Amateur Redecorating Adventure!

This week I went to Seattle with my friend Marsha.  Her sister Allison invited us to come and asked if we could help her decorate her living room.  We arrived late on a Wednesday night, looked at a few pictures on Pinterest selected by her as inspiration, and were eager to wake up the next morning and start creating!

Allison had a lovely couch, 2 chairs, and 2 beautiful paintings already in the room.  She and her husband also had some furniture they weren't using....one piece we found interesting was her husband Jeff's childhood dresser.  It was a little beat up, but had great knobs and style. We moved this into the room, rearranged the furniture, and decided with a little paint and dark wax this would be a great statement piece.  (I didn't know I would be sharing all this...wish I had taken some "before pictures" for you all..)

We also found some yellow pillows that Allison wasn't using and when we threw those on the couch it was obvious this needed to be an accent color! The yellow was already in one of the chairs and paintings, and went beautifully with the blue walls.

Another treasure we found in the garage was a sofa table!  We moved that into place, and were so excited it was ridiculous!   We spent the rest of the day shopping for accessories at no less than 6 different local stores.  We looked for the right mirror, and things that would provide interest and texture.

Running back and forth to the stores, painting the dresser, and searching the house for last minute touches we laughed when we realized how much we were trying to do in just 8 short hours!! We have no port folio, no recommendations, and yet had been entrusted with a budget as if we were interior decorators!!  What had possessed us to have this kind of courage and confidence?  Who knew....

Allison and Jeff came home and were very surprised!  We provided a few options for the mantle, and they selected their favorite.  The dresser was hard for them to embrace.  They had never seen one in a living room.  So we moved it out...but then it went right back in.  It lacked something without it Allison said.

We were very tired by the end of the day, but it had been a rewarding experience.  By just rearranging the furniture, pulling in some things they already had in other places in the home and adding accessories, the room had been transformed. We stayed within our $750.00 budget which was also very good!

Before we went home, we decided to give them one more surprise.  During our early searches, we had found a collection of paintings done by Jeff's grandfather.  We took a risk and hung them as a collection on a wall in the bedroom we were staying in.  We also pulled a secretarial desk in from storage and paired it with an antique blue chair and another one of those great yellow pillows we found!

We arrived back in Spokane late Saturday night which left no time for blog writing!  My daughter Kelsey thought some of you might be interested in our adventure!

Have a great week everyone!!