Living Room You Want To Be In

Since moving into our house over two years ago the focus hasn't been much on actual decorating or useful spaces, it's really been more focused on updating the bones of the house. Walls, fixtures, broken things... This led us to the point of neglecting important things like a living room you actually want to be in. I made small updates for our small front living room to make it more homey but for some reason we never wanted to be in there and when company came over you could tell it just wasn't an inviting space.

The furniture was too large for the room and it just didn't flow. I decided it was time for a makeover. We needed new furniture. Our coffee table was borrowed from my parents, one lamp was on a nightstand and the other on a plant stand. Seeing that this is the first room you see when you enter our home I made this a priority.

Furniture shopping is sooooo stressful! We finally made a decision at FurnitureMart/Ashley Furniture in Elk River, MN. Great prices and great selection!

 

 

After patiently waiting for our furniture to be delivered I ran to HomeGoods for a rug (honestly never bought an area rug before).

 

 

Once that was decided I ventured to Target to chose the perfect window treatments for our space. At one point I had five different curtains hanging up at one time. I just couldn't make a decision until the furniture was actually in the room. Once it came it was decided!

 

 

 

Now I'm proud to say it is all put together!

 

You want to come in and sit down now don't ya?

Ryan even talked me into replacing our old TV. We've officially gotten rid of every box TV in the house.

Check out our extra seating from under the coffee table. Our small room can now sit 7 people!

I never realized how big and bulky our old furniture was. We were able to fit end tables in on both sides of our couch. I can keep my magazines in easy reach now.

Our photos were still put to use too! I worried that my photo frame project was a waste but no worries here. Just alittle rearranging needed.

I love that I was able to move some of my pretty books out into this space.

Since there's a blizzard here today I'm staying inside and may just work on a few things around here I've been putting off. This living room project immediately following the bathroom makeover really burnt me out. Trying to take things slow for now and enjoy the beauty of winter and no yard work.

Bathroom Reveal

This has been a long time coming and I'm finally ready to reveal our newly remodeled bathroom! Remember my post about the 10 Things I Hate About My Bathroom? Well, I now love everything about my bathroom! Ta da!

Funny thing is that I left the spindles. Can you believe it?

They don't really look so bad now that everything else is so pretty. I might just embrace their cottagey charm. We will see.

The lady at Home Depot didn't like my idea for my backsplash. Well, look at this lady. In your face!

 

We decided to just replace the vanity rather than refinishing the old one. So glad we did!

 



Then we caved and bought the matching cabinet for over the toilet. Best decision since we only have a mirror over the vanity, not a medicine cabinet.

The mirror is the same mirror that we've always had hanging, I just painted it white to match everything else. Looks like a whole new mirror!

And of course we replaced the flooring with this beautiful ceramic tile.

Here's a closer look.

 

Now, I know I've already showed off the shower, however, there's been some more additions there. A shower light (so we can actually see now) and a new shower curtain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm loving the little details too. The new vanity light fixture, bath hardware, and new art!

 





I even got myself a new clock since I accidentally broke the old one moving it around so many times. Oops!

Last but certainly now least is my most practical idea. Putting an outlet inside the vanity cabinet! Now the electric toothbrush and shaver don't need to be charging on my countertop anymore. Yay!

Now, I can take credit for the designing of all of these updates, and of course for painting, but my dad is the real talent here.  He did everything from the electrical, to plumbing, to the tile work. Amazing job! If you are in the North Metro area and would like him to tackle a project in your home I can send him your way!

Bring Christmas Outside!

Not only do I love Christmas lights, I also love to see a festive house during daylight. Plus, when one has a white house after a blizzard it can tend to blend in with it's surroundings. Trying to avoid a bunch of tacky plastic yard decorations I decided to use some good old fashioned wreaths. My inspiration...

Between Naps on the Porch

 

 

So I ran to Menards and bought the cheapest/expensive looking wreaths. $10 bucks a piece.

 

And then some $1 bows.

Just wire those bows onto the wreaths and whollah!

 

We have wood window frames so I just put a nail in the middle of each one. SUPER easy! I've been waiting for a good snow storm to show them off and what do you know. We have well over a foot!

 

Here's some more sun!

 

Over to the garage. We have plant hooks and I have been having a hard time the past two years figuring out what to put on those darn things. Menards had exactly what I wanted! Stockings!!

I love them!

I'm going to stay in for the rest of the day now. Brrrr!





Master Bedroom

There really isn't many rooms in my house that I would consider finished. Something always seems to bother me that I need to have fixed or updated before I want to show it off. I have finally finished our master bedroom though. I don't have much for before pictures besides what it looked like when we bought it.

Before we even moved in we replaced the carpet with laminate wood floors and painted.

Our full length mirror addition.

Then I did my picture frame project.

I just wasn't feeling it was right after I completed this project. After some thinking I decided the bed needed to be moved under the window. However, the window is not as wide as the bed. To Pinterest I went and saw this amazing illustration.

I figured I could just make my window look big enough. So I extended the rods out and put them up a bit higher, then bought some $10 cream curtain panels from Target!

Needed some charecter on the sides of the window so I used some metal plant hooks from Menards and some lanterns I found at Pier One.

Here's where our dressers are now.

It seems so much more cozy and comfortable now.

Where are the oval frames you ask? I found an even better spot for them on the wall in our stairway.

So happy that our bedroom is now officially complete. When we have a million other projects going on in the house I can just go hide and there and forget about all of it.

Dog Bath Issue

Since we became dog owners we have always had a hose type shower. It may not be the prettiest thing in the world but it make giving the dogs a bath a breeze and cleaning the shower is not so bad either. You can see it here.

So when we put in the new shower and new bath fixtures we just couldn't bring outselves to put that ugly thing in when it can look at fancy like it is now.

A few days after we put the new stuff in the dogs needed their bath. What a nightmare! I don't know how people do it. A cup, seriously, you rinse them with a cup of water! Sorry friends but this does not work for me. And, I don't see a special dog bath being installed any time in the near future.

Anytime I feel like I need to invent something new, I go to the internet and discover that someone already invented it so to Google I went. Instantly I found my solution.

 

Yay fot the Pet Shower Sprayer! It easily pops on and off when needed so no one even has to know that you have a top of the line dog bath. It's even more convenient than that ugly thing we had before because there's a control button on the sprayer to turn and off and off when needed without having to mess with the shower faucet. Life changer for $22!