No matter what my job is, I will always be a design student. I will always be passionate about color and light and making spaces both aesthetically pleasing as well as functional. No matter what my job title, I will always be a designer at heart. I love looking in other people's houses to see what they've done with the space and really enjoy helping them make updates as their visions change. I love helping people see what small changes can do for their space. I strongly believe that the spaces we surround ourselves with have a direct impact on our moods and therefore our lives. For me a tidy space with beautiful colors, varying textures, and natural light is everything. Here's the problem: take me to someone else's house and I'm all over helping them, but at my own home I’m a bit challenged.
As we've moved I've gradually made changes; different paint colors, changing the pictures on the walls, moving rugs around between rooms, and updating “college” décor for something a bit more sophisticated. One day I was sitting in our living room and realized that it didn’t really make me happy. The room had consisted of the same colors for the past five years at least. This wouldn’t be so bad except for the fact that I never really liked the living room colors to begin with. You’re probably wondering why I used colors I wasn’t in love with in the first place. Allow me to explain.
We got our couch a few years ago and it’s worked perfectly for us. I fell in love with the chaise lounge (it was a requirement for the couch to have one) and it’s super comfy. At the time I had my heart set on a white couch but people told me I was nuts and it would get dirty (I do agree now). We got a great deal though so this grayish green won out in the end. I began building our living room around the couch. I added some neutral pillows in different textures and we found a rug that tied the wood furniture and green couch together. Everything matched and I thought that was fine, however I eventually began to feel like it was TOO matchy matchy. It also seemed like everything I looked at was green. Perhaps that's because it was. It didn’t feel like “ours” but rather like something plucked from a catalog - a matchy catalog from a chain store to be exact.
The space is called a “living room” for a reason; we spend a lot of time in there. As I mentioned before I really believe that a space directly affects our moods, so after some assessment I decided it was time to update the space a couple months ago. The big items would stay and I’d focus on using accents to transform the room into a space that reflected our personalities, fit the way we live, and most importantly would give us a space we LOVED.
Here’s the before pictures (sorry about the weird angles/lighting). It’s so blah, right? The more I look at it the more I dislike it and think, “what the heck was I thinking???”
I began scouring pinterest for color inspiration. The color of the couch wasn’t exactly the easiest to work with. I found sites with instructions for making slipcovers and perused color boards but nothing really stood out. Finally I realized that I seemed to be zeroing in on turquoise things so I knew I needed to work this into the décor. While on the Pier One website I found the pillow that changed my life. Okay, it changed my living room, but that’s a huge thing! I loved the colors in the pillow and was excited to see that it perfectly tied in turquoise and the dark greenish/gray shade of our couch. Happy dance!
Here's the pillow that started it all and became the inspiration for the change.
That’s all you get today though! Tomorrow I’ll post the big reveal!
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