It took a few months to complete my living room make-over, but it is finally ready for sharing:
Click above to see a larger image.
My living room was previously styled in turquoise (my favorite color) but I decided a change was needed. This makeover was primarily accomplished by updating existing accessories and furniture. Come take a look at how I turned my living room/home office into a peaceful yet enjoyable place with a neutral color scheme.
One key component of my living room makeover was to create a new decor scheme. I’ve always liked a mishmash of decorating styles, so I came up with a fusion of mid-century modern and Moroccan decor. When a DIY folding screen project didn’t work out, I had leftover panels of wood. I used them to create customized wall art to fit into my new theme.
There were a few things I considered in making this piece. I wanted an exotic yet subtle design. I didn’t want the decor to feel overwhelming, both in creating it and in its finished state. The piece would also have to be large enough to serve as a focal point and to help visually extend the height of the room.
Check out more info on what I used to create this decor after the jump.
I love going to the fabric store, even when I don’t need any fabric. I love perusing all the different patterns and touching the fabrics. Last week, I had a motive to go: to create new wall decor.
I’ve contemplated how to decorate the space around my television for some time now. I googled articles and found a great way to have the TV blend into the room was to create a gallery wall behind it (Houzz.com has a great article with images here). I just wasn’t entirely sold on the idea of finding many things to frame. Sure, I have lots of paintings to choose from in my inventory, but most don’t match with the room’s color scheme. So I set out to find a great pattern/print I could instead use for wall decor.
Most of the fabric in turquoise and aquas was too bright for my liking & nothing grabbed me like it should. I’ve learned it’s best to spend money on things that really wow you, be it clothing or decor.
I spotted this fabric a while ago at Joann’s & love the classic, modern pattern. The print wowed me, but I wasn’t entirely sold with it being black and white. And then I had one of the creative epiphanies I love: customize the fabric with markers.
It’s a simple, straightforward project: cut paper squares, arrange, glue, and seal. I however, found a way to make it more complicated. 
Note: while this is an easy project, it is a bit time-consuming so you better have a fresh jar of patience. I came across this mosaic project over at Remodelaholic and felt like it was fated to coordinate with my retro kitchen countertops: 
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One of my projects for Transformation Turquoise was to create a large piece of art for the living room. I’d considered painting bamboo blinds a while ago when I decided to take down the generic vertical blinds that came with this place. I bought matchstick bamboo blinds at Big Lots for fairly cheap—$5 for 36″ wide?— and hung three of them over my large living room window. (I decided not to paint a design on those.) I’ve also used a set of these blinds in a wall cut-out between the kitchen and living room.
They are matchstick blinds, so they provide sheer coverage since there is more space between the “slats” vs. typical blinds. Because of this and because the matchsticks are rounded, this wasn’t the easiest painting project. For the image to appear more dimensional, I also had to paint my design in between the matchsticks. I was a bit impatient and didn’t want to give in to perfectionism, so I didn’t get too technical with this part of the painting.
As an artist, I prefer to create my own style of decorating and accessories. One of the ways I accomplished this recently was the creation of fabric wall art. I’d love to just paint my walls to add color to my rooms, but as a renter, this is either not allowed or would entail too much work to paint it back. So instead I created some fabric wall art for the new color and design scheme I chose in my living room.
