Living Room Redo: Pinkified
Here's a half-a-reveal post...haven't quite finished the "music room" side of the living room, but here's what's up in the pink department so far...
Most of what you see here you'll recognize if you've taken my house tour because I "shopped my house." Desperate for this change, I pulled from all over and left some other places a little naked. I'll get back to those but for now, the room that's my favorite for relaxing and looking around in, looks pretty great. And I spent less than $20. Yessss!
The lamp used to be a seafoam blue and the basket didn't have any black on it. The how-to's are coming! I promise. Even though I just realized I never showed you the necklace how-to I promised way back when. So sorry! My system is flawed...
I spray painted this frame to put some gold against the grey of the bookcases. Love how that looks! I used 18 kt Gold Plate paint by Krylon. It's super shiny and I like that it's a pretty clean color of gold. Not too brassy, although that's making a comeback.
My son is a young Picasso, obviously.
This chair was in the guest room and I'm so happy to have it join us upstairs. It was an impractical buy at a garage sale when I had no idea where I'd put it. I was crazy about the arms and considering it was my favorite color, I sprung for it. So. Glad.
I had that little pink bowl already, but it wasn't so charming and dotty before. I'd drooled over some hand-painted dots on pottery at Anthropologie during my last visit and had set my mind on giving it a whirl. It'll join the smattering of how-to's coming your way.
What we have here is a close-up of the faux log stack in our fireplace. Because we hide a little TV behind it (for the shows we can get with our antennae) we couldn't put real logs in there. So if a tree goes down in your neighborhood, and you're lucky enough to slice up some logs, you can make one of these too. I bought black foam core and hot glued the wood to it. Then I exacto-knifed around the logs on the edges so you couldn't see extra foam core. It was really front heavy, so we put a brace (also hot glued) on the back. We used three pieces of 2x4s that we glued in this formation. That was enough weight to keep the whole thing from tipping forward. I love how it looks even though I occasionally have to re-glue a piece of wood. I'm thinkin' when the next one starts sagging, I'll try my Gorilla glue and see if that's a more permanent fix.
So there's the half that's done. We'll do some how-to's and explain the money I spent and by then I should have the other side in order. I'm very excited to get this squared away before the holidays really begin. The kids' vacation started today and I'm glad I won't be too distracted by projects to enjoy them. Let the good times roll!
P.S. By the way, I tend to tell you my ideas after it's too late for you to implement them, so I'd just like to mention that we have a little tradition to make Thanksgiving evening special. In my original family, we decorated the Christmas tree that night, but we've found that's WAY too much for us in one day. So now we present the kids with Christmas pjs, to signal the beginning of the Christmas season. This year, in addition, we're giving them tiny trees they can decorate for their rooms. Cadence has wanted one for years and when I spied some for $3 in the Target dollar section, I decided it was time for her dream to come true.
P.S.S. This all sounds very happy and tidy, and that's not entirely true. I'm doing well at the moment, hence the sing-songy-ness, but I've been in a rough patch lately. Anyone else? I'm glad these come and go, but some are harder to budge. I may be out of mine, or I may just be coming up for air, but I'll ride it til I can't anymore. Just wanted you to know, in case I was looking too shiny. Can't have that. Not when I've looked like a hobo for three weeks in order to make my living room pretty. That same hobo broke down the day she thought was the last day warm enough to spray paint outside. Mostly because she felt like if she couldn't find success in another area of life, she could win here. She makes most of this failing up. Silly hobo...
Most of what you see here you'll recognize if you've taken my house tour because I "shopped my house." Desperate for this change, I pulled from all over and left some other places a little naked. I'll get back to those but for now, the room that's my favorite for relaxing and looking around in, looks pretty great. And I spent less than $20. Yessss!
The lamp used to be a seafoam blue and the basket didn't have any black on it. The how-to's are coming! I promise. Even though I just realized I never showed you the necklace how-to I promised way back when. So sorry! My system is flawed...
I spray painted this frame to put some gold against the grey of the bookcases. Love how that looks! I used 18 kt Gold Plate paint by Krylon. It's super shiny and I like that it's a pretty clean color of gold. Not too brassy, although that's making a comeback.
My son is a young Picasso, obviously.
This chair was in the guest room and I'm so happy to have it join us upstairs. It was an impractical buy at a garage sale when I had no idea where I'd put it. I was crazy about the arms and considering it was my favorite color, I sprung for it. So. Glad.
I had that little pink bowl already, but it wasn't so charming and dotty before. I'd drooled over some hand-painted dots on pottery at Anthropologie during my last visit and had set my mind on giving it a whirl. It'll join the smattering of how-to's coming your way.
What we have here is a close-up of the faux log stack in our fireplace. Because we hide a little TV behind it (for the shows we can get with our antennae) we couldn't put real logs in there. So if a tree goes down in your neighborhood, and you're lucky enough to slice up some logs, you can make one of these too. I bought black foam core and hot glued the wood to it. Then I exacto-knifed around the logs on the edges so you couldn't see extra foam core. It was really front heavy, so we put a brace (also hot glued) on the back. We used three pieces of 2x4s that we glued in this formation. That was enough weight to keep the whole thing from tipping forward. I love how it looks even though I occasionally have to re-glue a piece of wood. I'm thinkin' when the next one starts sagging, I'll try my Gorilla glue and see if that's a more permanent fix.
So there's the half that's done. We'll do some how-to's and explain the money I spent and by then I should have the other side in order. I'm very excited to get this squared away before the holidays really begin. The kids' vacation started today and I'm glad I won't be too distracted by projects to enjoy them. Let the good times roll!
P.S. By the way, I tend to tell you my ideas after it's too late for you to implement them, so I'd just like to mention that we have a little tradition to make Thanksgiving evening special. In my original family, we decorated the Christmas tree that night, but we've found that's WAY too much for us in one day. So now we present the kids with Christmas pjs, to signal the beginning of the Christmas season. This year, in addition, we're giving them tiny trees they can decorate for their rooms. Cadence has wanted one for years and when I spied some for $3 in the Target dollar section, I decided it was time for her dream to come true.
P.S.S. This all sounds very happy and tidy, and that's not entirely true. I'm doing well at the moment, hence the sing-songy-ness, but I've been in a rough patch lately. Anyone else? I'm glad these come and go, but some are harder to budge. I may be out of mine, or I may just be coming up for air, but I'll ride it til I can't anymore. Just wanted you to know, in case I was looking too shiny. Can't have that. Not when I've looked like a hobo for three weeks in order to make my living room pretty. That same hobo broke down the day she thought was the last day warm enough to spray paint outside. Mostly because she felt like if she couldn't find success in another area of life, she could win here. She makes most of this failing up. Silly hobo...
Kendra, the room is charming. Love the pink chair and how everything fits aesthetically with everything else. Always enjoy all the photos you include in your posts.
ReplyDeleteMy mood has had more than enough "droopy" stretches recently. Shiny is far between, and very much appreciated when it shows up. Witnessing your re-do has given me a boost tonight - thank you!