Styled living room on the skinny!

We all want homes that look like they were torn from the pages of a magazine, but most of us (including me) don't always ever have the extra moo-lah to make that happen! That is why I am so excited to share with you how I re-styled our living room for under $1,500!

For me, the trick is always to do as much as you can yourself. Patience is the KEY, whether it is being patient to find a great deal or the patience it takes to sew/paint something yourself, in the end it will always pay off when you check your pocketbook!

Here is a picture of what the room looked like this time last year!

 I'll go ahead and share with you all of the "after" pictures and then at the end we can do the Math breakdown and I'll give you some more of my best money-saving decor secrets!

Almost everything that you see in this picture I either made, re-purposed or bought on sale!

Can you see Winston posing on the new Sofa?

These chairs! Oh, how I love them! I got them on-sale at Pier 1 for $125.00 each, marked down from $269.00! Wowza!

Re-purposed thrift store lamp that I got for $6 bucks along with my freshly painted side table that only cost me $15.

Okay, so I have been wanting to do a piece for awhile now with "dipped" feet! Here is my version!

Re-painted coffee table!

 So, anyone who follows me on facebook might remember the puppy + chewing = "distressed coffee table" fiasco that took place awhile back! You can see the DAMAGE HERE! Well, ever since then I knew that I wanted to repair/paint the coffee table! I love the piece but it is so big and heavy that I was getting tired of it...I just knew a little paint would be the trick to help me fall back in love with it!

Remnant piece of fabric ($1.00) for a runner and an old Pepsi Crate (8.00) that I scored from a local antique shop! 

Some other pieces that you might recognize that are re-used/re-purposed! 1. My green desk behind the couch that I multi-task as a Sofa Table! 2. Green and White DIY strip bench that found a new home as a foot stool. 3. Mini yard stick table as a side table for the 2nd chair! 4. My re-purposed shutters as Mantle Decor!

So...what do you think? Want to see where all the money went? 

Well, first of all I should mention that I cleaned up and sold our old sofa/loveseat on craigslist so I had a little liquid cash to work with! I knew that I wanted to go with a sofa and 2 chair combo for something a little less traditional looking and to really maximize on the space! (Same amount of seating...much more open and airy!) 

New Sofa - we shopped around and got an amazing deal  for $675.00

Sofa Table/Desk - (bought used for $50.00 + supplies to refinish) total $85.00

Lamps on Sofa Table - bought off Amazon on-sale for $5.00 each (yes, you read that right!)

Burlap Lampshades (on-sale for 12.00 each + paint pen to embellish $3.50 ($27.50)

Wire basket ( $3.00 at Flower Factory) with flowers ($10.00, on sale at local shop)

All throw pillows in the room (10 total) - $55.00 - Made myself! 

Rug - local flea market (re-used from previous design) 

Coffee Table (re-used from previous design) 

Table Runner - Remnant fabric $1.00

Table decor - Pepsi Crate + floral 35.00 total (Bought pieces and assembled myself) 

Mantle Decor - Re-used shutters from our old house (I originally made the shutters myself)

Miscellaneous Mantle Decor - (approx) $50.00 

Green Stripe Foot Stool - bought at a thrift store and refinished ($8.00 + supplies) $12.00 

Pair of rattan occasional chairs on sale for $125.00 each 

Accent Table: re-furbished ($15.00 + mis-tint paint) $16.50

Accent Lamp - 6 bucks at a local thrift store + paint and fabric totals $11.00 

Table decor (already owned) 

2 tall floor lamps on sale at Target  for $40.00 each

Small side table (already owned) - yard stick treatment on top ($10.00)

Curtains - Fabric costs ($50.00) - made myself

And the grand total is $1,381.00 and even with sales tax it comes right in under $1,500 ($1477.67)

Some of the biggest money-savers in the room other then the GREAT deals that I found on the sofa and chairs were 

1. Make your own pillows! I love throw pillows, but not the crazy prices that come with them! I have 10, count 'em TEN throw pillows in this room, say they were all $19.00 a piece, that is almost $200.00, just in pillows! (And if you have bought them recently you know that some can be as much at $40.00+) Take a little time and make them yourself and you can save a bundle! I got all the fabric and pillow forms at a local discount store for only $55.00! Even if you are not a super-experienced seamstress you can handle a pillow, I promise! It's all simple, straight stitching...may take a little time if you are a beginner, but it will still pay off in the long run! 

2. Re-invent mid-sized furniture pieces - my sofa table (desk), coffee table and both accent tables are pieces that I either already owned OR got used for a song and re-invented! My motto is that you can always paint anything. Painting furniture is scary for a lot of people either because they have a "I can't paint wood" phobia or are nervous about messing up the piece. Again, patience is the key! You really can paint almost anything with great results if you remember 2 things : never skip the prep work and many light coats will always look better then one sloppy heavy coat! And, in case I don't talk about it enough on this blog...the mis-tint shelf at your local hardware store is something that you should check EVERY time that you visit!

3. Lamps and Shades - much like throw pillows Lamps and shades (in  my opinion) are outrageously- expensive to buy in retail stores! Whenever I am in a thrift-store or at a yard sale I always keep my eye open for lamps. Most of the time a nice coat of spray paint and some new fabric on the shade is all it needs to be reinvented into something contemporary and beautiful. Salvaging second hand lamps in your interior design can save you hundreds throughout your home! 

4. Be flexible! Don't get tied down to a picture that you are trying to replicate down to the last candle-stick! Be willing to be flexible with your design choices and take advantage of a deal that may be waiting just for you! The chairs that I ended up with in this room are AMAZING but they were not the ones that I originally wanted (those were {cough, cough} $400.00 each! No thanks! But after a couple days of looking online I found these beauties for a steal and they actually they work better in the room then the ones that I wanted originally would have!

5. Shop at home! Look at what you have in other corners of your home to re-use in your new space! Even if it is not a piece of furniture that you can paint and re-use often times old floral decor, art or accent pieces can take on a whole new life grouped together with new things in another space! 

6. Be Patient! I know that I have said this like a bazillion times in this post but patience is the BEST way to save money! This living room make over started last summer when I found my desk/sofa table and re-invented that piece. A great example in my current room is the rug...do I love it? No! Is is really too small for the space...? Yes! I am still on the look out for the perfect rug at a price that I can live with! For the sake of "getting it done" and for great photos could I have gone out and bought a $350.00 Rug this afternoon after work? You bet! But I am convinced that my patience will reward me in the end!

I hope that you all have enjoyed this little project! Thanks for visiting! 

I hope that you all always feel welcome here. Enjoy your weekend! 

Toodles!