My first room makeover

When we moved into our new place, we had so much more space! We have a front room that is right after you walk into the front door and I had almost no furniture for it. Just an antique desk that Anthony inheirited and an old loveseat that was given to us when we were first married (which I definitely was ready to get rid of!). I did a lot of planning and researching and trying to teach myself some decorating basics, since I am soo not good at that sort of thing. My ideal decorating situation: seeing a picture in a book or magazine and then duplicating it exactly. I have such a hard time thinking of what will look good right out of my head. However, I didn't get this out of a book and I think I did pretty good!!

Before:

After:

I tried to be as economical as possible and use as much as I could of what I already had. The damage? Here is the list:

• Used leather sleeper couch from craigslist: $275
• End tables from craigslist: $100
• Shag rug on clearance at Walmart: $50
• Lamps, curtain rod, and vase from dollar general: $37
• Tree vinyl art from target (sticks right on the wall, so cool!): $20
• Hanging mirror set and potpurri from Bealls Outlet: $14
• Hanging decorations from family dollar: $12
• Curtains from amazon.com: $10

Everything else I already had. Grand total for my room makeover: $518. Not bad for an entire room! I love that we got a sleeper couch so we now have that much more room for guests!

While I've been decorating, I finally got around to putting up all of our diplomas and certificates. Now that it is finished, I took a picture of our "wall of fame". I love that this wall is actually complete now!