Frugal….not cheap!

After we moved the furniture around, my husband mentioned that he wanted a more updated look in the living room.  I was surprised at first.  I remembered when I decorated the living room about 3 years ago, that he was so proud of the job, that he went and got the neighbors and brought them over to see it.   I had so many things that have been passed down to me over the years and I didn’t want to just put them in a box, so I went to Rate my Space and saw a living room that I thought was very interesting.  It looked as though Hemingway lived there and I decided to duplicate it.  Our couch was the same, the furnishings were the same, all I needed to do was paint the wall and move furniture and put things on the wall.  And I mean a lot of things on the wall.  Pictures from the 1940’s, I put in black frames, I put the desk my grandfather made on one side of the sofa and an old dresser that my grandmother had painted white in the 40’s that my dad had sandblasted and I varnished was on the other side.  I added some high back chairs, and I had a reproduction record player that I played my records on,  and if I could have found a room deodorizers that smelled like pipe smoke, I would have added that.

When you came into that you, it was like stepping back in time and I loved it, my husband loved it and then time passed.  I didn’t want to admit it, but all the stuff was becoming like all the clutter.  I think my taste was changing, too and I wanted more room than stuff.

So, after we moved the furniture around last weekend, I spent the day looking for accessories that would change the living room from the 1940’s to 2009.  I went to several stores and almost bought a black and brown rug, but I still wasn’t sure.  Then after my 3rd store, I spotted a wild rug that looked like it was a piece of modern art.  It had so many colors in it and one matched the couch, the other the paint color (hooray, now I don’t have to paint) and the wall in the adjoining dining room.  I went to two more stores, looking for art to match the rug.  And at the 2nd store I found it.  Squares of color, that were the same as the swirls of color on the rug.  I grabbed to grayish blue pillows and headed home, anxious to see if my design would work.

It took me an hour to take all my precious photos down and I felt a pang of sentiment as I thought the next stop for them would be storage.  I hoped that the new look would be so remarkable that it would soften the blow of my boxed memories.

Since I have not had anyone over yet to see it, I will leave it to you for your critique.  Was it worth it.  For better or for worse.