Decorating Inspiration

I’m no mad genius, but I’ve slowly been decorating my house, which we moved into last June, on a budget. The whole process started about two years ago, when we started blogging, and I started following decorating and other DIY style blogs. We were living in a condo in the city when I started finding items by the trash outside (the furniture trash found outside apartments and condos can bring you some great free finds, just like cruising the curbside on certain garbage nights ““ I would probably stray from picking up upholstered goods though, unless I tore the guts out of it outside before letting it into the house). First I painted a cabinet bright green for the television to sit on, then we found an old French door, being ripped out of a condo being gutted, and refinished it and gave it the stained glass treatment and hung it above the bed as a floating headboard.

Here is what my living room looked like when we first moved in:

And this is what my living room looks like now. The biggest kick start to pulling the room together was getting new couches, editing out furniture, and bringing different pieces in (like sewing machine tables for side tables):

The rooms in my house are by no means finished, and there are always little things that get on my nerves, but my goal is to find things I love, or see potential in, and jazz them up. Like an ornate piece of woodwork you usually find on a piece of furniture, like a hutch, painted and hung on a wall. I also cruise the thrift stores a lot, go to garage sales in the warmer months, sometimes attend auctions, and visit antique stores. And I try to never buy things unless I actually need them, and even then I check for quality first ““ solid wood, dovetailing on drawers, quality materials, etc.

Initially my colour scheme started with a print I acquired five years ago, modern with bright avocado green, black and white, and kind of expanded from there. Personally, I’m currently loving mid-century modern, mixed with more modern prints. I like the simplicity and clean look of a good mix of whites and soft gray shades. Sometimes though you just have to make a list (I like to keep mine in my head), mull it over, and keep an eye out. That’s how I finally found curtains I liked at Wal-Mart, of all places. Other times you just have to be creative. I could not find curtain rods long enough to hang curtains in my front window, so instead of buying a more expensive extension rod, I used an extra curtain rod I had, that was a bit slimmer, and fit it in the middle of the rod that was already there.

I have been finding if difficult to find fun, bright, and modern prints, so I have taken to purchasing outdoor fabric, which I have found especially great for upholstering furniture as well as affordable. Its magical cleaning properties should also be noted ““ this stuff is tough. We had a guest spill red wine on a cushion and it came right out with a light wipe! The heavier canvas texture might not be for everyone, but it’s working for me right now.

Where do you get your decorating inspiration? Artwork, magazines, blogs? I find posting things on Pinterest helpful. Are you also addicted to Pinterest? Do you always have a multitude of projects on the go? Me – GUILTY! I’m also guilty of reading multiple books at the same time though.