Saturday, September 26, 2009

Living room inspired by Snippet & Ink

After seeing this inspiration board from Snippet & Ink I decided our colors for the living room would be red and green/grey.  I thought it was a risky move but I love how clean it's turned out. 

Our living room walls are painted Silver Sage by Restoration Hardware.  Their paint is priced at $38, but you can buy samples for $3.95 to make sure you like the color.  A way to save some money is go get some color samples of a variety of shades.  Then once you've made your decision take it to Home Depot and they can match the exact color for about $16 depending on the type paint you want.  Our's was free...the previous owners had already painted the living room the exact color we had chosen!  How lucky are we???



I had already been decorating with red accents so the red was easy.  We just did easy things like throw pillows and such.

So here's the entire living room.  I'm not a great photographer so just bare with me.

Not sure if you can get the whole feel of the room.  I'm a simple decorator, so less is more to me.  (greatest purchase in the room are the couches.  2 for $325!)  MR.P would say differently.  He absolutely loves the ottoman. 


Here's the view from the other side of the room.  Having 2 couches in a room really does add so much more seating.  And kind of closes off the living room area. 

                                      
Here is our make shift tv stand.  The "hutch" that the tv is on was grandparent's.  It's by far my favorite piece of furniture in our house.  It's really old, but has soo much character!  I actually sledge hammered one of the doors off so that it would be a little more open.  I think it turned out great!  We got the book cases from Target for $100 each.  Most tv stands are around $500, so I say this one was a great deal. 

I recently learned how to organize my book shelves.  I used to just shove our books in but it always frustrated me how unorganized it looked.  So I finally figured out what accessories we could use to accent the book shelves.  These are my favs.

I am always surprised at the pieces that are my favorite.  It makes MR.P's day that we have this up, so i love it as well.

This plane I bought for MR.P at an antique market.  He'd been wanting one for a while, so I finally bought it for him.  I think it adds a fun  element to the bookshelf.

I actually painted the plate on top.  MR.P and I were about to move into our new house so I wanted to paint a fun plate with the colors we were using.  Lame, I know, but I love polka dots.  I really can't help it!  Even our wedding had a few subtle hints of them;) Then I bought the large frame from Hobby Lobby for only $7.  It's one of those things that gives the room what I was looking for:)
Another favorite element are the ticking stripe drapes in the living room and breakfast knook.  I found them at the Pottery Barn outlet for 75% off!!  They definitely make the room complete.  (Please note:  This table is a recent purchase off of craigslist and is in the middle of a renovation.  The 4th chair is recovering from my first attempt.  Check back later to see what we do!)

Ok, so this is in the kitchen, but I had to add it.  These red phones are usually $100, but I found it for 75% off as well on ebay!  Huge find.  I think it goes well with the beadboard in the kitchen.
The kitchen view.  Just a little red in the stars.  They help bring the living room over and make all the rooms blend together.  They kind of have to since it's an open plan. 
This last one is just for fun.  Our green kitchen aid is quite old!  I think it's about 50 years old, but it still works great...when I use it.  I look at as more of a decoration:)

So there you have it.  The way I used Snippet & Ink's inspiration board.  If you see any ideas I could use please let me know.  I am open to suggestions. 

Also, if you need any help with some decorating let me know.  I am no expert, but I really enjoy it. 

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!  I sure am.  MR. P and I are enjoying a little football. 


8 comments:

Haven and Home said...

Looks great! Silver Sage is probably my favorite color ever, I use it all the time.

sharongracepjs said...

So fresh and cheery! I have a lot of red in my apartment, too, but I haven't designed as nicely as you have.

Also, I would NEVER have space for decorative things on my bookshelves - mine are always CRAMMED with books and I usually have stacks on the floor, too! It looks great, though - maybe if I ever have a "real" house I will have to invest a few more bookshelves and try to squeeze in some accent items...until I buy more books, that is ;)

housewifeish said...

Love the kitchenaide mixer, and that phone is to die for!

queenbee said...

I love your color combo especially the punches of red. I am by far no decorator, but here are a few tricks that I have read about in magazines and blogs recently.

1. Hang your curtains higher than the actually top of the window to make your windows appear larger
2. Take the jackets off of the books to expose the true color of the book

Design A-Peele said...

Thanks @queenbee. The previous owner had the hardware at the top of the bigger windows so I highered them to the very top...above the smaller windows as well. I would do them higher but the drapes aren't long enough. One day if I ever have custom made drapes I will definitely try that out! And I will definitely take the covers off the books! Great thinking! Thanks for visiting!

Shorely Chic said...

Nice job!! I love all the stars, they are fun :)

I've been soo wanting to photograph my apartment, but haven't had time to straighten up the place as well as I would like!I hope to put up the pics soon on my blog like you did - thanks for sharing your lovely abode :)

The Prothros said...

I would actually not recomment color matching from Restoration Hardware. We tried it awhile ago and Restoration Hardware uses a powder mixture in their paint that is impossible to match at HOme Depot. We put up the sample from Restoration Hardware and the color matchd sample from Home Depot and it was NOWHERE close to a match. So in the end, I loved the color from Restoration Hardware too much to not spend the money on it. :)

kelly@TearingUpHouses said...

i love the color of your living room -- a lot. my mind is racing with what room i can paint that in...

and that red phone! what a find!

kelly