Our Own Little Hive: living room

Monday, April 11, 2016

My Style tips

So, before I style any room, I try and think of these things:

What are my 1 to 2 centerpieces?

So typically when I am picking out a "centerpiece" for a room, it tends to be something I feel would

draw instant attraction. For example, in my living room, it was my West Elm Chandelier. I knew that

since we had vaulted ceilings, and white walls, we could really do something big for our light fixture.

The next centerpiece that I decided on was our rug. So I knew that I wanted to go with the persian

style, (but not the persian price...) So I found this bad boy on eSalerugs.com, and it was worth every

penny!

What are my style words?

Modern (because of the light fixture) & Traditional/Bohemian (because of the rug)

So now, everything that I buy has to fit into those words.

Coffee Table- Modern

Ottoman- Bohemian

Pillows- Bohemian

Basket-Bohemian

Blue Chair- Modern (old ORU chair from Goodwill $25)

Seagull Painting- Modern (Retro Den Painting $60)

Nature Painting- Traditional (Vintage ---stolen from my mother's house..)

Plants- Bohemian (Southwood Nursery $25 each)

CP70 Piano- Modern (Craigslist $500)

Grey Sectional- Traditional (Craigslist $750)

Juke Box- Mid-Century (Craigslist $150---I kid you not!)

Double Decker Side Table/ Desk Lamp on Piano- Mid-Century (Retro Den $25 each)

Wicker Bull Head- Bohemian(otherwise known as "Beau, the bull") (Jo & June $--traded)

(also, we have also incorporated a touch of Mid-Century pieces to help merge some of the harsh

modern lines, with the more traditional style. keep that in mind for your two words. There may be some

wiggle room in purchases as long as it connects the two!)

And just some last little tid-bits

-Never pay full price for anything! Wait for things to go on clearance if possible.

- If you are an Etsy seller, it never hurts to see if a fellow local maker is interested in a trade.

- Try and buy plants when they are babies, they're cheaper! And its fun to watch them grow! (Kirk the fiddle leaf is a year old! He looked like a little cabbage when we met!)

- ALWAYS Be checking your local Craigslist adds, and local thrift shops, odds are one of them will have something you are looking for.

- At Retro Den, if you take a picture at their store and post it with their hashtag, you get a discount.

- No joke!

-West Elm does 20% off their lighting section 2 or 3 times a year.

- Become a subscriber online to stores that you like, and start saving things to a wish list, most places will email you when things go on sale.

I hope these tips help you style your rooms. Let me know if you have any questions, or are wanting to

inquire about any other decor in my home that I didn't already share!

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Living room Before & After

As a fun introduction to this blog, I figured since my whole brand of "Our Own Little Hive"

revolves around, well..our hive, I thought we could start with the first impressions of our home!

Here is what it looked like on the Zillow listing when we found it!

We will be starting with the living room renovation! --since that's basically the only room in the house

even remotely close to being "done"

Those windows, right?! So we knew early on that we had some "definitely's" on our list. As in, we

HAVE to have these things before purchasing!

- windows, windows, windows

- open floor plan (or the ability to make an open floor plan.)

- indoor laundry room

- kitchen open to the living room

I can still remember walking into this house, it was the third one that we saw. And we knew

immediately, this is the one! I walked in, and I could see it.. All of it, I could see the beautiful white

walls, the new light fixtures, the open kitchen, oh the instagram-able possibilities! (And how about that

load bearing pole in the middle of the room? So eclectic..)

(Below are the during photos. Definitely not instagram-able…. But, lets be real.)

First things first, time to rip up the carpet! Within 12hours of owning the house, my mom, dad, brother,

and Justin and I had all of the carpet pulled!

Rolling up all of the padding underneath.

And of course the tack strip. That is what took the longest.

And just to "keep it real", i'm here to tell you, that was the fastest any of the projects went from there

on out. For the next 2 weeks, we were then living in our shoes, from the time we woke up, until we

went to bed, till the. Otherwise we were dealing with black feet, and the possibility of stepping on

nails, or staples. Yikes!

So here is a little glimpse of living life in a renovation.