Decorating

I really enjoyed Renee's blog recently on decorating advice. I love to hear about how people make their house a home.

I've been in my new house for about a year now. Normally I really enjoy decorating and it comes naturally to me. I was surprised by how difficult this two-story family room has been to decorate.

I'm finally getting to the point where it's starting to "speak to me". May I share?

Here's some before photos of what the house looked like before we moved in. It's not terrible, but Dan and I wanted to make some changes.

Our living room before we moved into the house:

See how this wall above the fireplace looks bare?

Here's how I finally proceeded:
1. First, I determined what color I primarily wanted in my living room. Yellow. I love yellow. But to paint the whole space yellow would be TOO yellow. I let window treatments and objects provide the color.
2. I saw that in this large room that small picture frames looked cluttered (for my taste... don't be offended if you like them). This large room needs large pieces.
3. Dan and I put our TV in another room so the fireplace would be a good focal point.
4. The bay window wasn't looking as large and spacious as it could.
5. After much hemming and hawing, we decided to paint the room a lighter cream color so that it wouldn't look so brown on brown. We wanted some more contrast. We also had the bookshelves painted a lovely color called Sag Harbor Grey. Now the objects on the bookshelf pop more.
6. The ceiling above the fireplace looked bare; we bought a large mirror.
7. Finally, I adopted a theme. I wanted the living room to have yellow highlights, a fresh "coastal" feel and have some pottery and textile textures. I call it "Texas Coastal" because it has such large (what I consider Texas-sized) objects, but it's primarily coastal.
8. Most importantly, my goal of decorating is to make my family and friends feel a sense of peace and belonging in my home. I never want anyone to feel small in my home. If they're dressed to the nines from a night out on the town or just swinging by from a jog in the park, I want them to feel at home just as they are.

Our family room After/ In Progress:

Since the yellow for the curtains was a focal point of the room, I did have to custom order the fabric. I try to save money where I can, but that was a good investment in my book.

I put large pottery and larger objects on the bookshelves. I also dotted the bookshelves with yellow objects here and there to give the room a yellow feel without being too "sunshiney". The black mirror above the fireplace really helps anchor the room.

We're not quite in the market for new furniture yet, so I added a few yellow blankets and pillows to the couches for color. I also added some textured grass pillows (which my hubby says are "ouchy") for, well, texture.

I was having a hard time coming up with family photos that didn't look too small and cluttered in this space. I bought a few of those frames where you put multiple 5x7" photos in them. But instead of putting many photos, I had posters made of our family and cropped them to fit. I feel a little funny having my photo so large in our family room, but I love to see my daughter and husband. The largeness works with our space.

Here is a yellow vase which I found at an antique store which I fell in love with. It gave me the courage to have more yellow in my living room. To the right is a glass vase I purchased and put shells and coastal themed things inside.