Decor in Progress. . .

I've lived in this house for almost 5 years and I'm just barely getting around to decorating the front room. It's been on my list, but I have two major hang ups. The first is deciding on what I want. . . What if I don't like it? What if I wish I would have done it differently? What if it's just down right ugly? And with me those are all a high possibility. Since I'm so slow and indecisive, I know it is something that I have to like for a really long time. The second hang up is closely related. . . I can hardly bring myself to spending money on something I potentially might not like. And so I've done nothing. Procrastinate, procrastinate, procrastinate. . .

Then last fall I stumbled across an idea I fell in love with and knew immediately that was what I wanted. Uncharacteristically I rushed out that day and bought canvases. What? I couldn't decide for years then suddenly I was willing to spend money without even sleeping on it??? Uncharacteristic indeed. So the entire room plans centered around those. Weird I know. I made tentative plans last fall for what I wanted, but decided to wait until after Christmas. "After Christmas" came and went and I realized my decorating plans were never going to see fruition. Between the Primary and Tessa it just wasn't going to happen. But one night in the wee hours I had a grand idea! I could hire the painting out! Not a new idea of course, but to our tight waddish way of thinking, it was unheard of! I pitched the idea to Tom and he agreed. Within the week I had my colors chosen and called a family friend who paints to help me out. (Any locals who need an excellent painter, call Josh Rich @ 801-310-1205.) I don't have any before pictures, but just imagine a plain white room with a nice wrestling-match-produced hole in the wall and a doggie scratched coffee table. Here's where I'm at right now:
(I'm showing pictures from two different times of day because the top color looks almost white in the day. While I really like it, I don't think I would have minded a little darker color on the top. I really like how it looks in the evening.) I added a chair rail and painted two tones and painted the table red. (Josh did my table and put in my chair rail too--Tom refers to him as my personal handy man! He's been teasing me that I'll be calling Josh to change my light bulbs now!) But he did a really good job and I'm so glad I didn't have to do them!!And because I'm cheap and won't pay for what I really want, I have to work and change things as I find them. . . .The clock was brown when I bought it. I spray painted it red then distressed it with glaze and sanding. The shelf was mahogany and I painted it brown, added black streaks and distressed. I wanted garland for the shelf but when I went to buy it, I wasn't willing to pay the price even with a 40% off coupon so I bought a few sprigs of greenery and wired them together myself. I need to add another little something on my shelf, but at this point I haven't figured out what that is.

I bought the decorative frames at DI and spray painted and distressed them. I wanted the silhouettes in them to be kind of a quilty look, but my skills in that department are severely lacking so I ended up making the silhouettes out of velvet paper and adhering with pop dots on glittery fabric. They look a bit cheesy, but it's what I've got now (although I do like the look they add to the room). I bought a basket at DI, spray painted it brown and made some balls for the center piece. Your opinions please: Do I need more red or brown in it or is it okay? And painted my stars red. (I can add some brown on them too--thoughts on that??) I thought about adding some ivy in between it all too. . .. And I got a new light fixture.Still on the list. . . refinish a chair I bought at DI to replace the rocker in the room, paint an old window frame for the other wall, decide what else I want to hang with the window frame and put up some sort of window treatment.

But the good news is that I'm really liking it so far. . . . Whew!