A Fresh Start to 2011

So the title might lead you to believe that I am going to chat about making resolutions and starting off on the right organized foot as the new year rolls in....

Nope.  Not at all actually.  That's for another post.  This year, I decided to ring in the new year by doing some last minute updates around the casa to freshen things up a bit.  Christmas decorations down.  Check.  You can see the method I used to pack them away here.

Once the decorations were gone, it was time to rethink the arrangement of our living room.  It was feeling a bit crowded.  Probably because we are still living with an over-sized sectional since our basement flooded.  Here is a quick reminder of our current living room situation:

It was nothing that a couple of free updates couldn't remedy.  First, I started out by painting up the console table, popping in a chair and calling it a desk!

This change alone was huge in brightening the space and giving it a fresh feeling.  I blame it on painting the white table.  White paint just feels fresh.

But I didn't stop there.  I was determined to make the living room feel bigger.  The next step was to switch out the giant lamp I had sitting on my new desk.  It was right in your face when you walk through the door, obstructing views, therefore, making the room feel crowded.  Plus, with one lamp on each end of the room, lighting at night wasn't always perfect.

So this little lamp sitting on our buffet table had no chance....

A quick coat of silver spray paint to match some of the metallic accents in the living room, was the perfect solution for the new desk.

Now lets talk about the desk top for a second shall we?  The top was just a typical piece of frosted piece of glass.  And because when I painted the outside, I opted not to paint the drawer inside....

The colors of the drawer contents {external hard-drive, photo books and miscellaneous computer supplies} along with the drawer color itself, would mildly show through to the top.

So I snagged a roll of wrapping paper and traced the frosted glass piece of the console table.

A little cutting and spray adhesive later... left the top of the desk a dream.

It was just incredible to me how something so quick and easy and effortless could create such a dramatic new feeling to the space I work at.  Eliminating that view through the top, made it all feel so clean and clutter free and pretty to boot!

So now I got to pop the extra lamp back to the other side of the room.  But we also made two large changes to the living room to make it feel larger.

We moved the TV stand/bin unit to our oldest sons room and brought in a smaller version that we had in our lower level for holding all of our games in our game room.

This gave us much more space and less eye clutter.

And last but not least, what I think was the biggest room opening change, was switching out the leather ottoman coffee table.  Just because it came with the sectional, didn't mean that it had to stay that way.  Bringing in our glass coffee table and placing the giant over sized leather ottoman into storage, made the room feel instantly ten times larger!

Do I switch things around a lot?  If at first I don't succeed, I try try again!  And when I finally get it just right, it sticks.  I love to play around with what we have to continue to give the house a new and fresh feeling, especially as seasons and holidays come and go.  And especially because I spend most of my waking hours at home and insist my surroundings suite me.

Before:

After:

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Before:

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Giving my home a fresh feeling as the new year rolls in, is just what I need to keep me motivated all year long!  And I did it all with things I have... which equals a dramatic change for us, for F R E E!  Now that's worth celebrating about!

Anyone else doing some last minute freshening up around the house before the new year rolls in?  A fresh coat of paint, spray paint, wallpaper or re-arranging?