NEW PAIR OF WINGS

Hello friends!  If you’ve been following us on the blog and instagram you know we’ve been working on our open concept family room and kitchen for the past couple of years. We started by adding in backsplash tile, light grey wall paint and creamy cabinet paint.  We love the updated, neutral backdrop these changes have made, but every so often the room gets rearranged, tweaked and refreshed and this spring we made some changes to make it feel even lighter and more neutral.  Here are the 5 easy changes that really made a huge difference:

1. Starting from the floor up!  I love the look of sisal rugs, but sisal is not water cleanable and with 4 dogs, we need to be able to clean our rugs.  After much searching for a faux sisal, I found this beautiful Tan Sparta rug on Amazon.  It has a lovely soft low texture with a tone on tone lattice weave, that adds the same warmth as sisal, but for less than $60. It was such a fabulous deal that I bought 2! One for now and one for later. With 4 dogs and 2 humans we tend to be hard on flooring.  We’ve had this rug since late November 2016 and it wears and cleans up beautifully! It even comes in 6 colors, but the Tan is my absolute favorite.

2. Editing! We removed the covers from the sofa and edited our accessories.  I loved the white coverlets, but removing the layers gives a lighter, less fussy feel, and the old comfy sofa (a craigslist find) is really a lovely neutral chenille khaki color that goes so nicely with the jade greens and creamy whites we’re using in this space. Less stuff makes dusting and cleaning a breeze!

3. Baskets! I’ve been collecting these wall baskets from thrift stores for almost a year. The big round one came first. It was a hydrangea basket on the dining room table for awhile. The copper molds and plates that were on the wall before were so warm and fun, but I wanted peaceful places for the eye to rest, and bringing in the baskets added soft texture and natural warmth.

4. The power of white!  The copper top and aqua canisters that were in the kitchen before were so pretty and they drew the eye immediately, but the painted copper tops on the canisters were very hard to keep clean. Oils just seemed to get sticky on them and I wanted something that was more neutral and easy to clean.  These Williams Sonoma ceramic and nickel canisters were thrifted for less than $16! They sell in store for $98, so finding them was a great score! They are fresh, bright and white, and so easy to keep clean!

5. Shopping the house! FREE!  The large Tan rug is so amazing and makes the room feel warm and grounded, but adding in the oriental rug adds some bohemian interest and soft color with its pretty jades, butters and pinks. This rug has been with us for 13 years and after downsizing we were storing it out in the garage, but after a few passes with our Bissell cleaner it looks brand new!  We also brought in a potted plant, wood boxes, pale green linen pillow covers and jade green vase from other parts of the house to complete the refresh.  Since we already had them, they were free and most have been tucked away in drawers and cupboards for years!

We now have a completely new fresh feel in this space. A neutral plan, with a little editing, shopping the house and finding the perfect bargains to get the most bang from our little budget.

Thank you friends for stopping by!  Mum and I appreciate all of you so much! I’ve got some really pretty and inexpensive summer dresses and shoes to share with you next time!

Wishing you all a bright, warm summer filled with fun and friends!  And as my poppa would say “Have fun and be good!”

Much love,

Mum and M