The family room is s-l-o-w-l-y coming together.
Can you believe I found that candle holder @ GW in LA before I moved? Can you double believe I was actually going to paint it??
I’m totally diggin’ the green now!
Last time I showed you my family room it looked like this:
Ack, I can’t even look at it. It’s blinding me. Except my baby girl. She’s cute.
So I’m strollin’ through el Tar-jay-o and I come across these adorable little pillows on clearance for $6.97 each.
Score baby!
Adorable, right? I was a puddle right there in the store. Good thing it was payday!
😉
So I scooped those puppies up and took them home.
And then I broke about 20 laws and might go to jail for even admitting this ONLINE, but…
I tore the tags off.
Gasp. Shhh, don’t tell anyone.
And, on a side note. Yikes! Look at that thumb nail. I seriously need to stop biting my nails (such a disgusting habit) and get myself a mani STAT.
So back to the pillows…
Don’t they look great?!
I’m just loving how this room is coming together!
I swapped the ottoman for a black round coffee table I had upstairs. I LOVE the way it looks with this couch!
And for an exact side-by-side, or rather a top-to-bottom comparison…
Here’s the living room a month ago and now. And please TRY to imagine that all the walls are painted lovely colors and I’ve got moulding everywhere.
Now here’s where we play one of those games that’s always in the back of People magazine. Circle the differences you see….
Fine. I’ll just tell you.
So, let’s see… in addition to removing the huge dryer and most of the CRAP from the background, I changed out the candles on my candle holders on the wall behind the couch, I moved the cute little girl to the left of the couch ;), I swapped the ottoman for the round black coffee table and added some stuff to the table, and I added the pillows.
I threw this little ensemble together from My personal Goodwill I’ve got set up in the dining room (which is rapidly becoming depleted. How come no one donates to my GW store?).
I’m thinking the stark-white pot needs to be painted, but I like everything else.
Except that ca-ute clock from Ikea? Ya, that damn thing tick-tocks and it’s so LOUD. I feel like the Capin’ on Peter Pan whenever he hears the tick-tock of the croc coming his way. So I am now boycotting winding it up every day. It’s just a cute little thing that doesn’t really tell time.
For some reason I’m really diggin’ the red candle and green holder together. I didn’t plan for them to be together. It just happened. Like destiny. I needed a candle for the holder, and it was the only one I had in my stash. True love.
And just to keep it real here…
This is what my beautiful family room looked like LESS THAN ONE HOUR after I took the above photos…
Oh, yes, my friends. My little minions err, I mean munchkins, can mess up a room in a New York minute.
{sigh}
I was tempted to get mad and irritated. Maybe I did a little at first. Okay, fine, who am I kidding? I was pretty ticked. (“Keep your toys upstairs in the game room!!”)
But when I took the picture of the mess I realized that one day these little babies of mine won’t even play with these little kid toys anymore. And then one day after that they won’t even live in my home anymore.
And that made me sad. And then I smiled at their toys and tried to enjoy them because one day my babies will be all grown up and I’ll be sad that there aren’t any build-a-bears or pillow pets or baby doll bottles or blanket forts laying around my family room.
One day my room will stay clean.
And I’ll miss them.
But, seriously. Aren’t these pillows adorable?!
Yes, the days are numbered my friend, that’s why the Polly Pockets have continued to multiply and take over my house…and I have let them! 😮
Just wanted to say that your post totally made me laugh tonight! My room would look like that (or worse….yikes!) after an hour too! Thanks for reminding me that one day my room will not be messed up anymore…..I needed that reminder. Bad. On a side note, I still can’t wait for school to start!
The house is coming along great!!! Thank you so much for linking up to Fab Friday –
Cheers!
They are cute- and I love that you have a label for Target, that is fantastic!
What a beautiful room… I love it! And that couch… that is exactly what I need for our living room. It is gorgeous and big. Perfect!!
I love how it’s coming along Allison. I love the “before” with the toys. That’s my family room too. I like that green candle pillar – it’s a pretty green.
I adore that table and your family room is coming together quite nicely!
But my favorite part of this post was about the kids’ toys…so, so true. Gives the incessant tick-tocking another meaning too, eh?
xoxo,
~O~
I just bought those pillows TODAY! And the blue ones for $4.98. Just marked down to 50% off today. Tons of cute ones if you need more. 😉 Love, love, love Target decor…particularly clearance!
Beautiful job. It’s amazing what a few accents can do!
Looking good! Don’t touch that pretty white pot! I love the contrast against the dark table and tray. (By the way, that black table is fabulous…your BFF couldn’t have done a better job picking it out…wait…) 😛
And burn those candles, girl! Old wives tale – unburned candles bring a home bad luck! Even if it’s just to blacken the wicks and create a little circle.
Get our guest room ready!! 😀
Love the coffee table, and tray of decorations! It’s inspired me bi time!
I’m your newest follower 🙂 Love your blog, thanks for having me!!
What can you do? Kids are just messy. After my kids left home I thought that I would always have a clean home. Well, not so. I cleaned so much to just stay on top of the little rug rats and when they left, I knew that I could do it later. I sometimes go to bed with out putting the house to bed (straightening up). Of course, I regret it the next day but….I can so….sometimes I do. Anyway, your white pot actually looks good. It kind of pops. If you paint it, go with a pop of color….or something light in color. My opinion only.
Yeppers! Lovin’ the pillows! Your room is looking marvelous!! That round coffee table is perfect!
Hugs
SueAnn
Yes, the pillows are awesome! 😀
I can relate to the children messing everything up. I have to constantly remind myself that they live here, too. LOL They just want their stuff with them like we want our stuff.
What cute pillows – they such a fun pop of color! And, I LOVE a good deal – Nice!
Our house doesn’t even stay clean for a full hour before my girls have messed it up. I like your take on that mess… must say it even made me tear up a little. Thanks for the reality check!
I don’t like my kids to keep their toys in their rooms (I subscribe to the no television or other distractions in bedrooms train of though) and have no play room – so I face that daily. 🙂
It looks fabulous!! BTW.
Your living room looks great! I love the way it’s all coming together! I think your white pot looks perfect. It’s a little bit of pop against the dark tray and table. You’ve got a little bit of white popping in the pot, the flowers and your new candles. Looks great!!
It looks great… I love when things just seem to come together. And those pillows are TDF! ( to die for….)
Have a super weekend!
I love your little tablescape – the red and green candle and holder are so rich looking together. And yes – those pillows are totally yummy!
Loving your updates. & just so you know, you can remove the tags, retailers can’t lol. Oh you can send that tick tocker to me any ole time you want hehe someone tried to sell me one today for about $15 ha big fat HA lol
Well, I want to steal that coffee table. So you might have to watch me when I come to your house. Although It would be pretty obvious if I was trying to walk out with a coffee table.
Maybe I will blackmail you with the photos of you cutting off the tag. To bad it is only illegal for the people that make them and sell them to cut them off. Shucks!
I keep trying to get a room clean long enough to snap a house tour pic. At least you scored a 10 minute window!
Those pillows are FAB! Love, love, love them! Isn’t great how something as simple as a pillow can give life to a room? So glad the police haven’t come a knockin’ since you cut the tags 🙂 Thanks for linking up to Thrilling Thursdays @ Paisley Passions. Hope to see you again next week!
Dude…is it really against the law to rip the tags of pillows? I actually never took the time to read them, I just snip away. 😉
Love what you’ve done to the room! What a huge difference…and it’s still really cute with the toys scattered about!
I do have one question…you might have already covered this somewhere in your blog (haven’t had a chance to read everything yet), but that black coffee table…did you paint that? I have a similar table in our breakfast nook that I am guessing is laminate and I have this wild hair to paint it black. Is painting on laminate possible? Any tips? Would you paint all of it black (including the chairs) or keep part of the original color (it’s some kind of washed-honey color).
Hope you don’t mind the questions, but it’s your fault. You can fix sprinkler systems, so I’m sure painting furniture is a piece of cake. HA! 😉
Thanks in advance!
Those pillows and the candle holder completely transformed your room. I love that shade of green mixed with your things.
Gorgeous! Love the little touch of color with the pillows. I am hosting a party this weekend and would love to have you link up some of your creativeness!
Joy
mommaskindacrafty.blogspot.com
You’re so cute! I love how your house is coming together and I got though the exact sentiments about my kids every time they do something innocently annoying. Thanks for sharing!
So cute, love those pillows!
I love your clock. It’s exactly what I’ve been looking for – a wind-up clock that ticks loudly! Most require batteries and many don’t tick that loud (and you can’t tell about the ticking if you order online). I looked at Ikea online and they don’t have this clock. Does anybody know where I can get an alarm clock like this one?
Visiting from TGC — I’m glad you didn’t paint over that green candleholder, too, love it! And that couch? I’m drooling! 🙂
Love the pillows, and wow, the black table! Gave me the idea to maybe shorten my red one to be a coffee table hmmm…
And agree with your BFF…leave the pot white.. 😀
Love your blog, am following. Sto by mine sometime.
I love all of this!! And I love that you put the messy picture up 🙂 I know what you mean about the clock.. I found a super cute one from GW and painted it and was soo proud. Then I set it down and the ticking drove me insane. I ended up taking out the batteries and now I love it again! 🙂
Lisa said, “I love your clock. It’s exactly what I’ve been looking for – a wind-up clock that ticks loudly! Most require batteries and many don’t tick that loud (and you can’t tell about the ticking if you order online). I looked at Ikea online and they don’t have this clock. Does anybody know where I can get an alarm clock like this one?”
I’m not sure about IKEA online, but I could have sworn I saw them when I was in the store a few weeks ago. They are really cheap – less than 5 dollars.
I love your new pillows! what a deal that was. You are making me want to head to Target. Can’t wait to see the finished room.
I do love those pillows! I love pillows that look quilted, they add a bit of a home made touch. Your family room seems to becoming together rather nicely 🙂
Popping by from Mad Skills Monday!
I love the colors in your room not too dark but dark enough for relaxing
Love the table! Look’n good! Thanks for linking up to Mad Skills Monday!
Your family room looks great. Very nice. And it is ture, one day, all too soon, you will be without those adorable little ones. Enjoy their little messes while you can.
Love those pillows! Three cheers for Tarjay! I always have to move junk to take pictures. Four kids can mess up a house quick! It’s so depressing to clean it all up and ten minutes later, it’s messed up again. UGH!
Love your new house – seriously jealous of your Rodney White!!
Allison, I live in the Memphis, TN, area and the closest Ikea is in Georgia or Texas. 😥 I guess I’ll just have to keep looking! BTW, love your posts! I love to shop the thrift stores looking for things to re-purpose, too, but I’m afraid most of my projects are sitting in a closet waiting to be done.
Stopping by from show Us Your Life friday! I love those pillows, they are just gorgeous! Your living room looks wonderful!
Howdy! I was glad to see you linked up over at Kelly’s. This is my first tour to join. I’m #17 on the list. Always fun to see how people live. I love all things home decor related.
Your house is looking great! Sorry about the water problems. My heart sank when I saw those pics.
Have a great day!
You have an amazing living space. I especially love your pedestal table.
I’m late to read this post, but i have that same pillow on my bed in my bedroom. Waaaahhhh…mine was way more than 6.97. Jealous that yours was on clearance!
I love your coffee table and pillows!! Why didn’t you invite the little girl to be a decoration again. lol j/k I think the white pot looks cute with the flowers and breaks up the black. Well if you do paint it, make it a color and not black (officially both white and black aren’t colors..just incase you needed random info). lol