Living Room Decor: Before & After

Continuing on with my Before & After posts our home is the living room. Nic and I truly do live in our living room. You can find us there 95% of the time while we're home. It was a little difficult organizing a design scheme around a 67 in. big screen TV but we were able to make compromises and we love how things turned out.

While redecorating the condo from Nic's bachelor pad to a family home we did not want to spend very much money. We knew we would need some additional pieces of furniture; so we tried to buy things that will still work well in our next home. Redecorating the condo really got me interested in designing on a budget, yet still buying quality pieces.

Here are the Before & After photos of our living room. My favorite part of the room is the matching wingback chairs. What is your favorite piece in your living room? Leave me a comment!

As always, if you see something that you like there are links to where I purchased each piece at the end of the post. If I have not linked to a website just leave me a comment and ask where I purchased it. I would love to help you find pieces that you love.

Before

Please take notice to the half naked guy Karate striking poster over the fire place. (Don't worry he's not actually naked)

After

Guest Bathroom Decor: Before & After

Nic bought this cute condo in the Riverwoods development of Provo, UT in 2007. He moved in along with some friends as roommates. The condo remained a bachelor pad until April 2012 when we got married and I moved in (and the roommates were kicked out). The past year has been spent merging our tastes and making this condo feel like home.

I hesitated at first to display pictures of our home because I have not done a lot of work on the condo. I have done the bare minimum to make it feel homey and put my stamp on things because I knew our time here would be fairly short term. So please don't judge my design skills on what I've done here.  When we move into a more permanent home I intend to get a lot more creative :)

A few weeks before I moved in I took some "before" pictures of the place and I thought it would be a fun blog post to show you my "after" pics. The before pictures were taken in all of its messy, unorganized, bachelor pad glory (sorry Nic!). Here are the changes that I have made to our guest bathroom. Stay tuned for more Before & After pics to follow.

Like something that you see? Click the links at the bottom of the post to find out where I bought each piece.

Before

After

And a quick "Hello!" from me

Shower Curtain: West Elm, Sold Out but loving this shower curtain

Organic White WoodGrain Towels: West Elm

Navy Hand Towels: Tahari via TJ Maxx, loving these similar Pottery Barn towels

Sunburst Mirror: TJ Maxx and DIY... Tutorial here

Soap Dispenser and Toothbrush Holder: West Elm, Sold Out but obsessing over these

Vase and Flowers: Hobby Lobby

My $31.98 Super Cheap Sunburst Mirror

 First of all let me apologize for the terrible iPhone photos. I originally was not going to post about this project but it turned out so cute I decided to show you all. I bought this metal sunburst mirror from TJ Maxx in Orem last week. I really did not like the color. Before Nic and I got married he chose a lot of dark colors for the decor and so everything I purchase now is trying to lighten things up. I've wanted a sunburst mirror for soooo long. See post here for my discussion of the trend a while back. Even though I really wanted a mirror like this they were just so dang expensive! The cheapest one I could find was $178. I decided to buy this cheap mirror from TJ Maxx and spray paint it silver like I wanted. I got Krylon Silver Metallic paint from Hobby Lobby for 5.99. The price of the mirror was 25.99 so my total was a crazy cheap $31.98!!!! It might not be perfect but it gives me the look I was going for at a fraction of the cost.

This is the original mirror.

I protected the mirror from paint dripping anywhere with paint tape.

I covered the remainder of the mirror with tin foil to protect from the spray paint. Super quick and easy and worked like a charm! Then I took it outside and sprayed it.

Here is the final product! Hung in our guest bathroom.

Style Trend: The Sunburst Mirror

The sunburst mirror has become trendy again. In my opinion it is because of the increased interest in the Art Deco era with that classic "Hollywood Glam" look. As I've said before I would classify my style as contempo classic. I love traditional design with an updated and modern twist. The sunburst motif is a perfect example of that. It is a design that will stand the test of time yet can be done in very new ways! I'm on the look out for a sunburst mirror to hang over our bed. How would you like to incorporate a sunburst into your home? Let me give you some examples for inspiration.

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My Picks

TheAffordable Choice
Kenroy Home Reyes Wall Mirror in Antique Silver
wayfair.com
$178.20

The Unique Choice

Hemani Abstract Metal Sunburst Wall Mirror

hayneedle.com

$470.80

The Organic Choice

Silver Sunburst Metal Leaf Mirror

amazon.com 

$425.00 

 

My favorite pattern...other than stripes!

I am obsessed with stripes. I wear them all the time and I think they're so quirky and fun, yet sophisticated. However, for the home my favorite patterns are Moroccan tile print and the quatrefoil. These patterns/shapes are very similar looking, but come from very different places. The quatrefoil hearkens back to the renaissance and Gothic eras of architecture. Obviously moroccan tile is inspired by the patterns of Morocco, which is a perfect place to gain inspiration from (so beautiful, bright, and fun). I love to mix these patterns in more traditional interiors as an accent. The geometric nature of these patterns contrasts with more traditional lines to make a more interesting look in the space. Here are some pics that I have collected. I plan on using these patterns on throw pillows in my home, maybe in the bedroom or living room.

Moraccan Tile Print

Quatrefoil

One of my FAVORITE designers+a Lenox tabletop collection= LOVE

I seriously couldn't contain myself with how excited I am for Donna Karan's tabletop collection for Lenox. I'm sitting in my office right now and just had to blog about it because this is just fabulous news! Donna Karan is one of my style ICONS, and has been for a decade (seriously, since I was 12!) She is right up with with Calvin Klein for me, they just understand line and the feminine form more than any other designer that I know of, and best of all their fashions can easily be worn in an everyday setting (so much less stuffy than the haute couture set). So now that I find out that Donna has helped to design this fabulous tabletop collection for Lenox I CANNOT wait to get my hands on some of the pieces. There is everything from vases to flatware. The collection is clean and elegant of course, but some of the pieces have an earthy, organic feel; which I think breathes a contemporary spirit into more traditional designs. Here is a sneak peak of the collection!

Sid Dickens Memory Block Collection

While roaming around Main st. in Park City I stumbled upon a design storefront called Elegante. Everything in the store was amazingly fabulous: Luxurious, chique, classic, sophisticated, with a hint of rugged western appeal. I was smiling ear to ear like a kid in a candy shop! Everything was just perfect, but what caught my eye the most were the Sid Dickens Memory Blocks. They are hand crafted wall plaques made of high quality plaster; truly pieces of art. Best part is they are affordable! You can start with a single tile and collect them as you go to create a unique wall display. Another really cool thing is that after a while the tiles are retired and then their value increases because no more will be cast. I honestly fell in love with these pieces and if you are dying over them too, head on down to Elegante to get some of your own. Or visit http://www.siddickens.com/ to view the catalogue.

Divine Dinnerware

There are so many decisions to be made when considering what type of dinnerware to purchase. Modern? Traditional? Simplistic? Ornate? Pure White? Colored?

I personally am a BIG fan of simple white dinnerware. Let's see if I can convince you to think so too.

This is why I love white dinnerware:

• it is classic and will not go out of style
• food presentation looks so much more rich on basic white dinnerware
• it washes better without the chips and scratches of colored dinnerware

Here are some of my top picks for divine dinnerware at a high, medium, and low price point as follows:

Tiffany Weave Place Setting

Mikasa Platinum Crown Set

Anthropologie Fleur De Lys Dinner Plate Setting