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Friday, October 22, 2010

Making the best of what you have

Asking some friends recently about what is the most difficult thing about decorating your house, money is always the issue, for pretty much everyone I know. No one really thinks to set aside a budget for "decorating." (I try, but my husband doesn't get it!) When we got married, I was lucky that my husband already had plenty of furniture and we had to buy very little. However over the past couple years, my taste has changed, as it does with style.
Oprah once said that you should update your house as often as you update your hairstyle. And uhh well, if you've had the same hairstyle for over 20 years and still have 80's decor, you just need a major makeover all around!
Anyhow, I'd love to just buy new, expensive furniture just the way I want it, but that's not realistic. So I've given the things we have just little updates that satisfy.

Piece in question: this dresser. 
This was my husband's dresser growing up and it was originally painted bright blue. Me, not knowing what to do with it and how I wanted my front room to look, painted it olive green. Not horrible, but looking back I'm thinking this looks like a total man cave, with all the browns and neutrals. I hated the wood trim and wood handles on the dresser, but couldn't find pulls big enough.
If I had my way, I'd mount our tv on the wall, get something cuter for storage and get rid of the dresser. But alas, once I figured out a little more of what I wanted, our front room evolved into this...

I still don't love the wood trim on the dresser (one day I'll stain it or paint it) but the white brightens up the room a lot. We made the mistake of painting our whole house too dark, and since we've thought about moving, we're not really up and ready to repaint. Lowe's was the ticket to finding different pulls that actually fit and looked more modern. And lamps will make a room so much brighter and warmer, so I am so glad I splurged a little and bought these big green ones.

Next- is our couch. Also an olive green, and it's getting a little worn, just losing its shape. I would love a new sofa, a cream one or light gray...but that's not in the plans til we get a bigger place. But I am a huge fan of throw pillows. They provide a way of injecting your personality into a room, bringing in colors and interest. A good place to start decorating a room is finding a pillow you love, then basing everything else around its color scheme.

While I still don't love my couch, the fun colors in the accessories make me actually like it! (It helps that I also partially cover it up with throw blankets) Oh and don't mind the junk in the background!
So basically I did spend a little money. Less than $100 in the pillows and blanket. But it sure beats $1000's of dollars in a new couch!
However, you can even go cheaper than this. Etsy sells pillow covers for so cheap.. and you could just cover an existing pillow that you've lost interest in. Or sew your own... places like Ikea or craft stores have killer deals on fabric by the yard. Shop TJ Maxx, Home Goods, Ross, or Burlington Coat Factory for pillows or throws. It'll make a huge difference!!

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