Here's a reminder:
Yuck.
Well, a few bucks later, it looks like this:
It still needs work, but we're both a lot happier with it. The Mister's parents are coming to visit us in a few weeks, which was what inspired us to get off of our asses and make the room look presentable.
I bought the rug on sale from Urban Outfitters a few weeks ago for our bedroom (remember this inspiration board?) but it didn't look as great in real life as it did in theory. So I tried it out in our living room and ended up really liking it. In the words of the Dude, "it really tied the room together."
So then, I went to Ikea to find some stuff to hang on our walls. I found this baroque-inspired mirror for a steal, and bought some simple black frames to hang some black and white photos, collage-style, behind the couch. It's a bit skimpy, so I think I'll pick up a few more of them this week to fill out the wall. The deep orange pillow covers are actually too big for our pillows, but I really like how they pop against the olive-y brown couch, so I'll grab some larger cushions when I pick up the frames.
I rearranged all of the junk on our credenza so now it's actually organized, and although you can't see it on the wall on the right-hand side, I took a piece of vintage burnt-orange print fabric that I had lying around, put it in a black frame (a larger version of the frames behind the sofa) and hung it behind the credenza. It ties in with the orange pillows and the bold black bits all around the room.
The floor lamp behind the sofa is a temporary but necessary solution until we find a lamp we really like. I've had that lamp since college so it's old as hell, but it still works and while it's fairly ugly, at least it's plain ugly and not tacky ugly, right?
Anyway, we're really excited about what less than $200 could do to perk up the room. I can't wait to paint the walls and the credenza and replace the coffee table. Then we'll be cookin' with gas!
(Oh, and the ugly blanket on the couch? A necessary evil because someone likes to lick his paws and leave wet spots all over everything).
