You know when something just isn't quite right? That is how I have felt about our kitchen for months!The kitchen is our biggest renovation project to date and feeling like something was off had me questioning the whole project.I began looking through the pictures I originally picked out for the kitchen to try to identify where I drifted from those ideas. Turns out, the base for the kitchen: White Cabinets and Dark Flooring was all in line with the "feel" I wanted to achieve.
Inspiration for the Kitchen:
When I layered an albeit pretty but red rug on the charcoal floors, the "feel" I was going for vanished. So I began the hunt for a rug that was a little more natural and neutral. What I love so much about decorating is that little changes have big impact!
I stumbled upon this rug at TJMaxx and knew it was the one.
The black and natural fiber rug brings together the colors in the granite, cabinets and flooring while blending well with the look of our kitchen island. We are loving the new look of our kitchen.
Small change = Big Impact!
Have you guys made any small changes that have had a big impact on your home?!
<<<PS __ Ty and I celebrate 2 years married today! >>>>
If I have learned anything about decorating a room, it is that a room is built over time. Layer by Layer.
First Layer = Flooring and Furniture
Second Layer = Lighting
Third Layer = Pillows and Poufs
Fourth Layers = Accessorizing and Artwork
(and of course before ANY of this you must come up with a PLAN)
We are entering the fourth stage of our living room design (yes, after the chair debacle things have moved along quite rapidly) and I am SO EXCITED. Accessorizing and detailing is my favorite part of a room. Not only does it signal the room is almost finished (does that ever actually happen?!), but its where the room becomes more than THE living room but MY living room - it gets a personality.
So today I am giving you a quick tutorial on dressing your coffee table for success.
WHERE DO I START?
First and foremost, SHOP your house. I highly suggest keeping all of your decorative items in one spot. That way you can go to that cabinet, armoire, or closet and literally "shop" for the things you need to freshen up your space. This is one of the best ways to know and use what you have. It keeps you from feeling like you need to purchase something, and you can instantly change the look and feel of a space by using whatcha got.
The Elements of a Well-Styled Coffee Table
Why it works?
Something to Provide Height + Something Decorative + A Stack of Books + Something Floral
= A Well-Styled Coffee Table
Each item provides its own unique element of style but also connects to the other items on the table.
The floral arrangement provides both height and adds a fresh feel in this case. You can use a separate item to provide height like a hurricane jar with a candle or candle sticks.
Odd numbers work best - notice there are three items on the right side and four on the left for a total of 7.
Balance. The tray is used to contain the three items on the right and balances the books with the books on the left.
Use like or complementary colors. Notice everything is similar to the colors within the room. It is okay to use one wacky or out of place object/color to give it personality, but try to blend everything by using like colors.
Find something small to ground your books - a small decorative object like a paperweight, ceramic animal, magnifying glass or a candle (seen here).
Something to Provide Height + Something Decorative + A Stack of Books + Something Floral
= A Well-Styled Coffee Table
Now its your turn!
Use the simple formula above to create your own beautiful coffee table decor.
I would love to see how yours turns out! Post in the comments below or feel free to email me at sylvanparklife@gmail.com!
I may have gotten a touch obsessive about finding living room chairs. I really wanted to find THE PERFECT chairs for our living room. You see, our living room is rather large, but also rather narrow. It is also open on both sides - from the dining room and the front entry. I did not want to block the flow of the room in either direction while also allowing for a conversation style seating and the ability to view the TV. A TALL order!
Toward the Entry
Toward the Dining Room
I used Houzz to find living room arrangements that were like my own, and came up with a plan for how to arrange the room. The original plan was to mount the TV above the fireplace, and have two fireside chairs sittting directly across from the sofa.
Although I really liked these wing chairs that were hauled all the way here from GA!, we were unsure about mounting the TV over the fireplace and felt like the set up did not fully take advantage of the big space in the room. So I went back to the drawing board. I will make a VERY long story short at this point. Around the fourth pair of chairs and a small stent in counseling I became discouraged, starting to dislike our living room altogether, and generally wanted to give up on finding the perfect chairs.
The Use Whatcha Got Chairs.
Originally I wanted to recover my existing club chairs
but I could never find a fabric I loved for both chairs.
Vintage Pair of Craiglist Chairs -
These barely made it home before I posted them back on Clist because they were too low and too small (although quite adorable)
Cream Club Chairs from Wayfair.com
These look great but the room became unbalanced on the right side of the fireplace,
and the chairs were too big to sit side by side.
Pair Floral Chairs from Pier 1
These were returned within an hour of purchasing them for being too blue.
Pair of Henry Bertoia Chairs.
I thought these would add the perfect Mid-Century vibe,
but again these were also too small when seated next to our large sofa.
Six pairs of chairs later, I was STILL unsatisfied with the look of the room. Would our living room EVER look right? Would this chair debacle end in terrible tragedy? I was beginning to think so. Until...
I found the perfect living room chairs for 20% off while perusing a local furniture shop.
I felt like Tom Hanks in Cast Away...
And the living room (and me) lived happily ever after...
LUCKY NUMBER #7:
I hope this encourages all of you when you don't get it right the first time... I don't either!
The story of this room is a long one, but I am so happy to finally have gotten it just right!
We can now see into our beautiful back and side yard.With this new point of view I feel like I am in a whole new room. Who knows, I may even have started to like the color!
I will keep y'all posted on the happenings...no paint yet. Although GREY is the top of our list too!
What are your thoughts on the new direction of the room?
Design Tip:
Have a room that just doesn't feel right but not in the mood to paint?!
One of my mid-week must-haves revealed one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE Gallery walls.
I dream of having a gallery wall as gorgeous as this one in our home one day.
As I begin to build on my ideas for the den (more on that here), I am thinking this wall looks pretty perfect for a gallery wall inspiration...
I have already started "collecting" (and by collecting I mean storing links to these amazing images so I can one day buy them!) art for my gallery wall. It is a little intimidating to think about filling an entire wall with art, much less purchasing all of it and hoping it all works together. Here are some of the things I have found thus far...
We are enjoying our guest room these days... maybe even a tad envious when we glimpse the guest room and then walk into our unfinished master bedroom... but we are so thankful it is ready to host guests at a moments notice. Here is our Budget Breakdown for the guest room and HOW we got that look!
Pallet Headboard: FREE! This was the first project Ty and I did together. Who knew it was foreshadowing many DIY projects to come!
Bedding: The White Duvet with the Green trim I bought in college. It can still be found here. The quilt was a steal at TJ Maxx/Home Goods for only $49. It is made my Cynthia Rowley.
Pillows: The Euro Shams are from PB's Palampore Bedding Collection. These cost a pretty penny at $49 each, but when debating over making my own shams out of my FIRST CHOICE of fabric... Schumacher's Chaing Mai in Aquamarine at $100plus/yard...these were definitely the cheaper of the two options; Yellow Pillows: Homemade from our previous guest room in the Sloan Road House; Coral Damask Pillow: This was a GREAT Etsy find. Only $14 on clearance.
Matching Glass Lamps: Also on CLEARANCE for $29 each at TJ/HG
Schumacher's Chaing Mai Fabric in Aquamarine
Reading Nook:
Yellow Chair: From my childhood, FREE (thanks Ma!)
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