A staple gun, a mama that sews, and an interior designer friend

I am a huge believer in mixing it up when I decorate. Thankfully, my college roommate, Rebecca Simpson is an interior design and she has influenced me quite a bit.

Disclaimer: she did not decorate my home, so if you don't like it, it's not her fault. Mostly, I just mean I watch her perform her magic in her beautiful home and then I give it a try. She gets an A+ and I get a C-, but because her A+ is so amazing, guests in our home love our C-. They just haven't been to Becki's house, thank the Lord.

Anyway..back to what I was saying. I like to mix it up. Yard sale + homemade+ big box stores + legit furniture stores.

This is a view of the corner of our  living room if you are sitting on the couch. I'll break it down for you.

There are some built ins that were here when I moved in. They are backed with a houndstooth wallpaper print  that I found at this second-hand fabric store. I think it was about $6 and I had enough left over to share with a friend. It was  hung with double-sided duck tape. Best invention ever.

I wanted a monochromatic look on the bookshelves, so black, white, silver, and grey only made the cut...but most of that was around our house.

See the pillow. My mom just made that for me. She made two pillows. I think the fabric was about $10 for TWO pillows. The inserts were "free" because I had a gift card to Crate and Barrel from our wedding.  DOWN inserts are the only way to go. My husband could care less about the fabric but he loves the pillows.

The investment in that corner of the room was the chair. I needed two small chairs because we have a small living room. It doesn't do you any good to buy a less expensive chair if the scale is wrong. I looked all over town and knew these chairs were the way to go because the size was right. This is the place to spend a few extra dollars. The stool is from a yard sale...$3 bucks maybe. I covered it with a silk fabric that wasn't much because I only needed a bit. Attached with a staple gun. The rug gets a lot of traffic because it is in the room which we live. I can use either side, so it has a longer shelf life. Picked that up at Shades of Light, but again...two sided means it will last twice as long.

Before I ever moved into the house, I had the floors stained that dark ebony. You can see a bit of it.
Almost everyone who walks into our house mentions how much they love the floors--the men too! I think those floors (and our kitchen) will be the gems that sale our tiny little home one of these days.

The lesson of the day: don't do The Room Store.   Mix and match, spend more in some places/less in others. Oh, and add interior designer to your friend list.