Do you Love Your Home? You should!
My advice for keeping your home looking up to date and fresh for a long period of time is to buy items that are interchangeable from room to room. Try to stay with a color scheme or style that flows with the whole house.
as seen on:
But most importantly....BE RESOURCEFUL!
The above two photos are of the same room taken only one month apart. One is not necessarily a favorite over the other but as seasons change, our family needs change. Two small projects happened here that made this
family room function like it's from a whole different house.
Cost? ZERO!
The goal here was to make the TV more visible for winter movie nights. It was a little too high on the mantel. You can view how it was framed in so simply
HERE. By only nailing the pine wood around the electronics and avoiding any glue made this option way easier to accomplish.
Removing the wood slats and setting them aside for the next project was the first step. Then came the relocation of the TV.
A thin foyer table (link on how it was made
HERE) was a perfect option to use for a television console because it's tall enough and narrow enough for viewing the screen. But a different look would be nice. So the wood from around the fireplace was used to help "bulk up" the table to support the cable box and to frame in the faux doors that are actually from this...
An
old fence that has been one of the best treasures for DIY projects. Cut into two same size pieces and nailed to the center of the foyer table.
The dark wood you see here is from a loft bed that is no longer being used. If you like doing projects with wood, invest in a nail gun and air compressor. Key to making DIY projects go smooth and fast.
Matching handles were screwed into the front to make it look like it functions as a cabinet, but it doesn't. The rest was coated in white paint - not too neatly. Notice the sides are all 8 inch pieces layered to cover the sides. They came from the pine wood removed from above the mantel. Why cover it?
The foyer table was very narrow due to it's home prior to being a television console. A boxy cabinet seemed to fit the look for the new space and the cable box required a little deeper top.
The cool thing is....all the wood that is covering the foyer table now can be easily removed with just a hammer. This is what I mean by "Be Resourceful"! Think about projects you may want to do in the future, don't make anything too permanent.
You would never know such a pretty foyer table hides beneath this rugged cabinet. It will reveal itself again in the future, surely.
Are you wondering what happened to the fireplace mantel?
The left is before and the right is after.
Having a decorative focal point for this room was very important so moving electronics was the best thing that ever happened to this space.
All that was used to cover the giant hole was this...
An old window that just happened to be the perfect size. The glass panes were painted with white primer so that it was no longer see through. Small metal corner brackets secure it to the wall.
(this picture is from Christmas 2012 - link
HERE)
That cute window has been used in many different ways and you can see some of them
HERE.
Do you recognize the black mirror? If you guessed that it used to be above the foyer table...you are right. Just a little black paint made it perfect for the mantel.
The great thing is that you don't even have to buy anything to create a completely different space. Try to envision what you already have into what you really want. If you want perfection, you may need to make an investment but if you can be happy with your own creations - this post is for you.
The backdrop here is the old window that was hung horizontally previously, just positioned on the floor vertically behind to console.
A little vision can go a long way.
Recycling your own furniture and creating a new look with them will help you Love Your Home longer and save you money.
Tulips and a Lady's Slipper teacup ~ perfect! 
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