Old Stuff, New House

Moving is a pain, but on the upside, I was able to do a little redecorating...actually re-purposing is more accurate since our funds were pretty minimal for the project. I had to figure out how to use my old stuff and still get the new look I'd been craving out of a VERY old and VERY small space. It was one of the many times I was grateful that my big items were neutral and simple.

We decided to only paint and really decorate the downstairs main living area since we won't be here for long and have to get everything back to its original shape. Everywhere else is put together, but nothing special.

I knew I wanted to lighten things up since the space was small and I was so tired of tan, so we finally found a light gray that we both loved. It's still warm enough to go with our stuff, but light and made everything look totally different from before. I found a really cute, cheap rug on clearance at HomeGoods that was just perfect to finish things off. I hate all the cords hanging out everywhere, but we can't do much about it since it's not our place.

We spray painted the mats on my old IKEA frames from green to a bright yellow and bought a few more. In them we put our fun, new family pictures. The project turned out really well and I love how cheap our focus wall was. I also got a cozy new throw from IKEA to add a few more bright colors to the room.

We kept our old table, which has been great and the vase in the center. We hung some much needed hooks for back packs too. In the frame behind the table, I used an old frame, punched out the old picture, spray painted it black and hung a cool piece of Heather Bailey fabric. I love the way it lightened things up and added a little more color to our space. Also love that I found a place for my big vase with bamboo.
Here is the fabric up close.

I used my same green curtains, lamp and 2 of the same pillows we had, and found this fun green one at Target. Our couch still is just a dark brown leather, not a blackish/red like it looks in a lot of the pictures and the floors are lighter too. It's hard to get good pictures inside our house! I feel like the lighting and my mediocre camera doesn't really do the place justice.
There is no light in our place, so we had to invest in some cheap lamps, nothing special, but it works okay.
There is no space for our computer anywhere, so we created a little office corner. I was wary of it since office stuff seems to pile up and look messy all the time, so we bought a few shelves from IKEA and some of their cute green organization stuff and now everyone has a place for all their paper junk that is hidden. I don't have a junk drawer, which keeps things a bit more organized. I love these things from IKEA and they were so cheap...like $2 a piece. Now this little corner is one of my favorite spots in the room. The picture doesn't really do it justice...maybe I'll try again.
My mirror that I still really love. Sometimes the reflection lets me pretend that things are bigger!

I liked throwing in a little hot pink and orange. Overall, I'm pleased with the way things turned out. Is it my dream place? No, but it totally works for us while we are here and I'm not embarrassed to have people over or let visitors see where we live. I like the clean lines and simple stuff and love the wood floors. I'm sold on them forever! It's amazing what even just one good room can do for your sanity. Totally worth it! I walk in each day and think...yeah...it's okay that we live here...this place is pretty great.

Here was our old spot. Still lots of things I love that are in storage in the basement, but kinda fun to see how things change with just a coat of paint and a little rearranging. While I enjoy having a decorated place, most of all I love that it already feels like home for us. Just grateful every day for such a smooth move to the perfect spot for us...and it's not the paint or pillows...it's the people.