My new living room

Hum... I will have to dig for a 'before' shot, but let's just say it was terrible!! We hadn't painted in 8 years... It was a light blue colour that DH had chosen then and I'd always hated it! I've been wanting to paint it brown forever! So I got my chance this month and I LOOOOOVE it now!
We painted, added crown molding... the whole living room, entrance, hall and stairs. (plus we have 2 gallons -different browns- leftover, so I will be repainting my bedroom as well, woohoo).
ANYWAY!!
I've loved the brown/offwhite/aqua colour scheme forever, so I went with that.

Apart from the paint and crown molding, the rest was all very very cheap!
Oh, I do have to admit that we got that bookcase for full price, which I never really do, at Ikea: but @ 99$, it was good!!

The coffee table was found in the trash by DH *years* ago. I will *eventually* give it a makeover, but it's not too bad as is.

The couches were given to us a few years back by DH's aunt: genuine leather. I'd never pay that much for couches, but I gotta say I love them, esp with the new colours in my room!

We had an old and ugly rug in our 'before' living room and i hated it. Once we painted, we were on the market for a new one. I wanted beige/offwhite. But MAN oh man, rugs and carpets can be so darn expensive!! One day, walking into Zellers (Zellers is a Canadian store which is a lot like Walmart or Target) I walked by the rugs and saw a tiny clearance section, with this one screaming at me! It was exactly what I wanted! And it was only 49$! Not bad, cause what I had seen had been 129$ and up! YAY!!

Now, those empty frames hanging on the wall are my favourite thing EVER!! I loooooooove it, it really is the focus of the room. I'd been dreaming about this for years and was glad to finally be able to do it!
I visited a few thrift stores and bought all kinds of frames, all for under 1$ each!! I took off the glass and backing, spray painted them cream (i love spray paint!) and arranged them on the wall.

The nicer cushion on the couch was on clearance @ Walmart for 3$!! Unfortunately, there was only one. But i loved it!!
The other cushions were all bought at jysk for 3 and 4$ each.

The table in the right corner... Well, about 12 years ago, I found it in my inlaws' garage. It had belonged to MIL's grandmother, and it was a horrible shade of pink. Back then, I was really into mosaic tiling, so I created a random mosaic on top (mostly blues, burgundies, yellows) with old plates. Tons of patterns and colours. The legs were painted yellow to fit my apartment back then.
Well, that no longer fit in my new scheme. So I painted the legs brown. And while I couldn't 'undo' the mosaic, I did decide to cover it up! I bought, also @ jysk, a small tablecloth in the nicest damask pattern (velvety feeling, on a silky type fabric)... for 3$!!! Woot!

The lamp is also brand new. I'd been looking at a ton, mostly at Ikea, but the nicer ones were too expensive for my taste and budget. One day, we head to Rona L'Entrepot . I believe we were in there for the crown molding, actually. We walk by the lights section and I headed for the clearance section. And there it was. I couldnt see a price, so I had a clerk come over. She checked, and it was on clearance for 30$! WOW!! it was originally part of a set, so since it was now alone, the price was incredibly low! I snatched it up right away! At first, I wasnt sure about the lampshade- i thought a lighter, cream colour would suit my living room better. But nope, I really like it now!!



The tv corner. I'm now on the market for a new tv stand, i hate hate hate this one! I would like to find a unit where I could put my stereo also!
anyway... the light/sconce we already owned (from ikea) and the old Firefighter helmet has always been in that same spot. I just loooove it. It belonged to DH's grandfather who was a firefighter in the 30s in Montreal.

I found the urn/vase at Dollarama for 2$. It was green, so I brought out my beloved cream spray paint and transformed it. The dried things were also from Dollarama, just 1$ for the bunch. Voila, for 3$ I've got an interesting deco!

The votive candle holders on top of the tv were just 49 cents each at jysk.

(Soon, I will be re-decorating my kitchen, so please ignore how ugly it is in the above picture!)

See that old school desk? Found it months ago at a thrift store for just 5$! Score!!! My daughter does her homework on it. I have yet to sand it and such, but for now, its colour is the same as the accent colour in my living room, so I dont mind as much, teehee!

The vase... I'd been looking for a big vase to put exactly there. But dang, those things are EXPENSIVE when bought new!! Therefore, 2 weekend ago, i headed to a flea market north of montreal, and found this one. It was a disgusting blue colour with grey and brown specks of paint. But i loved the shape!! I got it for just 6$, came home and spray painted it!!
The dried willow is from Bouclair and kinda expensive at 15$, but it's exactly what I'd been dreaming about so I paid full price and am happy about it!
And so are my birds! Hopefully you can click on the picture to view it larger... you will see my birdies Sifflet and Cali resting on the branches! THey LOVE it!!

and finally, this is the 99$ bookcase we got at ikea. I love it! It holds all my old photo albums (pre-scrapbooking), our CDs (we just got rid of a TON... we had probably 3x that! It feels soooo nice to declutter a bit!!), some magazines in which I was published, our stereo, a fishbowl filled with beach glass (i collect beach glass- my collection is in vases, by colour, in my kitchen), as well as some decorations found mostly at thrift stores and garage sales. The baskets on top hold odds and ends (restaurant menus, etc). The basket near the fish bowl hold my birdwatching boks.

Do you like the painting on the top shelf??
My 9 year old son, Xavier, painted that last year!! Isn't he awesome?!!