Hello there! I’m so glad you’re here and hope you will join me for the first linky party of 2010! Woot!
I have had an overwhelming desire to rearrange furniture in our house over the past few days. It’s been totally nagging at me like never before. We just don’t move our furniture around – ever. Our home is very much an open concept, which means we have very few actual walls to work with. This also translates to very little wall space for art, etc., but that’s another post. :) If you combine the wall issue with the placement of cable outlets, there’s just not many options for moving things around.
Which is driving me MAD this week. So I’ve made a couple changes that I really love, without spending much money at all. The first, I’ll show you tonight!
There is a little spot in our kitchen and family room that used to be completely empty and it always bothered me. Part of the issue was the speaker on the wall that is right where art would hang:
I plan on spraying those speaker covers to match the walls – I know you painter’s are freaking out right now. ;)
A few months ago, my sweet stepdaughter surprised us with a collage of pictures she had put together of our family…sniff. Lurve her! Anyhoo, I looked around for the perfect spot to hang it, (remember the no wall space thing?) and then realized this empty wall would be PERFECT. The shape of the frame made it work just right under the speaker. I added a lamp from the basement for more light, and I was really happy with it for a couple months:
Normally I wouldn’t hang something this low on the wall, but I sometimes you have to tell the “rules” to take a hike. :)
I have a thing with floor lamps. They have to be just the right height for me – I don’t use them very much. I find them too short too often. I really do love this one and hated it was sitting in the basement, but I still felt like the spot needed something more.
Or I was obsessing over the cord showing.
You decide.
Soooo…I kept thunkin’. We have a set of nesting tables that I pulled apart long ago – I use the small one in our living room, the large one in the basement, and the middle size fit perfectly in this little spot.
Then my friend forced me to go to HomeGoods with her. Or maybe I offered to go. Whatever. Details.
I can’t tell you the last time I bought a lamp in a store as is. I always have to mess with them somehow. But I saw one with swirls on the shade and I was hooked. I couldn’t resist. They only show up when you turn on the light…I freakin’ love those!:
I added the cloche (I already had) for more height, and I’m really loving how this little spot turned out!:
Of course, the basket was added to hide the cord. It also serves as another spot I can throw the toys, which is a very good thing:
I did it all for the cost of the lamp! And I could have done it for free if I could have resisted the HomeGoods lamp and used one I had.
I am really surprised I added to the house right now, instead of taking away. :) Everywhere else I’m decluttering like mad. But this is really growing on me…it satisfied my need for a change and it has a really warm and cozy feeling. You see it straight ahead when you walk in our house and I love that.
So, my before and after!:
I showed mine, now I want to see yours!
As always, only direct links to your Before and After post will be accepted…not to your blog overall. (To do this, right click on the title of your post, copy, then paste that into the linky.)
You can grab the beautiful Before and After button over to the left. The party will go till this Friday, so you can add a post until then! Have fun and enjoy!!
