Long Post: Living Room List, Green Curtains, New Lamp

So, I have decided to do one room at a time....which is extremely difficult for me because I have decorating ADD.  However, I get extremely irritated and feel like nothing is getting done when I have done a ton of stuff.  It's just all spread out because it's little projects all over my house.

Mandi over at Vintage Revivals has been doing an FFA challenge and I am joining!!

I choose the Living Room first!!  It's the first room everyone sees and no one gives a crap if my clothes are on my bedroom floor if my Living Room kicks butt!

Living Room List 

1.  Rip up the nasty brown marble carpet.  I have desired to do this since the day we walked in.  I have actually cleaned it 3 times with a carpet cleaner and it doesn't make that "1987" look go away.  Bummer.

2.  Replace the carpet with the new wood floor.  It's currently in the garage and sometimes I go out there and sit on the boxes of flooring and lust after it!

3. Tile the entry way.  Not sure if I want to do this or not.  We could just wood floor all the way, but I am worried it would get worn too quickly.  The front door is our main entry and the carpet looks like 10 times worse than the rest...which looks terrible itself.  It will be the same color as the wood and the grout will match the tile, so I'm thinking it would be an okay transition.

4.  Move coat and shoe storage to the closet.  I am super sick of looking at it and Audrey has entered the "I want to wear everyone's shoes stage.  So, there is a constant mess of shoes all over.

5.  Replace the coat/shoe area with a pretty entry way dresser and mirror for storage!

6.  Redo the dresser for the entry way.

7.  Paint and hang the shelves for the corner nook that will be a mock bookshelf.

8.  Make large lyric music for over the desk.  I am over the license plates.

9.  Make art for near the window.

10.  Get a mirror for over the dresser.

11.  Put a finishing detail ribbon on the lamp shades.

12.  Get fur pillows for the couch and maybe a fun pattern.

13.  Paint dip the piano legs.


Now we've seen what I need to do....let's see what I have gotten done!!

First on the list, my new drop cloth green curtains:

Please note the inspiration for the style of hanging my new curtains came from Michael over at Inspired By Charm.  He is amazing!!  It's in one of his guest rooms in the little Bed and Breakfast he has out in Pennsylvania.  If I ever make it out to his neck of the woods, I am totally visiting!!

Before with the black and white curtains:

Please note that while I loved the black and white curtains, they were painted top sheets from Wal-Mart.  I painted them with regular house paint.  They looked awesome, but felt like a painted canvas.  They eventually got really dust and I was unable to launder them so buh-bye black and whites.  :(

But, hello green beauties!

I used a drop cloth cut in half vertically and Rit Dye in Kelly green, it actually took 2 bottles, because I didn't get the color I wanted first time....{this may have been for my lack of direction reading, but whatevs}

Drop cloth: $9ish at Wal-Mart and the Rit Dye were $2.50 each.  New curtains for the living room around $15.  Not bad, not bad at all.  Plus these can be washed, not that I will ever actually do that!

I do need to sew the edge I cut, but I don't care because I just tucked it under!

Now on to the lamps:

I found both of these for $5.95 each at the GeeDub (Goodwill).

I had to have them, I was planning on doing this to them:

This lamp is $248 at LaylaGrace.com.  I was going to use the looking glass spray paint from Krylon...I couldn't find it at 3 stores, so I went with gray.  :)

I also covered the shade in burlap, because I am too cheap to buy new shades :)


Please note that the weird bump out in my living room went from this:

To this:

Yep, that's right folks!  You can call me Fertile Myrtle.  We are expecting baby number 4 in September!
I am 21 weeks this Wednesday and found out that the last of our brood is a dude :)  I do not claim to have made up this funny....that was all Mr. TSL!


Make your life beautiful!!   {one room at a time}