More Views

Do-It-Yourself Decorating

Side Wall of Living Room

I couldn’t resist showing off a few more views of our new living room! Here you can see how the sofa colors coordinate perfectly with the red chairs on either side, the blue curtains behind, and the paintings and photographs above, which echo the same flower motif.

End Wall

It’s hard to believe that this end of the room balances at the same time as the other one. The black-framed pictures on each side of the window look like they were made to match, and the dark chair on the left is countered by the tall lamp and chair on the right. In the middle is the flower bouquet I arranged a while back, echoed again by the sunflowers on the coffee table. What more could you ask for? Well, at least until it starts looking lived-in and not so magazine-perfect! 

Finished Living Room

Do-It-Yourself Decorating

Picture Perfect

And may I present...our completed, totally redecorated living room! Once we found a perfect arrangement for the furniture, and a larger neutral rug, our room was complete! It all came together beautifully, and could not even be compared to the room and furniture we started with—see the original stuff here. It was certainly a long journey; it took me a little over a year of somewhat sporadic work. The cost was very minimal, I’m guessing under a hundred dollars, and most of that was for fabric. The best part was, we enjoyed (almost) the whole thing! It goes to show that anyone can redecorate a room, and have fun too!

Living Room

Do-It-Yourself Decorating

Living Room with New Curtains

Here you can see the new curtains on the windows in our living room. I guess I got a bit ahead of myself with the furniture, since the couch was somehow still here at that point! The blue is simply the perfect color for this room, creating an attractive, colorful spot on the large walls and windows, yet calming the bright reds and yellows in the furniture. Well, all we have left to do is find a perfect arrangement for the furniture and end tables. Any suggestions? I’m telling you, this is not an easy room to arrange! Also, I think a replacement for that little blue rug is in order.

Sofa & Curtains

Do-It-Yourself Decorating

Sofa with the New Curtains

How do you like the curtains with the sofa? Match pretty well, don’t they? This blue fabric is not actually used in the sofa, but it closely matches the blue pillows; also, the flower motif resonates with the sofa cover. You can see we found several sunflower wall hangings to match the flowers on the coffee table. Do you recognize the picture in the top right-hand corner? Yes, it’s my Darby Creek painting I sold at the art guild auction (to my sister)! I’m not sure why the sofa is right up against the window like that; we didn’t like it it all. Still more rearranging to do!

Finished Sofa

Do-It-Yourself Decorating

Picture-Perfect

And may I present . . . the completed, totally refashioned sofa! What do you think—quite a transformation, isn’t it? It’s hard to believe this is still the very same piece of furniture! It shows what a little creativity, and a lot of work, can do. It inspires us to keep going with our redecorating on that difficult living room!

Sofa Back

Do-It-Yourself Decorating

A Back Cushion

We are not quite done with that sofa yet! We realized that the problem was how deep the seat cushion is. So we improvised a new back frame from a simple upright board attached to the seat. And for the pillow, we used...yes...none other than our old couch’s cushions! (We decided the couch had to go; it just wouldn’t fit into the setup—see it here.) We sewed another looong slipcover pillow case into which we stuffed three of the couch cushions. The fabric is a neutral upholstery print, which goes okay with all the pillows. Well, I guess that about completes our new sofa!

Sofa Progress

Do-It-Yourself Decorating

Decked out with Pillows

Doesn’t that pretty sofa look all dressed up? Quite a difference from that old blue futon we started with. I was really pleased with how it came out, and we kept it this way for a while. But it was still a problem to sit on. Even with all those lovely pillows, you still either slumped or had lumps pressing into your back. It also just very slightly resembled a bed, with no back cushion and that ruffled skirt. But I’d say we’ve done some nice work on it.

Sofa Pillows

Do-It-Yourself Decorating

Throw Pillows

Drawing on the colors of the sofa cover, I created an array of pillows to use as the back rest. First I recovered the old sofa throw pillows in the same blue as the skirt. I also made two smaller red pillows as accents. Then I sewed a pair in a tan upholstered print with homemade blue cording. You’d never guess what I put inside that cording—jump rope! It came out...um...pretty well for my first time!

Sewing Button on Pillow

Finally, I made two extra-big pillows measuring almost 24” across. These were covered in a gold and red combo, with extravagant ruffles around the edges (may I never have to do that again) and fabric-covered buttons in their middles. This was quite some colony of pillows, and made for a very interesting sofa!

Sofa Skirt

Do-It-Yourself Decorating

Sofa Cover & Cushion

Here’s a look at the bottom of the sofa cushion cover—I cleverly used scrap fabric sewn to the cover material to make a complete slip-on pillow case. Then all I had to do was sew the ends shut. It’s proved quite durable.

Next to introduce is the sofa skirt, which accents that bright blue in the cover. For you sewing fans out there, the blue fabric is gathered and stitched to the white sheet material, which is stapled to the sofa frame. It was important to have it securely anchored since the mattress slides around easily. I thought the skirt really dressed up the whole sofa.

A Remade Sofa

Do-It-Yourself Decorating

New Sofa Cover

Okay, we must get back to that living room, still waiting to be redecorated! I decided the first obstacle was the futon sofa (see it here), and we started work there. First, we took apart and removed the back frame, leaving a wide bench seat. We also cut the cushion in half lengthwise (I wish I had a picture of this!) so it fit the bench. This got rid of the constant slumping and sliding that was always happening with that cushion. Then I picked out a bright upholstery print to cover the cushion with. That dirty blue plaid was the original, 10+ years old, and an eyesore! This became the color scheme for the living room—maroon red, gold, and dusty blue.

Room Survey

Do-It-Yourself Decorating

Beginning Seating Area--Desks + Clutter to Left

The layout in our house made it hard to find a place for the living room. Besides the kitchen, there were two other rooms. The first was so small you couldn’t really fit a comfortable a seating area. The second was much larger, but broken up by the front door, a staircase, three windows, and an out-of-use fireplace with wall shelves. At the time, the room held cluttered desks, schoolbooks, computer equipment, and musical instruments, plus the couches. The living room set felt like it was pushed off in the corner, with no definition or color scheme. So my job was to incorporate all our work areas, plus a seating area, into these two rooms.

Starting From Scratch

Do-It-Yourself Decorating

A "Perfect" Living Room

Decorating is more than putting up pictures, hanging curtains, or even arranging furniture. Decorating really means creating a comfortable yet attractive room that serves a variety of purposes. A daunting task, to say the least! And I believe that the living room is most difficult room of all. For our family, the oddly-sized rooms of our old farmhouse and somewhat unusual furniture mounted an even greater challenge. So, what do you do if you don’t have the perfect room or furnishings? First, come along with us on our living room journey!

Beginning Furniture: Sofa

Couch

To begin, let me tell you about our furniture. We started with an antique couch we purchased second-hand years ago (it was red at that time but we since recovered it) and a very large futon sofa which folds into a bed. We liked neither piece of furniture, but couldn’t find a good replacement for the couch. As for the sofa, we removed the whole wooden back frame, and cut off half of the cushion, resulting in a low, deep bench and cover-less cushion. Also, add to that a swivel arm chair and several end tables. This was the situation when I took on the job of redecorating our living room.