Crafty? Me?? I think not...

Well today at Kelly's Korner Blog, the S.U.Y.L topic is "Tell us about the stuff you make." By answering this question I would be representing myself as a crafty person. I may be a lot of things, but crafty is not one of them. I prefer to compensate other crafty people for their craftiness:)

However, this is a great opportunity for me to tell you about my recent living room overhaul!! I recently took a decorating class at my local Pottery Barn. I think I have blogged about these FREE classes before. You should really take advantage of anything FREE from Pottery Barn, because it is a rarity. Heck, a sale is even a rarity at PB. They usually have special holiday decorating classes throughout the year, but I particularly like the everyday living classes. Did I mention they are FREE?! Well probably not free since you will likely want to blow all your savings on their cute stuff, but at least you get some great tips and ideas of how to make your home look fabulous.

We have dark wood floors and dark furniture. I have used a lot of red and dark green accent colors because I like deep colors. We have grown tired of this though and wanted a more crisp and bright look to contrast with the dark floors and furniture. I didn't want to spend a lot, but definitely wanted to change things up.

Here is what I learned and used (haven't had a chance to take a lot of pics of our house yet, but will try too later)...

1. Pillows are the quickest way to change the look of your space. I invested in those PB down inserts back when we got married and they are great because you can change the covers as often as you want (or can afford). We have had the same cream ones for the past few years, but I decided to change them up with some new pretty spring colors. I started with the prints that I liked and then mixed in some solid greens and yellows.




2. Lamps are another quick way to change the look of your room. I found these unusual lamps at Homegoods (for $40 each!) and it's amazing the difference they made.


3. Meaningful items and knick knacks make your space seem more personal and gives guests a little insight in to your personality and life. Our "teacher" actually used this dog statue as an example and I was like, "that's me right there!" Had to have him.


4. Vary the heights of your pictures, knick knacks, etc. This is more pleasing to the eye and brings some dimension to your room. The teacher actually recommended using books to create the height difference. I don't think she was referring to my Twilight books though, ha, so I had to find some other more appropriate books.


5. Add seasonal touches by filling inexpensive glass vases and bowls with flowers, fruits and greenery. You can even just bring stuff from the outside in. I already had several glass jars and some light colored rocks that I bought from PB several years ago and I just bought a package of their "reindeer moss" to add some color.



6. Pick a focal point in your room and make it really stand out. The focal point in our living room is definitely the fireplace, so I like to spend the time to make it look good. I had dark wood candle holders and red roses on there, but since I am trying to lighten our look, I bought these rustic white candle holders and used my glass jars. I think they look really great with our Keeneland print.


7. I don't have an open space to do this right now, but our teacher showed us how to group several pictures together when you have a large wall to fill. Kind of like this...