Updating and re-decorating our living room

This post might be a little long because I am starting from the beginning with our living room. I actually have pictures of what it looked like when the previous owner lived here, and I have the now pictures. Dave and I didn't buy new furniture or decorate any different when we moved in. We used what we had from our apartment. I was ok with it because we did have new couches. Well when we first moved in we knew we didn't like the grey carpet, especially because it had a lot of stains we couldn't get out. We finally got around to replacing the floor, thanks to costco who had their laminate flooring on coupon, we snatched it right up and started demoing. Now mind you this was a few weeks after we had found out we were pregnant and I was beyond sick and beyond tired, which calculated out to be me being of no help. Dave did everything. The floor, the painting (we didn't change the color but just added a fresh coat), the new recessed lighting (which is amazing because there was NO lighting in this room), the baseboards, the bead board, everything. The only think I contributed was picking out all the decorations with help from our ward friend, Jocelyn. She came over before we started anything and helped us with colors to coordinate the kitchen and front room, since they are not very separated. She was a life saver since I have no common sense when it comes to decorating. So without further adu, here is the before and scroll down for the big reveal!


BEFORE:

 Don't you love all the colors! I think Dave and I were crazy when we bought this house!

 This is after we moved in - 2008

 Starting to rip up the carpet and trim!

 Dave did such a good job of laying the floor!

AFTER:

I can't take credit for the color scheme or the chairs. Our awesome neighbor Jocelyn helped us with the colors and found the chairs on Amazon. The chairs are my favorite part of the room. The couch is from Ikea and we love it! My contribution of decorating (which has come a long way from nothing) is the cute owl that I found at Gordman's and the lamp shade which is from Target. The base of the lamp I found at D.I, it was brown and we spray painted it off white. It turned out better than I imagined it would and it is such a nice room to be in now. It's so much brighter and more welcoming. Next up is the kitchen post, I can't do this one until I get the curtains sewn and hung up so it might be a few weeks but it looks just as amazing!

One more before and after picture! I love looking at the difference!