-get-out stupid tree” (quote from my ever so patient husband I overheard in between him humming “Silent Night” and “Joy to the World”).

Are we the ONLY family who purchases a pre-lit Christmas tree and then goes to Home Depot for extension cords and strings of lights ANYWAY?

Laura Whitlow only moonlights as a blogging comedian. Her day job is refurbishing well-worn furniture and taking pieces from ordinary to extraordinary with a fabulous business named Rethunk Junk.

Here’s a little about Laura in Laura’s words: I am a busy mother of five – four girls and a boy – ages 17 to 6. Luckily I have horrible insomnia so I can paint at night (can you hear the sarcasm?). I have been married for 24 years to an incredible man (in case you’re trying to do the math – yes – I got married when I was five). I never watch TV, love to play the piano and I almost always have music playing somewhere!