From the front door, the first view our guests were greeted with was the back of a sofa. And thanks to one super wild hound who (sometimes) answers to Steve, that sofa back was looking seriously scuffed. Plus the room seemed closed-off and unwelcoming, which definitely wasn’t the look I was going for. So, with the hubby bed-bound with the flu, I did a little huffing, puffing, and furniture rearranging.

Of course, before things get better, they always get worse, right? Yikes.

The two-seater sofa and the chaise lounge swapped places…

My red flowers got the boot…

In favor of some off-white hydrangeas.

The matchy-matchy side tables also took a hike. Although we’ve had a pair of side tables since we got married, the second table was unused 95% of the time. And in our house, unused items don’t stand a chance. I grabbed one of my favorite finds from Ross, a tile-topped table that I got for just $17 because the frame was bent (luckily for me, my little brother was able to straighten the frame out without any trouble).

And put it between the two sofas. The big one is Tony’s sofa, and the small one is mine, so having just one table in between the two works perfectly. I topped it with the glass lamp base from Target that I couldn’t resist – especially since it was $5 off. Still pricey at $35 without a shade, but I love it. The shade I threw on there is insanely undersized, and the lamp is still sporting the price tag, but you get the idea.

You can’t tell in the photo, but the tile-top on my little table has a big chip in one corner. Which can only mean one thing: this table has a makeover in its future. I’m thinking a gold or ORB finish on the metal, paired with a mirrored top for a luxe look.

Then I stood back and gave the room a once-over. The bulky back pillow on the chaise lounge was making the room feel cluttered and heavy, so I ditched it (after doing a sit-test to make sure the comfort wasn’t compromised).

Much better!

Next up was trying out some of my new textiles, including the two gorgeous pillows I picked up at Target, and the curtains I found at Ikea – just $30 for a pair of 118″ curtains. The curtains are too long and currently have a tab top, so my plan is to hem the bottom edge and then cut off the tab top-side so I can use my ring clips.

In real-life, the curtains have a super-fine, tonal, vertical stripe. Which means one of two things: I either do a bunch of sewing to re-orient the stripe in the curtains, or I re-think my horizontally-striped curtain scheme. I’m leaning towards the latter, because it would give me a chance to use another curtain treatment I love – something like this…

Image via Houzz

Although I’d love to use a Greek key ribbon for my embellishment, at $10 a yard (x 14 yards to run down both sides of each curtain panel), it isn’t in the budget. But it might be the perfect touch for a pillow!

So, when it comes to trimming the curtains, a more budget-friendly, solid-colored ribbon will likely be the answer.

I’ve got my fingers crossed that I’ll be able to make some more progress on the room this weekend – this room makeover has been moving seriously fast compared to our standard pace, so hopefully we’ll keep chugging along in the right direction!

What do you have planned for the weekend?

How about this wall of deep, dark bookcases, lined with linen magazine holders and a few elegant accessories? Image from A Thoughtful Place blog.

Here’s another fabulous monochromatic display. The OCD part of my brain (in case you’re wondering, that’s definitely the bigger half) is thisclose to hauling off and wrapping every book in our house in white craft paper. Image via Mrs. Howard Personal Shopper.

Pottery Barn‘s leaning shelves are more colorful and heavily accessorized, but still avoid being visually chaotic.

Two of my favorite bloggers rock some seriously drool-worthy bookshelves. I love Emily A. Clark‘s combination of white wood and navy blue shelf backs.

And then there is this wall of Billy Bookshelves, trimmed by Centsational Girl to look like built-ins. The layering of art, accessories and books is flawless.

This image from House Beautiful is jam packed with books, but the white wood and soft yellow shelf backs keep the overall feeling serene. Image via House Beautiful.

Here’s another image I adore.

Just kidding. In case you haven’t guessed, this last photo is of our very own bookshelf, nestled in the corner of the living room. The chaotic mishmash of books and mismatched accessories makes me want to wear a blindfold. Obviously that would lead to a broken limb or two, so for the last year, I’ve stuck to a safer alternative: completely ignoring that corner of the room. Unfortunately for the bookshelf, our living room update is in full force, and no corner is safe.

I started by emptying out the bookshelf and sorting the mess. We had accessories…

Paperback books…

Hardcover books in worn, torn or ugly jackets…

And hardcover books that lost their jackets along the way.

I started by shucking any remaining dust jackets. I know they have a functional purpose, but the books underneath are so much prettier. Librarians across the world are probably shaking their heads at me.

I put a pair of baskets from Walmart to work corralling all the paperbacks and started adding my hardcovers back on to the shelves. Once I was happy with the books, I trimmed the accessories down to the neutrals. I also put away my twig reindeer, who had long since outlived his Christmas welcome. To the attic, you!

After standing back to appreciate the way-less-cluttered view, I decided it was time for a little Pottery Barn knockoff. I spied some baskets with big, bold metal numbers in the last catalog, and figured it would be easy enough to make my own by adding some house numbers to my Walmart baskets.

I picked up a 1 and 2 at Home Depot for $4.87 each, and then attached them to the baskets using hot glue.

If you’re trying this at home, be sure the back of your numbers have some flat spots you can apply glue to!

So, in less than an hour, my bookshelf went from being an eyesore to sporting some solidly organized (and dare I say, way more attractive) shelves.

Here’s a little side-by-side before & after fun.

Of course, there’s still that not-so-tiny voice shouting at me to put my middle school book-covering skills to work… I’ll be sure to let you know if I succumb to the madness.

What’s your stance on bookshelves? Neat as a pin, or cheerfully crammed full of books?

Want to see more bookshelf images? Peep my pinboard of drool-inducing bookshelves. Linking to Remodelaholic!

1. My lack of love for brown leather sofas (of which we have two)
2. The idea that someday we’ll upgrade from our nicely stained beige carpet to some unstained carpet, or maybe even some wood floors

But, since I haven’t actually won the lottery yet (to be fair, I still haven’t been playing), the plan for updated flooring is still in the daydream stages, and it seems silly to wait any longer to make our most-frequently-used-room into a homier space. Plus, when I was making yet another trip to Target last week, I spied some pillows in a pattern similar to this one (naturally, MY pillows can’t be found online. You’ll have to wait until I score the real deal). Neutral, but with a fun pattern.

I thought to myself, these would be adorable with some striped curtains – something like this amazing pair of DIY curtains from The Yellow Cape Cod, just re-imagined for a more neutral palette – I’m thinking ivory and tan.

Casual, but still put together, and WAY more cozy than the stiff, corporate-apartment feel we’ve got going right now. Of course, a room that’s all neutrals from head to toe is a bore, right? Right. So this super-cute pillow from Etsy seller Tootledoo Designs seemed like the perfect complement to a more neutral color scheme.

I love me a monogram. And, it just so happens that my obsessive eye detected that this fabric was from Premier Prints (my favorite source for affordable, modern fabric). So I headed over to their website and checked to see what else they had in the coral colorway. And fell into a dead swoon when I realized my favorite pattern (Gotcha – that’s the name of the fabric, not a joke at your expense, FYI) came in the right color. She’ll make a pretty throw-pillow companion, don’t you think?

That takes care of the softer elements in the room. Also on the list of switcheroos is updated artwork for over the sofa. I love the ikat pattern in this Dwell Studios pillow, and thought I might try my hand at painting a similar pattern onto a large canvas for over the sofa. Color-wise, I’m planning to wait for my precious chevron pillow to arrive so I can pull the perfect coral shade out, to go with a calm ivory, and one other punch of color that I’m undecided on.

I’ll flank the main artwork with two smaller pieces – those guys are still TBD. The couches will also get a little action – the loveseat will move across the room, in front of the curtains, and the chaise lounge will take its place to open up the room.

No one likes staring at the back of a sofa – especially not one covered in claw marks from one wild hound. Yup, we’re talking about you, Steve!

If the budget for this mini-makover will tolerate it, we’ll also swap out the Walmart BHG lamps for something a little more substantial. I adore these Target glass lamp bases, although they look totally underwhelming in the photo online (waaay cuter in the store). A bold, solid-colored lampshade would be a fun touch.

And that, my friends, is a design plan for our oft-ignored and unloved living room. Now I’ll just have to rachet back my excitement until my pillow is delivered! Waiting… patiently…

P.S. As I went back through this post looking for typos, it occurred to me that I really hope y’all actually read words in this blog, because if you’re going on images alone, this room looks like one hot mess!

My side of the closet is a hot mess. The worst part? It’s looked like a train wreck for ages. So every morning, I have the joy of stumbling over the pigsty on the floor while I try to pick out work clothes or pack my gym bag. Not exactly a lovely way to start the day, truth be told.

So, in an attempt to tame the mess, Tony and I built a 2-cubby storage bench from the amazing Ana White. The plan was for a 3-cubby bench, but space limitations took us down to just 2 cubbies. Once the build was done, the next step was caulking the seams and using wood filler on screw holes and knots in the wood.

I slathered on the wood filler (this was still in my “more is more” stage)… and got tired head just thinking about all the sanding I was going to have to do. So the storage bench became a permanent fixture on top of our work space in the garage, which was 1. inconvenient and 2. insane.

Nonetheless, it camped out there for well over a year, until the hubby politely requested that I get my storage bench outta the garage. So I set the tired-head aside and sanded for a million years (using an electric hand sander and also doing some manual sanding). Next up was priming the bench with some Kilz…

Then it was time for a top coat (or 5). I used some leftover paint from my Union Jack project to my storage bench looking bright and white. I cut in using a small sponge brush, and relied on a mini foam roller to get nice, even coverage on the body of the piece. The last step was adding a protective coat of Minwax (we use water-based Polycrilic in a satin finish) to keep my storage bench from getting damaged by the hustle and bustle of closet life. Pardon the junky picture!

With my bench painted and ready to roll, I had just one thing left to do: find some baskets so the bench could live up to its storage requirements. Of course, this was where I ran into some major issues. There were lots of baskets I loved, like these…

Crate & Barrel Sedona storage tote (too deep)

And these…

World Market’s Julia lined baskets (too short and too deep)

Or these (swoon)…

Wisteria’s insanely cute lined wire baskets (too short. Sigh)

What I needed was an 11-inch cube, and none of these super cute options would even fit into my storage bench. The best fit I could find was in Target’s Closet Maid Cubeicals storage bins, which lack a little something in the looks department (you can also find them online at Amazon.com).

They do maximize my storage space, at 10.5″ W x 10.5″ D x 11″ H, and they were cheap, so they had a few characteristics in their favor. I’m definitely still on the lookout for some cuter (but still economical) baskets, but I also had a wild idea that some grosgrain ribbon stripes could add a little pizzazz to the front of my baskets.

Pizzazz or no, it’s pretty killer to be able to walk across the closet floor without tripping on boots, hats, or goodness-knows what else. All told, we spent about $3o on the wood to build this project, $0 on finishing supplies, and $12 for the baskets. Not bad for a solid wood piece that’s custom-built to our closet’s dimensions!

Yay for a little bit of new-year organization. Have you tackled any organization projects so far this year? Am I the only one with a closet that could double as a garage sale? 

As far as curb-appeal goes, this front entry-way is totally swoon worthy. Leaded glass is pretty much my favorite thing ever, and I love the shiny, black door with its glass panels. Throw in a matching pair of topiaries, and call that deal done. I’ll spring for the extra lightbulb so this place can rock uniform lighting. Incidentally, as I was out front snapping photos of this house, I happened to spy the homeowner cruising past the front door. I felt uber-creepy, so I took off running. Which probably had the homeowner making a beeline for the phone to let the police know about the crazy stalker with the camera. Woops.

While we’re on the subject of front doors, here’s one of my favorites. Although the house doesn’t knock my socks off from a distance…

The black-and-white front door and all that leaded glass leave me breathless. Our front door isn’t blessed with any glass panels, but I’m still jonesing to give it a sharp paint job like this one.

One last front door to daydream about – this one sports some seriously beautiful molding. The white-washed brick doesn’t hurt this little house’s appeal either. This charmer is actually a pool house, if you can believe it.

In case you were wondering what the main house looks like, here she is. Totally regal.

This house is totally unique – the stacked brick facade makes it stand out from its neighbors, but it still fits perfectly into the neighborhood.

Unfortunately, not every beautiful house fits into the puzzle quite as well. This house is drool-worthy…

Until you stand back and take in the whole view.

It totally dwarfs its neighbors, and the more-modern design sticks out like a sore thumb. Plus, for someone like myself who is a big believer in improving the old, instead of heading straight for the bulldozer, it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Let’s finish our neighborhood tour on a high note – the canopy over the front door of this big beauty is what really makes it stunning – no need to wait out in the rain here!

Nice scenery sure helps whittle away those miles, don’t you think? Do you have your dream home scoped out already?

Every seat in the house reclines to an almost-horizontal position, so in addition to being right in my brother’s uber-modern, Euro-wheelhouse, it’s also extra comfy. Originally, Brother had his eye on this couch, which was more than twice as expensive and waaaay less good-lookin’.

When it comes to my own aesthetic, this couch totally had my name on it. White leather plus a super-streamlined shape = love. The price tag was close to $4K, so it stayed in the store (and my daydreams).

Then there was the pony chair. Other than the fact that it was made from real pony hide (insert sad face), it was fabulous. As much as I loved how it looked, I really, REALLY couldn’t get behind a pony-hair chair. If there’s a faux version out there, count me in.

How about this gorgeous chandelier for lighting up the dining room? Yeah, it took all of my self-restraint not to bring this looker home with me.

Why not hang it over this mid-century dining room set? The hubby and I don’t often agree with it comes to furniture design, but these pieces had us both at hello. The table would also rock solo – I’d pair it with cream leather chairs, or upholstered chairs in a punchy, geometric pattern.

And, last but not least, the diamond mirror. In spite of the $700 price tag, I literally spent 20 minutes trying to figure out how we could get it home to Dallas once I bought it. Luckily for the old pocketbook, I never came up with a solution. So she stayed behind. But, dang: gorgeous, right?

Brother’s new couch will land on his doorstep on Wednesday – I made him promise to take some before and after pictures (and hopefully a shot or two with Union Jack making a cameo, too), so hopefully I’ll have some snapshots to share soon!

I’ve got more H-town eye candy to share on Thursday – so don’t forget to stop by! Happy Tuesday, friends.