Living Room Goals

2012 Home Goals Party

The Nester over at Nesting Place held a linky party! Even though this is a home goals party I am going to focus on just one room in my apartment - the living room - let's just say it needs some TLC. Thank you Nesting Place for hosting this party, it is so much fun to see everyone's home goals! Let's get to it!

I took down all my Christmas decor this past weekend and noticed how bare and dark my living room really is. My sister told me to check out Clarendon Lane's blog because she said her style is a lot like mine (and it sure is!). Below is a picture of her living room, which I would love to emulate. I have very similar leather couches and have always been scared to add pops of color. This picture makes me want to bring white into my living room. The only light colored items I have are golden pillows from Pier One as well as beige throws from Marshalls. Everything else is brown, from my curtains to my ottoman. It's a new year so let's change things up!

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A lot of the problem with my apartment being so dark is the lighting. There is one lamp in my living room and it does not give off ANY light. I was going to take pictures tonight to compare to Clarendon Lane's, however they would be so dark you would not be able to make out my furniture! This weekend I will post a picture of my living room and show you guys, as the Jersey Shore show likes to call it...The Situation!

So let's get to my goals:

• Get a white shade for my small lamp.
• Try to find a standing lamp with white shade. Maybe there will be some good buys at the thrift stores this weekend. (Caroline said after the holidays is the best time to go to thrift stores because everyone is cleaning and getting rid of "unwanted" items. If they only knew they are my treasures!)
• Maybe paint my black entertainment stand (I don't know what I was thinking when I got it because it doesn't really match anything). But now I want to paint it....you guessed it....WHITE....with some brassy knobs maybe?
• Buy some floating shelves. Caroline saw some for $5.00 at a thrift store this week. I'm thinking I might paint them beige.

All in all I think the lesson learned here is don't be afraid of color. Especially if you are living in a apartment the last thing you want in such a small space is darkness....how depressing. This weekend I will post pictures of my living room when the natural light comes in (which isn't much). I think my main goal this weekend are the shelves and lighting options.

Here goes nothing...WISH ME LUCK!

...So I promised I would post pictures of my living room this weekend (Sorry there is no natural light shining through). I got all excited at the thought that I would be showing everyone my living room - then I was trumped by being nervous that it was dusty and messy. So I decided to clean around 11:30 p.m. just so that I could take fresh pictures! Here is a picture of my living room. See what I mean by all the brown?

Here are some features I love about my living room:

I love the tufted feature on my sofa. I pulled the "gold" from them and extended it to my pillows!

I love my fabulous pillows from Pier One!

I couldn't forget the inspiration for my living room! How awesome is this elephant from HomeGoods?

I did have good luck at HomeGoods today (finishing one of my goals....yippee!). I bought two lamps finally. Here is a picture of the lamp. I think what sold me was the fleur de lis symbol, which I am addicted to.

So my next goal is to get floating shelves to mount behind the loveseat. Caroline went to the thrift store this past week and they were GONE! Dun dun dun!!!! I refuse to pay full price for shelves.

Even though I didn't find any colorful items for my living room I am going to keep searching. I find that when I am looking for something I can never find it. And when I'm not looking for something I find it! How frustrating! I am also a very picky shopper, if I don't LOVE something I don't get it. All in all my living room is a work in progress but that is what makes it fun!

Home Goals for a New Year

2012 Home Goals Party

The Nester over at Nesting Place (which is one of my favorite blogs that I read almost daily) is hosting a linky party today and I thought this would be a great opportunity to actually write down some goals for my apartment this year.  Unlike many bloggers out there, I don't own a home yet, so my goals will be a little different as I can't do any major changes, such as painting or gutting rooms (even though I'd love to!).

Goal 1: My main goal is to BRIGHTEN up my space.  I moved into my apartment loving dark neutral colors like dark browns, reds, and greens.  My living room, bedroom, and dining room all seem so dark lately, maybe because it's wintertime?  Either way, I'm now really digging the off-whites, greige, and sage green colors.  In order to do this in an affordable way, I'll need to focus on accent pieces that can replace my darker pieces.

Right now I have dark red/brown accent pillows in my living room that my sister gave me, which went perfect with my decor.  Unfortunately, they have seen better days.  Switching out pillows can be an easy and affordable way to update the look of a couch and chair.  This pillow would definitely add more brightness to my couch and chair...

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I'm loving the rustic, yet elegant look of mercury glass and would love some mercury glass candle holders to brighten up my space in either the dining room and/or living room...

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Beginning last year, I became attracted to ceramic bird figurines.  In my kitchen I have a chicken theme (yes, even a vegetarian can decorate her kitchen with chickens!).  I love the look of all-white ceramic birds that can be nestled into any nook or cranny of a room.  Such a cute way to bring nature inside...

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Goal 2: Spray paint something!  So many blogs have shown the power that spray paint holds and how well it transforms anything!  I have two large, elongated framed, matted pictures hanging in my dining room that could use some updating.  The frames are dark brown, so maybe a greige color would work or even white, while switching out the current pictures to some botanical or nautical drawings...

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Goal 3: Create a terrarium.  Because my one cat, Basil, chews on any house plant I have ever tried to own, I thought a terrarium would be the perfect solution to keep her pesky chompers away from greenery!

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