Revealing my #Shelfie!

 
  I moved into my home about 6 months ago, and with it came two, big and beautiful built in shelves on either side the best plant window & window seat there ever was.  But the shelves, as beautiful as they are, have been a beast to bring to life with the right mix of personality and appealing design.
So, I have been playing with the shelf decor ever since moving in... from girlfriends coming over to help me (this was seriously such a good start!), to looking at #shelfie pics on IG far too long for inspiration, to lots of moving items around, stepping back to review, repeat. 
It's been a work in progress and I kept waiting until it was "done" before I shared, but really,  I don't think it'll ever be done.  Home decor is ever changing like our personal style. Seasonal for sure, but unlike how we use fashion to express how we're feeling, home decor allows us to set the stage for how we want to feel. 
So, below if you're interested, I'm sharing my before (more like after my first attempt) and where I'm at today with a few tips I've picked up along the way that are easy to apply to your own style!
Before

The shelves just felt too cluttered. Too many mixed match pieces with not a strong foundation. So I cleared it off and started over...
Currently

{I've linked to my shelf decor at the bottom of this post}
More white space = less cluttered look and feel. I also streamlined most of my frames, opting for the same white frame in varying sizes.  And then forming little vignettes on the shelves helped to create a cohesive design.

A closer look at each shelf:

Tips
1. Texture
Mix textures to add contrast and depth to your shelf! I added two woven baskets (one to each shelf) to breakup my many frames, streamlined my books and added trinkets I found around the house to see a difference.  Plus, the baskets can hide a bunch of small stuff you don't really want displayed! Other ideas: little mirrors in the back can add some fun dimensions, pops of metal (bookends, trinkets, basket), bowls (think about your pretty serving wear you have stored away), plants - faux or real, etc.

2. Color theme or colorful
You can go many ways with this, and ultimately do what pleases you. The two options I toyed around with was either keeping in the same color family (like different hues of blue with neutrals) or keeping neutral with pops of (multiple) colors that work with my room.  I like a lot of colors, and was having a hard time narrowing it down - so I went with a neutral background with pops of yellow, blue, green and pink.  This also allowed me to work with different things I already had laying around my house, and showcase things I really love vs. be filtered by the hue fo the object.

3. Mix up proportions 
Wide, narrow, short, tall - mix it all up. Think about drawing the eye up and over to your most cherished pieces. Layer items to provide more depth by tucking taller objects behind or in front of shorter and wider ones (like a tall vase behind/in front of a wide photo).   This is where you can play with creating vignettes. 

4. Leave open space
Probably the place I struggled with the MOST. I want to fill every nook and cranny, and you really, really need open/empty/white space to keep the shelf from looking too cluttered (like in my before photo).  The best way to avoid stuffing it too full is to start with a blank slate - empty the shelf completely.  Then build slowly one vignette or shelf at a time, taking a step back or lots of breaks to let it digest! Then, be prepared to keep messing with it forever to come... 

Shelf Decor Items
1. Books

2. Baskets & Vases

3. Frames, Trinkets & Trays

Please share your own shelf inspo or design ideas in the comments below!

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Small Changes, Big Impact?

Hubs and I have gone back and forth on the location of our couch in our living room.  And we've moved it back and forth, back and forth.  Now it's just high-time I need your all's advice and thoughts!

Couch Position: Away from the Wall

Pros & Cons: An easy walk way behind the couch to the dining room (you don't have to cross the living room/walk in front of the TV).  Furniture and style is more center of room, but a tighter space.  The room just feels more pulled together this way.

Couch Position: Against the Wall

Pros & Cons: Opens the room up, but no room for my beloved mirrored end table (currently pushed next to the fire place).  A lot of dead space in front of the fire place, but with the baby coming - this could be a good area for floor play. Furniture heavy off to the right side of the room.

So at first glance, what way do you like better?


My biggest thing about having the couch away from the wall (first photo) is that the room feels more put together. So I challenged myself to see how I could make the living room with the couch against the wall feel more together.

Three changes that could help:

1. Move striped bench to the other side of the fire place, under the 2nd window. In its place, add an accent chair to balance out this side of the room's lack of furniture.
       - For the accent chair, I'm thinking a dark brown, leather chair to tie in with the ottoman and ground the space (like this one).

2. Find a new home for my beloved side mirror table. Make room for striped bench.

3. Get a bigger area rug to fill the floor space and pull the room together.  This current 5'x8' black and white rug will be moving to the Green Room (aka, future baby room) once we get a new one for this space.
       - However, I'm at a road block on what color of area rug to get.
                        * Lime Green (like this one) - this color has been a subtle accent color to this room
                        * Aqua/Teal (like this one) - like the curtains, but will that be hard to match?
                        * Lighter Gray than the couch - but that would be a lot of Gray
                        * Ivory/Off-White would be nice, but not realistic in a heavy trafficked room

So can you see, I need your advice!  No matter who you are or what you think - let me know what position you like the room in, and if the more opened up space - can I make it better with my proposed changes?!

Apparently, I am a Home Design rookie!

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Living Room Flor

No, that's not a misspelling of Floor.  I'm talking about FLOR.  The modular carpet tile company that has tons of styles, colors and patterns to pick from.  Best thing, spill some red wine on part of your area rug and can't get it out - the whole carpet is not a waste, just replace the affected tile!  Brilliant! 

So I finally decided (from the many of choices) on a new arrival for my Living Room, though this would also look awesome in the Green Room should I decide it's just too busy for the Living Room.  The awesome people at FLOR sent me tiles to create a 5'x7' area rug of Lasting Greatness in white.  And I love it.

It was sort of like putting a puzzle together - you can arrange many different patterns with this design!

And it's easy to assemble.  Really easy.  Set the tiles down in the pattern you want, and then use the FLOR dots to keep the tiles together (though you may not even need these since the back of the tiles are a rubber materiel to keep from sliding).

Here's the Living Room look with it's new FLOR.  What do YOU think?  Vote - Keep where it is or Move to the Green Room!  Either way, I love my new FLOR!

P.S. Favorite Blogger Outfit feature will be back next week (and hopefully with an interview if I can get my act together).  Hope you all are having a wonderful and safe long weekend!

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Lacking Lighting

Maybe like most homes build pre-1960s, my house is lacking overhead/ceiling lighting in ALL our bedrooms and in the Living Room.  I love how lamps can add style to your house, but we are in need of some major lighting help, and lamps are just not cutting it.

Have any of you dealt with installing ceiling lighting, fans, etc - anything involving electricity?  My husband wants to do this himself... Which scares me, a little.

But more fun...  Picking out the source of lighting... Hubs wants ceiling fans all around (I draw the line at in the Living room).  I think they are useful, but just hate the way they look.  I am thinking a form of Recessed Lighting for the Living Room and would love a pretty pendant or chandelier light for the bedroom...

What do you guys have in your homes? Ceiling fans or Pendant/Chandelier/Recessed Lighting?

Before and After: Big Yellow Wall

As I alluded to yesterday... we finally found something to break up all that yellow behind our couch.  Just a big open wall that desperately needed something.

Before:

It was really stressing me out... but then, we realized we already had something.  Yes...this whole time, we actually already had something PERFECT!

After:

I actually got this big foam wall art from an old job when we were relocating - they let us take whatever we wanted that wasn't being used in the new place.  I got this and little did I know that years later I'd have a yellow room that this would go great in. Score.

Quick Home Accessory DIY Revamp

Do you have an old home accessory that needs a face lift? Or perhaps you found something on super sale, but it just wasn't quite right...?  I know this happens to us all, and I know most of you have already experienced the magic that is spray paint!   But I just had my first time, folks.

With our new leather ottoman...the tray we already had (that I had gotten for $6 on clearance at Target last year) was just to blaaa and blending right in...

 So I headed to Walmart and picked up 2 cheapie cans of spray paint ($2.60ish per can) - One in the color of my choice and a clear coat.


 Here's my one hour home accessory makeover on the cheap DIY:

Before tray & spray paint products:

 Spray Paint: Krylon from Walmart in Leaf green and Clear.

1. I first lightly sanded the tray down and wiped off the sandy particles.
2. I laid out some plastic outside, set the tray on a brick (so paint didn't clump around the bottom edges) on top of the plastic and sprayed on the 1st coat.  Dries in 10 minutes.

3. After about 12 minutes (to be sure) I lightly sanded again, wiped off particles and sprayed 2nd coat on.
4. Repeat for coat 3 - making sure to get those corners and nooks.
5. Light spray of clear coat, final dry.

The final product:

A little more eye catching of a piece.  Now off to find something else to spray paint....

The Ottoman Search has Ended!

Back when we first got our couch, we started looking for a leather ottoman to replace our oval hammy-down coffee table.  We searched for months, and then a couple months ago we found one online that we were 90% sure would work. It was on back order and then a couple weeks ago arrived.  It 100% fits the bill!

We wanted something that wasn't goo bulky, since the space is limited.  We wanted real leather (we as in husband).  We wanted rectangle, to match the couch interior space.  We wanted something simple and modern.  Ideally it would have had storage, but that would leave us with something bulky, and our striped storage bench is serving that purpose just fine.

So the ottoman that took us so long to find?  From Macy's, on sale!

Here it is all moved in and already in use:

A bit closer up:

I'd like to paint that tray on top sometime bright to keep it from just blending in.

Oh and the giant yellow wall you can see part of behind the couch...looking for ideas on what to hang there...

Home projects never do end, do they?  And this room, the Living Room, has already come ALONG way!

Bye-Bye Naked Windows! Part 2

Sorry I kept you waiting on the second part of my dressed up windows.  The living room has felt great since putting up my new light turquoise curtains that I showed you last week.  Now, for my dining room:

Before... Naked Windows

And now?

Ok, so I didn't stray from what I did in the living room.  But did choose a thicker (not black out thick), faux-silk one to dress up the dining room a bit more.  I just love the light turquoise color with the yellow walls.  It really adds a pop to this room!

The panels I chose were from the same brand I got the living room ones from:

Classic Home Faux Silk Window Panels

Now I need to work on getting stuff up on the walls, a center piece for the dining room table, oh and many many other things... :)  But it's coming along!

Bye-Bye Naked Windows! Part 1

So after last weekends adventure to find window coverings, I found some and not at all what I was planning to find...  Once I got out there, I broadened my horizons and came up with a whole new idea!

My inspiration was actually from my living room book shelf I recently debuted:

How so, you ask?  What was it, you wonder??

This little turquoise ceramic vase (2nd shelf up) from Target.

It looks so nice on my shelf, in my yellow and gray room - it hit me!  Turquoise curtains...

So I tried several kinds of curtains in that color family and even a couple greens to see the difference and options, we settled on a kind that was still airy and let light in, but that had a pretty color, like the vase.

The winner:

Lucky in love with Target....Rocky Road Crushed Taffeta Window Panels

And now IRL:

What do you think?

Bare Windows: Need Curtains! Part 1

This weekend's project: Shop for window curtains for my yellow living room.  Any suggestions??

Living Room:

I'm thinking for the Living Room, something semi-sheer and light...

 

Is white a good option for my yellow room?  It would bring out the white trim and shelf, but to light and bright?

What about curtains in grey to match the couch and hallway walls?

Too matchy matchy, to much grey/yellow?  The color block option is a little different...

Or do I got with a pattern - maybe a combo of grey and white to break up the yellow?

Sheer patterned, or grey with white(ish) circles...?

Any advice??

All curtains from West Elm, Crate & Barrel and World Market.