You know how one thing sparks an idea and then it leads to the next thing and the next? If you give a mouse a cookie....Or, if you make a great vintage find...you change up the entire living room!
My wish for Mother's Day this year was to go to The Old Lucketts Store to do a little treasure hunting. It turned out that it was my lucky (Mothers) day, because I scored a great find! I was at the counter, purchasing a few small items when I saw this out of the corner of my eye....
A little navy blue steamer trunk, with travel stickers all over and just enough patina. But...those trunks are always so expensive....I checked out the price (it can't hurt...)...$28! Happy Mothers Day to me! When I got it home, I did a little research and found that it is a sample trunk from the 1940s and the stickers were to inspire buyers as to where they might take their trunk.
I knew exactly where to put it, on the dresser beside the fireplace. Perfect. But, it needed a little accessorizing.
And, now the room needed a little more blue. And, wouldn't it be great to get out my vintage suitcases to continue on the theme? While I was at it, wasn't the room looking a little autumnal? It needed brighter colors for summer. An evening of moving things around, a trip to Joanns, a bit of sewing and I'd completely freshened up the living room for summer.
I found the perfect spot for the suitcases and they now act as a side table where we didn't have one.
A few details....
- Added the trunk & candlesticks to the dresser
- Changed up the mantle, using more silver and adding the wicker wrapped candle holders for texture
- Stacked vintage suitcases as a side table & moved the globe to be on top as an accent
- Used a serving platter from my kitchen as a tray on the coffee table. I grabbed a shell from a beach trip, a canning jar from the kitchen and faux greenery from a past project.
- Brought up a drop leaf table from the basement and arranged most of the items that had previously been on the dresser. Bonus: it filled in a weird empty spot in the corner!
- Stitched up new pillow covers for the sofa. The red & white striped covers were made from toweling that I found at Joanns. I love the vintage french textile look of it. The gingham was also found at Joanns. I kept the polka dot pillows that were there previously because they look good with the red, white & blue theme.
- I replaced the red throw blanket with a navy cable one that I found at Wegmans(!). I had been looking at one at Target but didn't pull the trigger on because it was over $30, more than I wanted to spend on my low cost refresh. I found the blanket at Wegmans for $14!
I'm so pleased with the fresh new look of the living room. It was fun to pull it all together on a budget -- my favorite kind of challenge!
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