Living Room Update

I was thinking this morning about how I should really take before and and after shots of the living room and reveal them to you all at once rather than all these little mini updates. And then I thought about how long it takes me to finish anything and realized the after shot might not come for another couple of years. It's taken me quite some time to get the inspiration to decorate it. We've lived in this house since Steele was 3 months old... he'll be five in a few months.

So that said, here you go. A living room update.

My most recent success comes in the way of lighting. (I'm loving lighting lately, can you tell?) We really needed some more light toward the fireplace end of the room. Neither Justin nor I wanted to spend the time, money or headache of hard wiring lighting in. What it really needs is some canned lighting on the ceiling but I came up with a cheaper and less labor intensive solution.

I bought some jelly jar lights and some extension cords at the hardware store. Then, I picked the hardware guy's brain about how to cut and connect the cords. Came home, read a couple more web pages to make sure I wouldn't electrocute myself or burn my house down, and here's what I came up with. I'm pretty proud of myself, even though - honestly - this is pretty basic stuff here.

(oops... we forgot to touch up a piece of trim)

I split the cord and attached the separate wires to the fixture. I'm going to staple or wire cover that cord and then paint it the same color as the wall. Plugged 'em in and voila! Cute, $10 sconces!!


I also hung some more art up, including some plates from the Mexican dish set I got when I was studying in Mexico. I was determined to buy a set of dishes in Uruapan where my grandmother was from. I literally dragged that huge box of plates through the airport and onto the plane only to be scared to use them after someone mentioned a warning of lead paint. It would be easy enough to test them. You'd think I would have found a few minutes to do that in the 15 years I've had them. But I think they look great as art. And heck, I could probably pull out the ash tray that came with the set as well.

I'm also pleased with how this little arrangement is coming along. I bought the lamp at our second hand store. Check it: $10. And the table? $2. Craigslist. No joke. I tried to give the guy $5 and told him to buy himself a coffee but he wouldn't take it. I'm going to spray paint it grey. The little wire basket on top holds my knitting supplies. Right now it holds the yarn and the pattern for this little number which I'm going to add sleeves to. Shalom.

So there you have it. More on this re-do later....