The living room is FINISHED!!

and by finished, I mean, it will never be painted again(by us at least)!

Everything is still in disarray and hardly anything is back in its place. Except the furniture and the TV. Heaven forbid we not have cable or access to the dang Xbox.  But I have a lot to do. We need window treatments, I'm thinking the desk is clashing with the walls, and I need to figure out how to make slipcovers for our curved-back chairs and I need two matching lamps for either side of the TV.

Anyway, here is the before. It was a yellow-greenish-tan mess. Not a bad color, but not GREAT!

The dresser you see holds our massive flat screen. Not thrilled that it is the focal point of the room, but let's face it, we watch some TV here! Maybe one of these days I can figure out a way to disguise it, like framing it and mounting it...?

After forking out $60+ on Valspar primer and paint in one, I talked to a guy at Sherwin Williams and he told me that Lowe's and HD market their paint to make customers believe that you only need that expensive paint. However, if you want the true color, you need to have a blank slate. In other words, the only way for paint to really show true tones is to prime your walls with white(or slightly gray)primer and then paint. Makes sense to me!  But, I wasn't happy after I paid over $60 then another $15 for a gallon of primer. Next time, I will just prime and buy the regular ol' plain paint and save myself about $20 and some stress! After we painted, we only used about a quarter of the second gallon we bought, anyway.

Here it is primed

And here it is FINISHED!!

We managed to get this painted canvas, that we scored on CL for $30, up above the sofa. This sofa will be the death of me. I.hate.it. It slumps in in the back and is basically impossible to get off of. I have vowed that there will be a new sofa in this room by the beginning of the year. Crossing my fingers!! 

It has taken me a couple of days to get used to the wall color. It wasn't love at first sight like I thought it was going to be. But, it's growing on me.

Look how well the painting blends with the paint color!

On the opposite side of the room is our massive TV and a CL dresser. I hope to find matching lamps to flank either side of the TV or something of the sort.

In the photos, the color looks more sage-y, and it actually is a bit more sage than I expected, but I think I like it.

Here is the desk against the walls

Remember, this was right after painting, so please excuse the disaster area!

The matching slipper chairs were purchased last month at a community yard sale for wait...$35 for the pair!

Can you believe it? They are only about a year old and she decided they didn't work in her bedroom anymore! Absolutely pefect condition! I thought I could live with the fabric, but I'm thinking about reupholstering or slipcovering. I would rather sew a cover, but everytime I think about it, it makes me cringe. How am I going to make it tight around that curve in the back?  Any ideas..or tutorials I should know about?

Check out these stems!!

Gorgeous!

So, the desk drawers are clashing and now I'm contemplating what color to paint them.

White to match the body?
Gray?
Bright color??
Any ideas are welcome!

Desk Steal

I have been using an old vanity as a desk in our living room for a while now. It was slim and only had two drawers for storage and a cubby where you have to lift the top of the vanity to access it. It was not convenient what-so-ever. I search Craigslist quite often and see old desks all the time that could be easliy updated. It wasn't until Kevin mentioned the fact that we needed a desk for more storage, that I really got to searching! I always get excited when he actually says we need something...it doesn't happen very often. On a Saturday I found two desks almost exactly alike, one for $20 and one for $10. I quickly emailed both ads in hope one was still available. I received an email back that day telling me that the cheaper one was sold.

Bummer. 

The next morning, i receieved an email from the other ad telling me that it was, in fact, still available! I emailed right back asking if I could have it! She told me that if I came and picked it up before 1pm that I cold take it off her hands for 10 smackeroos!! I told Kevin and showed him the picture. He was less than thrilled. You see, he is the one who drives all over Memphis to pick up the pieces I have found on CL. Picking up a desk on a Sunday afternoon was not his idea of fun, especially when I pulled up the address and it was in a less than pleasing part of town. Luckily, when we arrived it was the most cute little quaint house in the heart of Midtown. The houses surrounding were all older, smaller homes and were just adorable! I was so excited to get it home and get to work on it!!

Here is the before

It was a little rough on top, but structurally in great shape!! I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it! I had been eyeing this desk that Miss Mustard Seed finished with the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint found here.

Isn't she lovely?? I think so too! I loved the look of the painted desk and stained top. I actually have a dresser done the same way. I was leaning towards a darker blue for the drawers on mine though. I hit up Sherwin Williams for some $5 samples and covered the whole desk without even making a dent in the samples! I used a foam roller for the sides and a foam brush for the smaller spots. I covered with Kilz primer first and then painted. I distressed with my electric sander. 

And here she is!!

Please ignore the Disney lap pad under the table as well as the plastic bag, this is Kevin's way of hiding cords. In this photo, you can also see why I hate the wall color.

The stain is something I had on hand and I'm not sure of the color.  I cleaned(tried) the brass handles, but they didn't seem to want to polish perfectly. I took that as a sign that they wanted to stay antique looking, so I left them that way. I still want to line the drawers with some fabric or coordinating paper, but we will see if I ever get around to that. In the meantime, we are enjoying all the extra storage this baby brings us! When we get around to painting the walls Sea Salt, the drawers may clash and have to be painted a different color.

Do you think I should paint the drawers white or another color??

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