The Living Room - Yes, I Procrastinate.

OK, OK, OK!  I know I procrastinate.  But, at least I get there.  Part of the delay in posting pictures of the new Spring-ified living room was the fact that I had an awful time finding some blue pillar candles for the wall sconces.  I went to JoAnn Fabric and found the perfect shade of blue candles on clearance for 2 bucks a piece.  Cha Ching!  That's my kind of deal!  But...they only had 5 left and I needed 6.  Don't think I didn't search that store high and low looking for an extra one!  I even had an employee in on the hunt.  We looked to no avail.  There wasn't a 6th candle to be found anywhere in the store.  Bummer.

 

So, I moved on to Meijer.  I found some candles in a shade of blue that would work.  For 7 dollars a piece.  Somebody, just smack me if I ever spend $42 plus tax on 6 candles.  I'm much too cheap frugal for that.

 

So, I had to wait until I found them.  Which, I finally did this weekend at DEAL$.  My candles ended up being $3 a piece.  Not too bad - but more than I paid for anything in my whole change-up.

 

Are you ready to see how I pulled it all off so inexpensively?

 

 

I found this heavy tablecloth for $1.99 at Goodwill.  Of course.  I cut off the border and made 2 pillow covers to go over my red pillows.

 

 

Now these red pillows are the forms inside of the blue covers. 

 

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I swapped out a few things on the wall that is to the left of the above picture, too.

This is what it looked like before.

This is where we are now.  And please, ignore the blue painter's tape surrounding the woodwork.  It is going to be painted out white...eventually.

I traded the old picture with this one that was hanging in my bedroom.  It has more blue in it.  I also swapped the votive holders and red mini pillar candles for these simple blue tapers that I found at Goodwill for twenty-five cents a piece.

The white urn had been replaced with this vignette a couple of months ago - except there was a red book where the one with blue now is. Since I already had everything around the house, it was free.

The red chair pillow in both of my wing back chairs have been replaced with these:

Both of these blue pillows were borrowed from the guest bed upstairs.  My cost - nada.

This might not be the best example of the entertainment center.  But, since it is the only example I have - it's what you're getting.  :0) You can see the red vase and books on top and the red pillar candles on the side.

I swapped out the red books for some blue ones I had (free) and traded the blue tapers (twenty-five cents a piece at Goodwill) for the white ones.  I had the blue pillar candle on the blue candle base in my bedroom - so I just brought it out into the living room (free).  The blue and white plate was given to me by my friend, Carrie (free, also).  It was previously hanging on the wall upstairs with 5 others.  No one will ever see that it's missing. :0) 

Here was my before shot looking from the kitchen/dining room, again:

That rug is now in the dining room.

Here is the after:

Before - looking from the hallway:

And after:

Like I said in a previous post - I think it will look even better once we get the trim and doors painted white.

I didn't show pictures of the hallway.  I'm not sure it's even big enough to be officially called that anyway.  But, it had a pretty picture hanging on one wall with a red background and white flowers.  I found the following framed sketch at Goodwill for $5.99 and picked it up because I thought it was cute.  And neutral.

I could totally live in a house like that. :0)  Anyway, I have this print in my hallway now.  And the big red mirror that I had on the other wall is patiently waiting to be painted 'heirloom white'.  Now, if we can just get the weather to cooperate...

So let's do a total run-down on everything I spent $$ on to swap out my house from a Fall/Winter color sheme to one that's more appropriate for Spring/Summer.

• 2 king sized bed sheets (curtains) - $3.98 a piece = $7.96
• 1 table cloth for dining room table = $1.99
• 1 back up table cloth for dining room table = $2.99
• 1 table cloth for making sofa pillows = $1.99
• 4 taper candles = $1.00
• 6 pillar candles = $18.00 (By far, my most expensive buy.)
• 1 pencil sketch - $5.99

Grand Total = $39.92 + tax

Not bad, considering I changed out everything from drapes, to table cloths, to pillows, candles and accessories.  And since I shopped and gathered over a period of about 6-8 weeks, I didn't have to drop the cash all at once.  I was able to keep the cost down because I shopped my house and surveyed what I already had before I shopped anywhere else.  I chose to go with blue because that meant I could borrow accessories from around the house for a few months.

I like the fact that I will be able to reuse everything from year to year.  The only exception would be if we burn the candles up - probably not going to happen.

Well, I'm done now and your eyes are probably tired from all the reading.  So, you go have yourself a good one, OK?

Pam

And, BTW, thanks for hanging in there and reading.  I'd hug you if I could!