DIY-ing a little Christmas Decor.

Can you believe that Thanksgiving is right around the corner?!?!

EeeCK!  Me either!
 I don't even have to cook the whole Thanksgiving feast, it just means that the Holidays are fast approaching!
 While some of you may think that Christmas decor shouldn't be out before Turkey day, ( though  from  the comments I got on my last Christmas post,  SOOOO many of you have already started putting out your Holiday decor. ) I like to get the majority of my goodies out and about before then.  The goal is to spend all of  December relaxing and enjoying the Holidays!  In between shopping, cooking and cleaning for all the get togethers that are sure to happen!  Whew,  sometimes I wonder how it all comes together!

A little Christmas inspiration hit last week and after a quick trip to Micheal's to pick up a few supplies I got to work making a Winter Wonderland!  If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you may have heard me talking about it!

Here's what I picked up from Micheal's for my Winter Wonderland project.

Three large paper mache cones. ( I had one left over from last year, for a total of four.)

Four small cones.

Nine marabou feather boas. 

The paint and glitter I used for the project I already had in my stash!

I gave all the cones a few coats of Martha Stewart,  Mother of Pearl paint!  This color is gorgeous!!

Next, I wrapped half of the cones with the marabou feather boas, using hot glue generously in between wrapping to keep everything down!  The other half got a generous sprinkling of Martha Stewart's Antique white gold glitter!  This entire project cost me around $25!

I did add a few little things to spice up my Winter Wonderland,  like this gorgeous peacock ornament!  I  am soooo in love with peacock colors right now!!  If only we decorated TWO Christmas trees!  One would most definitely be decked out in the fabulous colors of a peacock! 

 I bought a whole mess of peacock ornaments, I guess they'll just have to all go on my one tree.

I also added the Glam Wreath I DIY-ed last year to my Gallery Wall  above my sofa.  I love  how well it looks with my glittery trees!

Gosh that one black and white photo always manages to get just a little bit lop-sided every time I want to take a photo!   Sometimes I think it has a mind of it's own,  ohhh well,  I guess it just doesn't like to conform like the other images up there!

I decided to DIY these white trees with marabou feather boas instead of just buying regular white feather trees.   While I like feather trees,  I've gotten tired of seeing them in every bit of Christmas decor out there!  I think the softness of the marabou boa gives me that snowy white look, while just being a bit different from other things I've seen.  

   

I love how my new Christmas decor turned out!  I just can't believe how easy it was to make.   The hardest part was having the patience to let the paint dry!

So what have you all been up to this week?  Planning the Turkey Day menu? Pulling out the Christmas Decor? 

Pops of Pillows!

One of the the simplest ways to change the look of a room, 

especially in an apartment where you are not allowed to paint,  is by popping some new throw pillows into the space!  That's why I was so excited last  last week when I found these fabulous pillows on sale from West Elm!!  I have been on the hunt for new pillows since we updated the sofa.  In case you forgot, we updated our sofa in February!   So yeah that's a really long time!!  I guess you can say I am SUPER picky!   They got here super fast, all but one that is.   The last pillow I ordered is back ordered until the end of November!  Bummer I know!    But I'm just loving how fresh and bright it all looks with the new gold pillows!    Here's how my lovely new pops of pillows look on my sofa!

I LOVE how this whole room is coming together!!  I still have about a bazzillion other things to do, but slowly  it's starting to feel like the room I was picturing when I started it's transformation back in February! 

Just for the curious peep out there, you can see how the room progressed here! 

Oh, I have a fabulous Giveaway starting tomorrow!  So Don't forget to come back and check that out!

*UPDATE- come join the Shabby Apple Giveaway here!!

West Elm Pillows

One of the quickest ways to give a living room a fresh new look, is as simple as swapping out the sofa pillows.   Since we updated the living room this past year with a brand new white sofa, I have been on the hunt for some fabulous pillows to liven things up a bit!

   

This picture was taken right after we made the switch from the old sofa to our new friend Karl.

While I like the pillows on the sofa they really were never intended to stay there.  I originally bought the black and white pillows from Pottery Barn for a bench in my bedroom.   However,  when we bought the sofa  I just felt with all the white in the room it needed just a little something!  Just because I don't think I've ever mentioned it before, our current apartment does not allow us to paint!  Yikes!  I know, isn't that awful!  Mainly because I love the look of dark wall with all white furniture!  That's my dream, gorgeously painted walls, dark wood floor and white furniture! Ah well, a girl can dream can't she?!   Anyway, just thought I'd share one of the reasons I needed to get more color in the room!  

Anywhoooo, now that I've gotten off topic a little bit, I have been meaning to swap out the pillows for the longest time. 

  The black and white pillows haven't been completely on there own, you can tell in the above photo,  I've added a few new navy a turquoise pillows to brighten everything up.  

Are you wondering where this is all going?!?  Well I popped on over to West Elm's website yesterday and found out they were having a pillow sale! Yay!

 I think I found the perfect pillows to finally replace the black and white ones!

Here's what I ordered!

I think both of these are going to look perfect with my navy and turquoise pillows I already have!

I am thinking about getting one last pillow to tie it all together!

I love adding different metallic's to my living spaces,  I guess you can say I have a thing for shiny things!

So what do you all think,  should I go for the last pillow to finish the look, or is that silvery grey just not your thing?!

New Living Room Artwork!

One of my favorite aspects of the living room so far has been the wall above the sofa showcasing artwork I've completed over the years!  Do you remember when I showed you all that here?

Well just in case you don't remember what it looked like, here's a little snippet of the art....

Well I decided the wall needed a little color and the black and white photograph I took in Hawaii just wasn't giving me that pop!  So it was time to take that down, pack it up and save it for another day.  

So out came a piece of art I finished just the other day, one which I happen to think works perfect with all my other pieces on the gallery wall!  

I love how the gold in the art plays off my gold leafed lamps!  

It's like the whole wall has come alive, I just love it!

What do you all think?  Do you like the moodiness of the black and white photo, or the drama and liveliness of the gold artwork?! 

Have you been missing me?!?!

Well I just want to say I have been missing you all terribly,  and I'm so sorry I have been gone so long!   

Honestly I didn't mean to take such a long break from the blog, I didn't mean to even take a break!  Some how time just got away from me!  Between working overtime and getting sick.... and all that good stuff, it's been a month since I've actually blogged anything!  I just HATE that!  I mean really I hate it!  I've come to love this little ole blog, and all the friends I've met through it mean so much to me!

Ok so I have been busy with projects this month, even though I have not shared any of them with you all!

This is a list of things I've finished in the last few weeks that I will be sharing with you all in the next few days.....

My lovely living room rug from West Elm finally arrived!
And I love it!  I mean really love it,  it really adds that fun little zip to the room!

New DIY living room drapes have been finished and hung!

I'm also half way finished with a DIY side table for the living room.
I've completed the artwork for two custom invitations.
I've also completed a few new pieces of artwork for the living room!  

I have finally taken pictures of my DIY sofa tables, and I am ready to show you all how they have been working for me this past month!  I don't really know how I lived without them before!

  

Here's a lovely little swap out I did today....

This is how my tv console use to look....

Well I found a cute little Buddha head at Tjmaxx and the price was so good I just had to have it!
Here's how it looks sitting on the tv console.

Excuse the rest of the mess on the console table, I was too lazy to put the stack of DVD'S away.  Hey, I'm keeping it real here people!  

So what do you think?!  Is the Buddha head a win?  I think so!
 But I LOVE hearing what you all think!!

Living Room Progress!

So to help remind myself of  just how far I've come in the living room, I wanted to share with you all some pictures of how my living room looked before I started it's makeover!  I only started transforming the room about six months ago,so I need to keep telling myself it hasn't been that long!   I really didn't start the transformation until mid-February of this year!  It's only been about six months since I've had my new sofa!  About six months ago, I wrote this little post introducing you all to my new love, Karl!


Now these pictures were not taken to be on the blog,  but they are the only photos I can find of the old living room furniture and layout!  I really did NOT like anything about the furniture, so I never  took any photos of the space!  So ignore all the obvious reasons for taking the photos and just look at the plain old ugliness of the before pictures!

Hehe, this one was taken around Halloween a few years ago,  Josh likes to take my nephew trick-or-treating, so of course I had to make him a costume!  He is some sort of Star Wars something!

Everything looks so plain!!

Clearly I was wrapping presents! Look at all the ribbon!

I call this sofa Country Chic!  Not my tastes at all!

But it was a free hand me down!  So whatcha gonna do!?!

Clearly Josh knew I was taking his picture.....I'm not even sure what I was trying to take a picture of!

This was one of my first attempts to redo the look of the room!

I was tired of that country blue, so I taught myself how to make a fitted slipcover!  It even had a hidden zipper in the back so it had a nice tight fit!  It came out pretty well too, but it's still was not my taste!  Still too country!

While not the best photo ( clearly I was working on something else)  you can see how the love seat looks semi-finished!  If you can over look the boxes and pillows that are piled on top!  Oh and the half- finished sunburst mirror in my hand!

So really the first transformation of many for this room was the introduction of Karl the Sofa to the room!

Let me just say it has been a bit of a love affair ever since!

When Karl came to live with us, we also added two of these Ikea bookcases to the room, to me they are a perfect bookcase; with there very generous depth and crisp modern lines!

Oh Karl!  You are so lovely to sit on!

Do you see this little sheep skin rug?!?  That was a Christmas present from Josh, and it's a perfectly lovely addition to the room!  

This little nail head trimmed ottoman also came home with us when Karl did!  He was a fabulous deal at a Homegoods near our Ikea!

So that was the first MAJOR transformation to the room!  Next I decided I needed to work  on bringing a little art and color into the room!

So I added My Gallery Wall!

All of which was my artwork, the paintings were all done this year, while all the black and white photographs were taken several years ago and developed in a dark room!  Very old school, not many people have ever used all that photography equipment!

After adding Karl to the room I was on the hunt for some extra seating.   I knew I didn't have room for anything too large, AND really I had been dying to get my hands on some faux bamboo chairs!  So when I found a set on craigslist, in MY price range I just knew they would be a perfect addition to the room!

But first they needed a bit of a makeover, you can read all about that here!

I've got one more little addition to their makeover that has yet to be finished!!  

It involves this gorgeous fabric by Dwell!

The next part of the the living room evolution kinda happened because I found some lamps on super clearance at Target and I needed a place to put them!

So I DIY'ed my own sofa table!

Yup! from lumber to furniture I made this little baby!

It's fits beautifully behind the sofa, and has since received a little crisp white paint, you may remember reading about the little accident I had with caulking gun.....well have no fear all turned out well!  I was just to exhausted from that experience that I have yet to add the creative little finishing touches to the piece!  I promise I'm working that all out right now, and will have this little beauty completely completed soon!

Now those little lamps I found for such a fabulous price at Target had a home and really look quite glamorous behind the sofa!  Well after a little DIY gold leaf application!

Hmm, I just realized I never did show you all how BOTH of these gorgeous lamps look on the sofa table!!

Bad blogger!   I will take pictures of that tonight!

Next I did a little furniture rearranging in the living and turned our media center from this.....

to this......

So there you have it!  Those are the changes I've made to the living room in the last six months.  I love how it's all coming together and can't wait till I finish a few more things!  I think the space actually motivates me to be more creative.  Something about the space before was kinda depressing and a little un-motivating!

Does that make sense?!  Or am I the only one that gets motivated to be creative ONLY if the space around them is!?   I can't believe I lived with that drab little sofa for a few years, but I'm working on paying off all those student loans....so whatcha gonna do!

So there you have it, I'm a real person on a REAL decorating budget....which is almost non-existent...so it's just going to take some time to get it all to come together!

Savvy Southern Style