Thrift Store Living Room Facelift: Part II

Finally, I can show you my living room update.  Mind you, there are no painted walls, or new furniture purchases, but I am happy with the boost of color I got from my $14 thrift store spree.  I used the items I purchase back in February, plus used and re-purposed things from my own stash around the house.  Click through to see the details:)

I've spent much of the last few weeks making new pillow covers.  In addition to the four pillows that I picked up at the thrift store, I also had a couple old ones to recover, and I kept the nice pillows I had.  The bolster up there and the patterned pillow, second from the left were ones I had made a couple years ago.  I hammered in the broken part of the couch with a huge nail, because the upholstery tacks just refused to stay.  As I look at the photo now, the gold blanket looks a little messy, but sitting here with it, I like it.  Between the covers and the pillows, it really brightens up the room.  It feels good to see a different color.

The pink pillow there was a pillow case.  I cut it to size to fit the new pillow, and made fabric rosettes from the leftover fabric.  The blue and green pillow in the middle, I made from yarn stash using Tunisian crochet on the front and a piece of turquoise silk on the back.  I love love love Tunisian crochet!  I looks like weaving, and in effect it is, just done with a crochet hook.

With one piece of the yellow fabric from the thrift store, I was able to get two pillow covers.  I added this fun crochet circle edging in shocking pink for just a little more oomph.  I've been reading Holly Becker's new book, Decorate Workshop.  Even though I'm not doing a top to bottom overhaul here, I am still getting so many wonderful ideas from her book.  Using shots of pink, a color I never would have considered, is one idea I got from her book.

This isn't too much different from last time I showed you.  I added the new tea pot and another doily.

I pulled brightly colored objects from other parts of the house, like these dolls from Japan and Korea, and the little turquoise doilies my friend Lalie gave to me.  Decorating a room is much like making a painting.  In a painting I will repeat colors to draw the eye, and I did the same with the shots of pink in my living room.

Trying to keep the coffee table tidy is really a lost cause, but for a few hours a week I can have it orderly:)  I'm reading another book, A Perfectly Kept House is the Sign of a Misspent Life.  In it, the author argues that it's ok to have some lived in clutter around your house.  I'm trying to learn to accept that more.  My house is almost always full of lived in clutter, but it bugs me so much.  DH was laughing at me while I read the book, because there are "messy" things printed on the pages, like hairpins, tape, and coffee rings.  I kept trying to brush them off and tidy up those pages!  He said it's probably a good book for me to read;)

This bit of fabric came in the bag of goodies from the thrift store too.  It's actually a small pillow cover.  I decided this was a good use for it, continuing the idea of using color to draw the eye.

My other sofa.

I got this granny square pattern from Ravelry.  I am so thrilled with how it came out!

So that is my room re-do.  Just a few dollars and some creativity can give a big boost to a tired space.