the living room

Welcome to my "crib."

I wanted to post these not-so-funny-actually-quite-terrifying pictures of what our apt looked like right after we moved in. Disclaimer: we had just gotten married (as in, a week before) & it was decorated with everything we got from the wedding, pretty much. Which explains why it doesn't really go together at all. Notice those ugly sheer flowery curtains? Yikes!

Who's idea was it to put the couch in the middle of the room? Or the rocking chair in that back corner?....

Well, since these pictures I have made quite a few changes & have really grown to love my living room that has completely been decorated on a very, very small, almost free, budget. And the most recent changes where SO cheap & make all the difference for me.

A few months ago I scored & got a few of these FREE painted canvas boards, that are a good size. I figured I would just paint over them. I did. About, ten...maybe fifteen times. And, I hated it each time. So, this is what I did instead.

I bought some burlap ($2.99 or something like that at JoAnn's with a selection of different colors to choose from) & wrapped it around & stapled it tight (can you tell how much we love our staple gun?). I had this star (wedding gift), but it was brown & I painted it the red color.
I love how simple it is & how it all turned out.
Good bye ducks...we'll see you in the hubs office sometime soon.

Only I need opinions, should I try to find some sconces to hang on both sides, or should I just leave it? I don't mind it how it is, without anything & I feel like we'll only be living in this same place for a few more months-enough with the changes?

My second find was AWESOME!
I found this shelf/coat wrack on the tree-lawn (love that place). It was white & I spray painted it black. And then I had this idea & I LOVE how it all turned out too. We recently had some new family pictures & I was able to print them out & ahhh, I just love it.

So, with the few little wall decor changes & my new curtains I am feel pretty good about this room, finally. The more & more I get to explore & decorate, the more & more I am learning what my style is. It all makes me especially happy, since I didn't spend more than a few bucks on it all.

Here is the room now.
As you can tell it's more than just a living room, it's also our "office space" & see that little table with my cute Halloween tree on it? That's my awesome (tree-lawn find) sewing table. The top flips open & my sewing machine sits down inside of it. It's a future refurbishing project too.

Oh & if you can't tell, it's also our t.v. room & play room.
It's not a lot, but it's good enough for me (at this point).