I can't help but smile every time that I walk into my living room these days. I have had a vision for that room since we purchased our home. Sure over the years we've made it a nice cozy space, but it always felt as if the room was in transition. It never felt finished, just a transition space where we sat down and looked at flyers and fed babies. Christmas was the only time I really felt that the living room was worth living in and even then the aging furniture did the room a major disservice. Thankfully the tree and holiday lights created just the right ambiance and made it  more comfortable.

Don't get me wrong I was happy with what I had done to make the room ours, but it wasn't my dream space.

In August (I won't say what year...) we started a simple kitchen update. Next thing I know, my awesome husband and his amazing brother start tossing around ideas and BAM! the wall to the upstairs was cut in half, the doorway to the kitchen was gone and so was the doorway to the living room.  I was thrilled with how open the space turned out. The light flowed through the space and it was instantly more appealing and inviting (even with drywall dust all over the place). I tried about 10 different shades of gray before settling on one that I really liked. Not too dark, not too light, cozy not cold.

The living room is finally done and I can say I am more than happy with how it turned out! You don't need to spend a ton of money to upgrade your home. Paint and a few accessories can go a long way. We lucked out as the furniture was a Christmas gift from my amazing parents. Given a budget and Kijiji you can find great stuff to help you get more for every dollar. This particular set was in a "for show" living room, it is only a couple of years old and is in brand new condition because the room was barely ever used.

The rug was also a gift- if you come in under budget, you can use the rest of your allocated funds for another piece! I realize that the rug is slightly undersized for the space however because of how small the living room/ dining room is, the next size up would have been too large for the space.

Drum roll please!........

Voila!

Details:
Main wall colour: Nimbus by Benjamin Moore
Accent wall colour: Thunderbird by Benjamin Moore- they have updated some of their colours. I went with the old colour for thunderbird. The new colour isn't as light and airy.
Trim: Polar White by Behr
Sofa and chair: The Bay
Blue throw pillows: Threshold by Target
Beige thrown pillow: Joe Fresh (many years ago...it was in our bedroom but looked just right on the chair)
Rug: Threshold by Target
Curtains: Threshold by Target
Art in entry: Local graphic artist
Accessories: Scentsy, Target

Clearly I have a thing for the Target home section. I'm so sad they are closing. The upside is that I have no choice but to pick up the items on  my must have list before they are gone.

Dining room reveal will be hitting to blog in March and I've got a goal of revealing our kitchen by May!

Valentine's Day Countdown

We got our craft on this weekend!

Austin and I had a mommy/son date Saturday afternoon. We hit up Target's Dollar Spot and got a few things to make a Countdown to Kisses calendar. Normally we tape some kisses to cardstock and call it a day. This year I wanted to make something a little more crafty and tidy :)

Here are the supplies:

1 bag of Hershey Kisses
Metallic Sharpies
3 pks Heart containers ($1 for 6)
Valentines ribbon (2yrds for $1)
glue stick
tissue paper
Stiff cardboard for the backing (I used the back of a Fridge calendar that we just finished up.)

Cover the cardboard with glue and apply the tissue paper. (This tissue paper is pretty thick and I'm going to need to buy out all of Target's stock before they close )

Attach ribbon, stickers, glitter- whatever you want. Number the containers with the sharpies.

Fill the hearts with kisses. I used 2 kisses per heart (and both of them are the same colour because fighting over who gets what colour is kinda counter productive when you are counting down to a day that celebrates love).

Arrange the hearts on the backing until you are happy with how they look. Then have your lovely assistant slather the back of each heart with glue and stick it in place.

(Those little chocolate lips are a dead giveaway that someone was sneaking the kisses...)

Print a pretty header, attach it and Voila!