The "mini living room makeover" list

I love a makeover.

My favorite part of any HGTV show is the last ten minutes. Sometimes I'll even turn on a design show, go do a load of laundry or surf the net for about twenty minutes (skipping the rather boring redo-paint-sand-demolish-build phase), and return to watch the end abracadabra switch from "before" to "after". I love how the camera shows the original footage of ugly ass decor: hideous floral wallpaper borders, dingy carpets, outdated brass figures. Then, cue the twinkle wind chime noise, and the room is so sleek/chic/magnifique that I'm frantically taking my own mental notes.


I'm SO not an HGTV pro (although I wish their talent would rub off on my from the zillions of HGTV shows that I've watched), however I thought I'd give just a few of my own "before" and "after" pictures, starting with my living room. I just bought a couple pillows from Target for the room and thought it would be fun to see the transformation.

Before:



Here's another blah picture of the fireplace:



And now the window:




It took me over TWO YEARS (not an exaggeration) before I could finally decide on a color for the walls (Behr's "warm muffin"- God what I wouldn't give to have the job of naming paint colors! How cool would that be?) Also replaced the frames and found these great leaf cushions recently at Target (which is what inspired me to put this on my blog!)

Now (drumroll, please), the after pics!






Couch with new cushions:


Fresh apples (that I have to keep replacing when they rot, but I refuse to buy plastic apples from Micheal's) and green candles on mantle:



Finally, a close-up shot of one of the leaf pillows ($12.00 each on sale!)


I'm still not crazy about the fireplace set-up. It seems a bit too symmetrical/ matchy-matchy, and I need to put some more modern or fun items to look at on it. Feel free to post any ideas! :)