It Took You Long Enough

After living in this house 3 years, I finally got some inspiration for the living room. I'm nothing if not slow when it comes to decorating.

When we were packing up to move (3 years ago) I got rid of most of my home decor. I'm not sure why. It wasn't particularly outdated. I think I was on this simplify kick, and I read somewhere to get rid of everything that didn't make you smile. So...I did. I kept the stuff I really loved and got rid of the rest.

And, if I'm being honest, I was a little bitter over having to move.

And then we moved into this house, and it was really bare. Really.

Until the kids filled the space with shoes and blankets and backpacks and craft projects and baby dolls. And for some reason I could never get a vision for the living room. I'm pretty sure it had absolutely nothing to do with all the kid stuff.

A couple of weeks ago when we were on our Spring Break road trip we made a pit stop in Fredricksburg, and I found my inspiration. FINALLY! Honey was really sweet and jumped at the chance to get me moving in the "let's-do-something-to-the-living-room" direction.

And this weekend we pulled it all together...mostly.

Here's the before...

You can see my inspiration pieces on the hearth of the fireplace. You can also see some laundry that needed to be put away, a purchase that needs to be returned, and some paper left over from the SS Drama Queen. But just overlook that and focus on the blue metal wall hanging, the pot, and the urn.

After some paint and some quality time at Hobby Lobby, here is the after:

This is what I see when I'm doing the dishes. It may or may not inspire me to do some dishes every now and then. I'm not making any promises.


I decided after we got the walls painted and the furniture back in place that it looked so...brown. It needed some color. So the blue/teal stuff was my main focus, but I added in some red here and there just for fun.


I've always been so anti-red...this embracing of the red was a surprise even to me. I think it was the giant red candlestick I found for 50% off that convinced me.

The brown paisley pillow is my favorite.

I'm still looking for a small, not-obnoxious, cheap red pillow to go on the couch. Also? On Friday, my new BFF the electrician is coming to make one of my life long dreams come true. He and his assistant electrician are going to install recessed lighting in our living room. I can't wait!