Before & After Living Room

One of my favorite transformations in the beach house is the living room. The living room was kind of a funny "pass through" room with not a lot going on. The combination of a wide entry to the dining room, french doors into the game room/den, and a non-working gas fireplace that encroached into the room left few options for actually living in the living room. 

Some things that the room had going for it were the vaulted ceiling and the open staircase. I wanted to really play up the spaciousness above by lightening the dark wood of the ceiling and drawing the eye up the stairs with the line of the vintage badminton rackets. And how could I forget Big Sexy? (The 4 ft. tall lamp next to the couch I got on Craigslist for $40! Score!) Big lamps are a great addition (the lamp in the before picture is a regular size floor lamp...but look how puny it looks.).

BEFORE:

AFTER:

We reused the coffee table and just painted it white and covered it with glass. The couch was $250 on Craigslist and I had the AMAZING Mr. Moon (of Moon Sewing in Williamsburg, Virginia) redo the foam and make washable slipcovers out of a dark denim with aqua piping. The octopus throw pillows are from Tuesday Morning ($20 a piece? Definitely no more than $30.) The mid-century, split level end table is from Cabin Point Mercantile (I split a pair, so I think the one was around $30). The rug is an indoor/outdoor that I got at a clearance store called The Dump. It was just over $200 because it had a frayed corner. Hid that right under the couch and saved somewhere in the neighborhood of $500!

The fireplace was extremely dark and bulky....especially for something that didn't even work, so we replaced it with a custom built-in entertainment center (again, done by our friend Keith Mueller who did the dresser I showed you in the Master Bedroom. His prices are extremely reasonable! Probably somewhere in the $1500 neighborhood for the entire entertainment center.... 8 ft. tall and 7 ft. wide, all wood, bead board backing and doors, and we painted it. Seriously great deal!).

We also replaced the garden window (which had cloudy glass and leaked when it rained) with a standard window. Much better! The curtains were $10 from a local consignment shop. I think they might be a shower curtain, actually. Ha!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

The blue chairs were another great Craigslist deal--$20 each--and after much fabric drama (which I told you about HERE) the slipcovers were made by Moon Sewing. The chairs have casters, so they can easily move around for movie watching, board games on the coffee table, or a big puzzle on the floor. Versatility is key!

The items on the entertainment center shelves are a combination of items I had and things I picked up at Home Goods, TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and Cabin Point Mercantile. The two aqua rope knots (under the ship) are dog toys from Target! Most everything up there is in the $20 range.

The stereo/DVD/Blu-Ray player is a half priced, display model from last year at Best Buy. Everything works great, and Sony sent us the missing owner's manual, remote control, and iPod dock free of charge. Saved over $200!

As you can see in the picture below, another problem with the living room before was that the couch was  largely blocking the entryway to the dining room, and it made the room feel very closed off. By swinging the couch over to the wall under the stairs, the space flows and feels like one big, open area. AND we could tuck a little desk and ottoman on that wall (even more versatility with seating). Win/win!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

 

The desk is a beautiful antique I picked up for just over $100 at another local shop, Nature's Acre. The fish was already in the house, the beach sign is from Farmer Joe's, the lamp is from TJ Maxx, the chair and ottoman are from Home Goods. Our guest book, a map of the island, a binder with restaurant menus and island activities, and pens and pad stay organized in an office organizer from Target.

The stairs were previously a dark red color with a natural wood railing. We painted everything white with a turquoise "runner" (Behr's Jamaica Bay, if memory servers). A few gray pinstripes....and viola! Total transformation.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

So there you go! Without spending thousands and thousands of dollars on designer furniture and decor, you can really pull together a cute look. I spent a lot of time perusing Pinterest for ideas and using it to plan the decor for this house room by room. I also scoured my local Craigslist and Buy/Sell/Trade groups on Facebook. There are great deals to be had! You just have to be patient and keep looking. And don't be afraid to get a little creative.

Hope you are enjoying the before and afters!

~Betsy xoxo

P.S. Linking up at Between Naps on the Porch

Progress!

We are starting to see progress on some projects that have been in the works for a while now! Which is good since we have renters coming in 6 weeks (but who's counting??).

Remember all that slipcover drama I told you about here, here, and here? And then I told you I found my dream fabric here?

Well, the slipcovers for the chairs are done and they are spectacular! Tell me what you think:

I am in love. LOVE, I tell you! 

The other big doings is the blue vinyl siding is coming down, and the taupe HardieShingle siding is going up! I love it!

I hear carpet is being installed in the bedrooms today and the new windows should be hitting the island any minute. 

The super sexy mid-century couch is almost done being rehabbed and that slipcover should be done shortly. I am very excited to see it and share it with y'all!

Yessiree....we are making some progress!

~Betsy xoxo

You Done Good, Cupid

Well, hellooo gorgeous...

 

Machine washable. 100% cotton. Under $8 a yard!

 

I do believe I'm in love, y'all.

 

What's your verdict? Do we have your blessing?



Desperately Seeking Slipcovers

So, yeah.

My little rough and tumble slipcover sample I told you about here?

 

She's pretty much out of the running. Again.

(Seriously, are any of my human relationships this rocky? No.)

I did what I should have done in the first place: Gone right to the source.

I called Waverly Fabrics and asked them how "Dry Clean Only" they meant when they said, "Dry Clean Only."

Turns out they really mean it.

In fact, the fabric I picked shouldn't even be used for indoor applications, according to the rep I spoke with. They've had numerous complaints about it fading inside. It's an "occasional outdoor use" fabric.

Which is....you know.....kind of different than "indoor/outdoor."

And truly makes me wonder why such a delicate fabric is in the marketplace trying to hang with the big boys (read: Sunbrella).

I appreciate their honesty. I don't appreciate that I'm back to the drawing board.

I do have a new candidate coming soon.

A clearly marked, "Machine Washable" candidate.

I hope it doesn't smell my desperation.

That's always such a turn-off.

And I really, really, really need it to work out this time!!

What I mean to say is, "It's cool."

"Either way."

"Plenty of fish in the sea."

And now if you'll excuse me, I'm just going to go check the mailbox.

Three hours early.


~Betsy xoxo

Slipcover Sample Update

As I mentioned in my last post, Design Choices, I took a chance on putting a piece of "dry clean only" fabric through the washer to see if it was still in the running for chair slipcover material.

It threw it in with a heavy load of darks and washed it on cold.

It came through perfectly!

Before I washed it, I traced it on a piece of paper so I could measure any shrinkage. It was not one bit smaller.

Then, I decided that I'd put it through the dryer.

On high.

(I mean, if it's gonna get washed, it's probably gonna get dried. And we might as well see what she's made of, right?)

Want to see what happened?

Here's the before and after:

What do you know? No wrinkles, no shrinking, no scrunching, no nothing!

You can see a bit of fraying on the unfinished edges, but that's to be expected.

I kind of felt like the color faded a bit. But I couldn't tell if I was just looking at it too hard. The Before pic is a little darker overall, so who can tell.

Even if it did fade, I don't care.

And provided it gets the stamp of approval from my slipcover guy....I think we have a winner!

I'll stay out of those fancy stores, yet!

~Betsy xoxo

Design Choices

News flash: I am not an interior decorator.

I love design magazines.

I spend hours on Pinterest and Houzz.

I've read about a gajillion "Top 10 Decor Tips" articles over the years.

I can mostly tell when a room doesn't work....and sometimes even come up with ideas that would make it work better.

But when push comes to shove?

When I'm standing in the store and my whole family is shrugging their shoulders as I ask, "Well, what do you think? This shade of aqua or this one?"

I get a little panicky over my design choices.

Maybe if I were in those fancy stores with interior decorators on stand-by to help you choose between $10,000 Sofa A and $10,000 Sofa B, it'd be easier.

But I'm not. (I'm too scared to even go into those places!)

I'm fretting in the aisles of TJ Maxx, Target, and Home Depot.

I'm nervously making offers on Craigslist and hoping the pictures live up to the item.

I'm rooting around in my attic thinking, "Hmm...this could work!"

It's not that I'm cheap, per se. I'll be buying top of the line mattresses (comfort matters!), but throw pillows that cost as much as my first car?

No.

I just can't.

Frugality + A very specific vision for this beach house = Sometimes feeling like it's never going to happen.

But it also forces me to get creative. And pull together a look that is less "polished" and more "collected and eclectic."

Currently I'm hand-wringing over slipcover fabric.

There is some very beautiful fabric out there. Some patterns and colors that I just drool over.

But at $150 a yard?

Or in a delicate linen?

These are not the choices for me. I mean, who wants to come back from a wonderful morning at the beach only to have heart failure when the kids plop their sandy, wet, sunscreened selves on the chairs?

After much searching, I finally found a really cute, very hardy, and great-priced fabric. Here's the sample on some of the aqua things I've already purchased:

 

I really like it the way it looks. Do you?

 

It's Waverly Chippendale Sun N Shade Fretwork in Mineral.

 

Not only do I need to make sure the color works, but I need to see if the pattern works with my other patterns and textures.

 

I just bought the big tan colored rug (at a great price, but I can always use it at my house if it doesn't work for the beach house). I absolutely adore the smaller rug with the blues and greens (and need it to pull all the colors together). And I could not pass up the coral lamp! I think it all works together: 

 

 

Here's the downside: While the fabric is an indoor/outdoor, and is very durable (while still feeling nice), and another website says it can be spot-cleaned with soap and water.....it also says, "dry clean only."

 

Ummm.....dry clean and beach house just do not go together!

 

For that matter, dry clean and slipcover just do not go together.

 

So, I'm going to wash my little sample and see how it fares. If it shrinks a little, or wrinkles a little...I can live with that.

 

If it twists into an unrecognizable blob?

 

Sigh...I might end up in one of those fancy stores, yet.

 

Godspeed, little sample.

 

I'll let y'all know how it goes...

 

~Betsy xoxo