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Hey ya'll. I'm drawing a blank. So, I'm going to fill up this little space next to the tiny picture with non-important words so that we can quickly get to the meat of the post and talk like normal people. Because sometimes I have a million things to tell you, but my brain jams up when faced with an introductory paragraph. New rule: Virginia is occasionally excused from introductory paragraphs and can instead just quote Lionel Richie lyrics or take a picture of her hand. I'll save those options for later. Let's move on to the meat. So, I disappeared for a week. Sometimes I just need to take a little break and go on vacation, which is exactly what I did last week. For the past 10 years Jesse has taken me on a little vacation for my birthday (which is on June 13th, so we celebrated a little late this year), and each year we try to go somewhere new. This year we ended up in Hilton Head, South Carolina, which quickly became one of my favorite places. And I had so much fun that I got totally lost in the moment and came home with approximately one blurry vacation picture. Note to self: I think I enjoyed myself way more because of said photo-negligence. Awkward truth. So, anyways, we just got back on Sunday, and I've spent the last few days trying to photograph the living room. And basically, all attempts were futile...and there's a cat in every single picture. So, my apologies for the feline intrusion. I tried to remove them from their natural habitat, but there are still no doors anywhere in the house, and my attempts proved impossible. So, this is the progress report on the living room. It's still not finished, but this is the most functionable it's been since February, so I figured I would share the progress with you. Estimated completion is still set for May 2032. I'll start by reminding you where we began. This is the living room when we first moved in, complete with dark wood trim, wall to wall carpet, and those bug catcher lights that have taunted me since day one. And of course, a living room post wouldn't be complete without paying tribute to this picture. The living room then went through about 10 other questionable transitions, all coming to an end when we ripped up the carpet back in February. That kicked off a 5 month torture-fest that ended up teaching me several valuable life lessons, like how to successfully loiter at Panera when your house looks like this: As you know, my days at Panera eventually came to an end. The floors were finally installed (after some major hiccups back in April), and eventually we started moving some furniture back in. I sold most of our stuff at the beginning of the renovation in an effort to start anew, so basically all we had to move back in was our two sofas. My hope is to eventually replace those big ol' fellas with something a little less tan microfiber, and maybe something a little smaller (to allow for different room configurations) but for now, I'm just grateful to have anything in there at all. I didn't own a couch until I was about 26, so any couch is a fabulous couch if you ask me. :) Next on my living room to-do list was replacing the light fixtures. That ended up being kinda tricky because there are a total of 5 light fixtures in this one big space. There are two in the living room, one in the entryway, one in the dining room, and one in the kitchen (which I shared last week). Since they can all be seen at the same time, I didn't want to use five of the same fixture, but I did want to create some sort of cohesiveness among all of them. I ended up finding a great fixture at Lowe's for a decent price, and brought home three of them...2 for the living room and 1 for the dining room. And I must not have been the only one who liked them, as I had to go to several different Lowes to find all three. And then Jesse did what I can't prefer not to do...he climbed a giant ladder and hung the lights. I have my limits: that second ladder rung. So, just to remind you, here's what this space looked like when we first moved in: wall to wall carpet, orange wood, and assorted boob lights. And here is what this space looks like today with new floors, a new stair rail, newly painted walls and trim, and updated light fixtures. It seriously makes me blob up a little bit. I just can't believe it's finally all coming together. There's still so much work left to be done, like finishing the trim, replacing the doors, replacing windows, gutting the entire lower level, and doing a little work on the bathrooms, but I'm allowing myself a little down time this summer to just relax and enjoy a few cat cuddles. Commence feline invasion. So, after the lights were installed, I moved on to finding a rug. I had my heart absolutely set on getting a moroccan shag rug, because I love them, and after a lot of searching locally and online, I finally ordered this one from Rugs USA (on sale for 50% off at the time when I ordered it). And within 24 hours of ordering that rug, something crazy happened: Rugs USA contacted me to offer us a rug for our living room. So, naturally, I asked them about the one I had just ordered, hoping that maybe I could return it and have them send me a bigger size (since my little budget had maxed out somewhere near the tiny version). Well, it ended up that they were currently out of stock in the bigger size that I was hoping for. So, instead, they offered to send me my dream rug, the real wool version, which has ended up being the softest thing on the planet. And that's when I basically fainted. I'll allow Tootie and Cheese to reenact it for you. How I get anything done around here, I don't know. So, anyways, I ended up with 2 rugs. The smaller one that I purchased (which I decided to keep and use in the office), and the giant one that they sent me (which as you can see, ended up getting lots of love in living room). And I'm pretty sure Cheese called dibs, because she's rolling around on it, having the time of her life 24/7, and poor Tootie sits on the sofa like a rolypoly. So, anyways, that's the rug story. Plain and simple. Tootie says not to feel too bad for her. She sneaks in some naps when Cheese gets distracted by her ball. So, here's what the living room looks like from the opposite angle, looking into the dining room and kitchen. Jesse has been working on trimming out the walls we knocked down, which you can see a little bit of in this picture. Turns out, trimming out a wall is kinda tricky, so we are moving turtle-speed on the trim work. I've brought in a few pillows from my pillow hoarding closet. I don't love them, but I don't hate them. So, for now, eh, they'll do. I also decided to leave the rock wall alone for now. I still don't love it, but I hate it less, so....eh. I added a little abstract painting to the mantel. And then added a big woven basket next to the stacked logs. It's currently housing the heap of magazines my mom brought me on her last 'Here are the magazines I've been hoarding for you.' visit. I really look forward to those visits. I took roughly 40 magazines out of that basket for that photo. I also decided to hang that reclaimed mirror that I got for $20 over the couch. Ever since we spackled about 400 wall holes and spent a week painting, I've been avoiding the walls. It's a blessing and a curse. Blessing: Feeling really peaceful like some weird minimalist. Curse: Fighting intense urge to create 40 piece gallery walls. Developing twitch. So, for now, I'm just hanging a few big things and stepping away from the hammer. Anyways, I also replaced our old thrift store TV stand with a new thrift store TV stand that I scored for $50. If you missed the last DIY disaster post, here's what it looked like before I painted it. And here's what it looks like now after some paint and updated hardware. Pardon the tiny TV. We moved the big one that's usually out here back to the bedroom during the renovation and I have yet to haul it back out here. You might remember the Dirty Dancing photo found at the end of this post that kind of explains it. I even painted the insides of the drawers to make it feel like new (or at least not smell like thrift store). I still need to find a few end tables and/or a coffee table, but a girl can only do so much at once, so for now I'll just appreciate having a place to sit and relax other than our bedroom. And I desperately want to tell you that Tootie appreciates it too, but I fear I've hit my cat quota. As for the rest of the main area, we hung the chandelier in the dining room and had to swag it over because it was about a foot off-center. And now my search begins for dining room tables. I'm more excited about this part of the process than almost any other, as I've been without a dining room table for almost two years. Before we knocked down the wall, our dining room was so tiny and not even the smallest round table fit well. So, now that the wall is gone between the dining room and kitchen, I have so much more space for a dining room. There's a whole long story about the dining room table situation, and it's a funny one, but I'll save that for another post, maybe when I find the table. Or some chairs. Anyways, that's pretty much all for today, ya'll. Thanks for caring about what goes on in my little world. I'll be back soon when I have something else interesting to share. In the meantime, I'll probably be on the couch like a pig in a blanket and Cheese will be acting un-lady-like on the rug. 'Til next time! P.S. The other posts in the House Makeover series can be found here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10 Follow my blog with Follow my blog on or or Subscribe to LiveLoveDIY with email! Enter your email address: -->

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Paint and transform old and worn-out furniture into a fresh new look that works with your decor Budget-friendly and economical way to update your home's look You can easily choose color and style Reduces waste by preventing items from ending up in landfill Repainting can help conceal scratches, dents, or other imperfections on the furniture's surface, giving it a fresh, new appearance

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