We will be taking a slight break in our Jaimee makeovers to bring you a bit more Operation Home Tranformation from Tiffany. I can't promise you Jaimee greatness, but I do have some easy, affordable tips to give your room a little face lift from clutter and overall blahness.
So today I am going to tell you some quick easy, cheap ways to brighten and open up a dark room. I will be using my living room death tomb as an example. Here it is in its normal, daily, ho hum state.
Since the layout of my main floor is all connected, (the kitchen is connected to the dining room which is connected to the living room on up the stairs), I needed a universal color to tie it all together. And since there is blue in my dining room and my mega couches are blue along with my walls, it was pretty obvious that the blue was staying. I just had to come up with a bright, happy color to go with the navy blue.
What color is brighter and happier than yellow, really?
So I went to add some bright yellow pillows to brighten up my couches. As far as pillows go, I highly recommend IKEA pillows. They have this magical filler inside that can be squished in a tiny little ball for years and then opened up and it pops into a full fluffy pillow. What this means is they don't lose their shape or squish with time. This is excellent for me since this is what my previous pillows looked like. Keeping it real for ya folks.
There were some obvious issues I needed to tackle first before I started brightening things.
Our wainscoting was a job we started almost 2 years ago. Then all our money started going to healthcare for my oldest and the wainscoting got put to the side. It's been bothering me all this time so it was time to finish it. This is where most my time and budget went to.
I also ditched the rug because it was pretty beat up, and wasn't doing much to add to the room. Someday I think I might want a yellow rug to go there, but they are expensive and I just couldn't fit it into the budget. It was best just to do without it. And the fire screen went away for now because it's spring and we aren't using the fire place.
When my youngest was a baby, I had created a space under my entertainment center along with a couple ottomans for his toys because I didn't want him down in the basement playroom alone. And since then, his toys have expanded and gotten bigger and exploded out of their little places. Most of which he was too old for. My husband's electronics have also exploded out of their place. My youngest is almost 4 now and can go into the playroom unsupervised. And it remains to be seen if my husband can be unsupervised with his video games, but it was time for all this to go to better places.
I put the toys he was too young for in storage and the rest in the basement. With the exception of some electronic toys that he needs help with and puzzles that he can do quietly upstairs, limiting the toys to a small box that fit under the end table. Remotes got put in a basket and unused gaming devices and cases got put away in storage.
Once that was conquered, I finally got to focus on the darkness of the room. The biggest culprit for this dark, dreary living room was my couches. They're big, they're dark, and they just take up the room like a giant mass of big, dark, couchness. Since buying new furniture wasn't in my budget, I decided what it needed was some bright, happy colors to cheer the place up.
Since the layout of my main floor is all connected, (the kitchen is connected to the dining room which is connected to the living room on up the stairs), I needed a universal color to tie it all together. And since there is blue in my dining room and my mega couches are blue along with my walls, it was pretty obvious that the blue was staying. I just had to come up with a bright, happy color to go with the navy blue.
What color is brighter and happier than yellow, really?
So I went to add some bright yellow pillows to brighten up my couches. As far as pillows go, I highly recommend IKEA pillows. They have this magical filler inside that can be squished in a tiny little ball for years and then opened up and it pops into a full fluffy pillow. What this means is they don't lose their shape or squish with time. This is excellent for me since this is what my previous pillows looked like. Keeping it real for ya folks.
The pillow inserts themselves were about $7 each and the covers were on sale for $2.50 each. Making it about $40 for four pillows. And if you ever want to change the colors of your pillows, you can just replace the covers for $12. I wanted a pattern on my pillows so I bought white covers and painted them with yellow fabric paint.
I used fashion forward red ninja duck tape to block off the stripes I wanted white and measured the distance between the white stripes. I wanted the yellow stripes to be bigger than the white, so I made the yellow stripes 3 inches. It fit perfectly on the pillow case. Then I painted the untaped area and peeled off the tape.
Voila! Stripes!
This simple addition did so much to brighten and freshen up my couches.
Now, the final thing I need to focus on was lighting. I have no idea what they were thinking when they put the lighting in my living room, but the only source of light is a small overhead light position on the side of the room over my fire place.
I also had a small lamp. I once had two of that lamp but my oldest tried to use one as an umbrella.
It didn't make it.
So, first I purchased a floor lamp on clearance at Target for $15. It had a good stretch to its lighting and could really fill the room. In fact, the Mr. says it's too bright. But he's a vampire so his vote doesn't count. And then I set out to get some more light coming through my windows.
I knew I wanted yellow curtains. Thing is, the only yellow I could find came with gray. That wasn't going to work for me. So I found an adorable ombre yellow shower curtain. It was $20 and I bought two of them. It was really simple making them in to curtains. I simply cut it in half and hemmed up the raw edge. Then I folded the top edge over and sewed 1-2 inches from the top.
Instant curtain!
Now, you may already be aware of this, but I was not. I've always thought curtains go over the windows. To shut out the light, right? Although it never crossed my mind that I had blinds for that. So, I came across a trick that not only brings tons of light into your room, but also makes your windows appear twice as big!
The trick?
Placing your curtains on the outside of your windows instead of inside.
Like I said, you probably already knew this trick. But it was totally new to me. So, I extended the curtain rod and placed the curtains on the outside.
Look at the difference!
These two windows are exactly the same size. Just different placing of the curtain. (Excuse the mess)
And there you have it! A brightened, opened up room for less than $100 (I didn't count the wainscoting). Here's the before and after.
And there you go! The kitchen will be coming up next!
Sharing @
.jpg)
