Recession Style: Living Room "BEFORE"

Meet our new room! This brave homeowner has agreed to let me re-decorate her living room using primarily hand-me-downs, yard sale finds, and items bought off of Craig's List!

I invite you to follow along with us as we undertake this challenge, and of course, your comments, suggestions and questions are always welcome!

Things to Keep in Mind:

This room is the primary living space for our homeowner and her family. They have two small children and a couple of cats so everything we do will have to take into consideration their needs.

They would like the furnishings in this room to be comfortable, durable and made of a fabric that can be cleaned easily.

This is a long, skinny room with a fireplace on one end and a picture window on the other. This limits our options for sofa and television placement and the homeowner has expressed some frustration with this.

What's We're Keeping:

The homeowner likes the rug in the middle of the room and likes the colors in it, so we're going to take our color scheme from it. They also recently bought this television stand which she said is indicative of the style of furniture she and her husband like.

To save money, we're also going to keep the window treatments which came with the house.




Right now, the homeowner says she feels so-so about the window treatments, but we've decided to keep them because the color closely matches the green in her area rug; they were custom-made for the windows and are on a good scale for the room so we're going to keep them and divert that money to other parts of our budget.

AND, just to make it interesting and to prove that it can be done, we're keeping the husband's comfy TV-watching recliner. I know...I know! I'm a miracle-worker. What can I say? :o)

What We're Losing:

Pretty much the rest of the furniture. The homeowners are ready for something new!

Our Budget? $1,500

Style Goal? This homeowner knows what she likes and has told me her tastes lean toward the traditional. My goal is to give her a traditional room that is still comfortable and durable enough to meet the needs of her young family.

Well, that's it for now. It looks like I have my marching orders, my budget and my color scheme, so I'm heading out to do some shopping. Don't forget to check back and follow our progress!

Client Story: A Cozy, Comfortable Family Room

The client hired me to help her find an area rug for her family room...and depending on budget, maybe a new sofa and loveseat, as well.

She and her husband have a little boy who just started kindergarten and a newborn daughter. They wanted to create a more inviting family room that was conducive to hanging out, watching television, and doing homework. Her first priority was a rug because their daughter will be crawling and walking soon and she wanted a soft place for her to land.

Here are the "Before" pictures...




Things to keep in mind...

Normally, we would have taken into account the sofa when shopping for the rug, but the client was ready to replace hers and wanted me to consider the paint colors above anything else. She had recently had her family room, foyer and the adjacent dining room painted. She really liked the colors and didn't want to change them.

The dining room (which can be seen from the family room) is painted blue (somewhere between navy and royal blue). So this told us that our primary colors needed to be green and blue.

The client also prefers the "English Country" style...traditional, yet comfortable.

They also have this wonderful entertainment center that looks great in the room and offers a lot of much-needed storage, so it was staying. My recommendation was to remove the picture (on the right) and center the bookshelves on the wall, then spruce up the bookcases with books and pictures to tie everything together.

Here are the "AFTER" pictures...

After a lot of shopping, we found an area rug that met all of our criteria. The primary colors were green and blue, the design was traditional and the price was right!

Because we saved so much on the rug, we started shopping for a sofa. The client wanted it to have an attached back and deep cushions as she and her husband are both tall. We found this entire set for a steal and opted to buy the whole thing. Her husband wanted the ottoman, so we gave him his way! I like everyone to be happy.

As you can see from the picture, the sofas are brown and blue. Brown was our third accent color. The blue in the sofas pulled from the blue in the dining room nicely and also matched the matte in the picture hanging over the loveseat. We'll eventually add some throw pillows with a little bit of green in them to tie it all together, but for now, we turned to the entertainment center.

The client had a box of books in her basement, so we used the best ones. To make bookshelves look stylish and organized, it helps to remember this tip...1/3-1/3-1/3...meaning you want 1/3 of the shelves to contain books, 1/3 to contain pictures and accessories and 1/3 to be open space.

Here are some close-ups of each bookshelf. As you can see, you also want to try and use accessories that are similar in color, style and scale. It's easier than it looks, I promise. We did these bookshelves using only the homeowner's existing accessories and picture frames.




What's Next?


As you can see from this picture, the lamp in the corner is from the Arts & Crafts style and doesn't go with our new English Country look. It doesn't look bad, but it could look better, so we're currently shopping for another lamp that's more in keeping with the new style.

We're also looking for a new accent table. We'd like to find something round, but with four legs. A pedestal table would look great, but stability is going to be a big issue with a little one learning to walk soon and although pedestal tables look fabulous, they are easily turned over.

With the big items purchased, we're now going to work on accessorizing this foyer table. Check back to see how it turns out!

With this client, budget was of particular concern. She didn't want to spend more than $5,000. So far, we've spent approximately $3,000 and all we need to buy are accessories so I feel pretty confident that we'll be able to come in well under the client's budget and that makes the client (and me) very happy!

Upholstered Headboards

BEFORE:

These were matching twin headboards and footboards that were part of a French Provencial bedroom set that was being painted white.

We thought perhaps the plain white headboards might look a little boring, so we decided to upholster them. Here is how we did it...

Step 1:

Prime and paint the parts of the headboard that are going to show, including the entire footboard.

Step 2:

Using newspaper, trace an outline of the headboard design and cut your pattern. (NOTE: Take special care to get the pattern as accurate as you can so it will fit snugly into the opening.)

Step 3:

Use your pattern to cut out a 1-1/2" piece of foam. Use spray adhesive to adhere the foam to the headboard.

Step 4:

Re-use your pattern to cut cotton batting and your choice of fabric.

Step 5:

Using a staple gun, attach the batting and fabric to your headboard taking care to staple as close to the edge as you can because you will need to use cording to hide the staples.

Start stapling at the top center and bottom center of the headboard and work your way out toward the edges, taking care to pull fabric taut as you go.

When you are finished, you might need to use a sharp razor blade to trim any excess foam and batting that can't be covered by cording.

Step 6:

Using a hot glue gun, start in the right bottom corner and glue cording around the edge taking care to make sure all staples are hidden.

DURING:
AFTER:


NOTE: In this case, to cover the staples, we had a double cording made to match the fabric. It's difficult to do and usually needs to be done by a sewing professional. To save money, you can use a pre-made cording in a color that coordinates with your fabric. It looks just as nice, but with significant savings.

THE BREAKDOWN:

The paint is by Valspar Signature at Lowe's in a color called "Creamy Delight." It's a latex satin-finish.

The material for the headboards is named "Polka" and is manufactured by Waverly. I found it for $7.98 per yard at a fabric store here in town. It took approximately one yard per headboard. I recommend buying a little extra than what you need in case you mess up (which I did on the first one). You can always find a use for the leftover fabric. We decided to use the leftover fabric to make throw pillows for each bed and have each monogrammed. So sweet for a little girl's room!

Cost for this project: $32 for fabric, $40 for 1-1/2" foam , $5 for batting and $10 for paint and primer.
Estimated time to complete project: Approximately 6 hours.
Degree of Difficulty: On a scale of 1 to 10, I would say it was a 7.

Client Story: Cozy Library

These clients live in a two-story, center-hall colonial. When you walk through the front door, you step into a small foyer. The formal living room is on the right and the dining room is on the left. For this project, we were working in the formal living room.

This bookcase was our jumping off point. The client bought it about a year ago because she wanted more places for books and pictures.

In this case, she had already picked out a paint color and had the room painted a neutral beige. She liked the color and didn't want to change it. She also had her window treatments picked out and hung, so for this particular project, the objective was simply to shop!

As with any room, we had some challenges to overcome and decisions to make. You can tell from the picture that the room isn't very large so that was something to consider. Also, the client and her husband describe themselves as very casual people...so a formal living room wasn't really something that suited their lifestyle.

Still, it is the first room you see when you walk in the house so it needed to look nice. The couple have a large den right off their kitchen where they watch television and their home office was upstairs, so we didn't need to worry about accommodating the need for a television, desk or computer.

The clients are avid readers and had recently bought this painting that they really liked...


Given the bookcases she'd already purchased and this painting, it was pretty to easy to see that this room needed to become a library!








What this room needed to do:

The clients have a 19-year-old son who is still living at home and two grown daughters who live on their own. Their oldest daughter is married and just had her second baby so, of course, the baby pictures are rolling in and they needed more places to put framed pictures and books. That was one of the biggest reasons they bought the bookcases and why we bought three tables for this room.




I think nothing looks better than a smattering of family photos placed around a home. It says, "A happy family lives here."

AND not forgetting that their teenage son is still living at home and the house is always full of teenagers (and I mean ALWAYS), the clients really needed a room that was all their own where they could go and read in relative peace and quiet.

The Breakdown:

We bought the chairs, the round table and the library table at Value City Furniture in St. Louis. Our original plan was to buy two matching leather club chairs, but when we saw these, the client changed her mind. She liked how the chairs didn't exactly match, but coordinated. We also thought we got extra style points for the masculine and feminine look of each chair. The bigger chair was $180, the smaller chair was $150. The library table was $250 and the round table was $150.

We bought the lamps and the clock on the library table at HomeGoods and most of the picture frames, accessories and the smaller three-legged table at Hobby Lobby.

The gold sconces on either side of the bookcases were actually mine, but when we saw how good they looked, I had to give them up for the cause because I'm sweet like that.

The Client's Homework:

To help the client stay within her budget, I recommended that at a later date she purchase an area rug that would help draw the seating arrangement together. I also recommended that she find a footstool or small ottoman to place in front of the chairs for some added comfort when reading.

Tips:

When we bought the furniture, they originally told us it would be six-to-eight weeks for delivery. The client was eager to finish the room within a shorter timeframe, so we asked if they would sell us the floor models and were told yes...and not only that, because they were the floor models and one of the chairs had a little ding on the leg, we got it for a discount!

It never hurts to ask for what you want. In this economy, people will do almost anything to make a sale and the worst they can say to you is "no." We've all been told "no" before and went on living, so don't be afraid to ask.

If you wanted to do a similar room, you could always go with leather club chairs or matching wing-back chairs.

Beautiful Ballerinas

The Challenge:

It's really hard to find original children's artwork these days that doesn't say "Drama Queen" or "Diva" on it. If you're anything like me, you'd probably prefer your child NOT behave like a diva or drama queen (at least not in front of company) and therefore find it very frustrating to find just the right artwork that is unique to your child and his or her interests.

Recently, my husband and I moved our daughter into her big-girl room and I started looking for artwork that would be age-appropriate for a three-year-old, yet grow with her for at least a few more years. Right now she's really into ballerinas and that's the motif I wanted to go with for her new big-girl room. However, anyone with children knows that her interest could change tomorrow, so I didn't want to make a huge investment in case I have to change it all to soccer balls next month.

I didn't want my artwork to look overly precious, and ballerina posters seemed too generic. What I really liked was some watercolors of ballerinas that I saw in a flea market once. They had a neat kind of retro look about them, but of course, I didn't buy when I had the chance. (Reverse Buyer's Remorse! I'm still kicking myself for that one.) So, what was my Plan B?

The Solution:

Clipart! Can I just say? I love Clipart. It's copyright free (emphasis on the word, "FREE") and there's an image out there for just about anything you want to search for...including photography and other color images.

Because I was going for a sort of retro 1950's artwork, I used the Clips Online application and downloaded two black and white images of ballerinas. I enlarged them to fit onto an 8-1/2" x 11" piece of paper designed especially for watercolors.

After that, it was as simple as filling in the images with the colors I wanted. It was easy and very inexpensive. I didn't even use artist-quality watercolors. I used my daughter's Barbie paints.

To frame, I bought standard picture frames, painted them to be the color I wanted and had mattes cut to fit. (All artwork looks more expensive with a matte around it. I don't know why...it just does.) In this case, I thought at oval cut-out framing the picture seemed more feminine which was exactly what I was going for, but you can have mattes cut anyway you want.

Here is the finished product...





The Breakdown:

The frames are from Hobby Lobby. They cost approximately $15 a piece. They were originally brownish-gold, but I painted them white then lightly added a touch of pink paint to the swirls for added femininity.

The mattes were custom cut at Hobby Lobby: $6 a piece

The ballerinas are printed on paper specifically for watercolors. You can buy a tablet at either Hobby Lobby or Michael's.

Paint: Barbie. Seriously.

Total Cost for Original Artwork: Less than $25 a piece.

Estimated Completion Time: Approximately 3-1/2 hours. (Includes painting the frames)
Degree of Difficulty: On a scale of 1 to 5--one being very easy and five being think about this one before you try it--I'd give it a two-and-a-half.