Our warm and cozy family room

Since the beginning of August, I’ve been cravin’ some warm colors around here. Have I mentioned fall is my favorite time of year? A few times? Well, here I go one. more. time. :)

The warm colors of fall make my heart go pitter pat. They’re just so…well, warm. Ah DUH. I’m a wordsmith you know. ;)

I’ve never been one to really change out my decor for the seasons – I mean, I decorate for fall and the holidays and all that good stuff, but I’ve never changed out drapes, pillows, bedding…all the bigger items.

But like I said, it’s August and I’m trying with all my might to hold off on putting the pumpkins out. You’d be proud of me – I’m determined to hold off till September. (September 1st, but whatev.)

So I figured I could cozy up the joint with a few changes – but I wanted to make sure they’d work into the winter, spring and summer as well by making just a few changes when the time comes.

I was on a mission -- make our family room warm and cozy and fallish without necessarily being fallish. Just a schosh of warm. A leeetle bit of cozy. Just a smooch. Like you’re kissin’ your sister. (Name that movie!)

My first goal was to find a new rug. I got a new one back in January, but it was very spring/summery:

It was also way to small for this room. I layered a larger rug underneath it, but as time went on, it still wasn’t feeling big enough. And then Pee Cat struck again (CURSES!!! She owes me big time cash!!) and we needed to replace the big rug anyway.

Free cat to a good home!! Nah…I kid.

Kind of.

So off to HomeGoods I went again…and this time I found a GORG rug that was 7.3 by 9.3 feet. Score!! It couldn’t have been a more perfect size.

I hesitated on it for a bit though, because it had a color in it I almost never decorate with:

BLUE!!  :)

I waffled back and forth between it and another and finally asked the one person who always knows best – my three-year-old. He pointed to the one with blue and said “That one!”

And that one is was:

And ooooohhhh, I can’t even tell you how much I love it. Gleeeee! I love the blue touches!

I made few simple changes to the mantel as well. I had a smaller candlestick I picked up at Goodwill months ago, so I added it to the two to make a trio. (Decorate in threes – it works! Don’t know why, but it does!)

I sprayed the small candlestick in Heirloom White, the middle one stayed brown, and I found the PERFECT green called Oregano at Home Depot for the largest one:

I luuuurve that color!

I took the green grassy looking decorative balls out of my cloche, and replaced them with more rattan and twine covered ones instead:

Cause styrofoam wrapped with jute SCREAMS fall to me. Is it just me?

And it was done. I love it – the colors, the simplicity, the texture. YUMMY!:

  

I exchanged the end table at the corner of the sofas with one of my favorite pieces eva:

It was a Goodwill find from waaaay back. And it was hideous green. My Dad stripped the whole thing down and refinished it as a gift to me. Check out all the detail:

Can you even imagine how much work that was? I LOVE this table and I wanted to have it where it was really appreciated. (Love you Dad!)

I finally get to use all my purdy blue books now! Cause I have BLUE in the room – yeehaw!:

I found a large tray for 40 percent off at Michael's to hold all the necessities:

You know. Like magazines, tissue, a yummy candle and a jute wrapped jar. Cause you never  know when you may need a jute wrapped jar.

:)

I know the tray is massive on top of that table, but I really don’t care. Love it. (It looks like it doesn’t fit from the angle above, but it does.)

The new accessories in the room are from around the house. They’re simple but full of texture:

There were a few splurges in the space as well…but they weren’t really splurges for me – they were all bought on credit.

Chillax peeps – not credit credit…store credit. And gift cards. Awww yeah. Is there anything better? NO, no there is NOT.  :)

When I found out the rattan storage boxes from our bedroom were recalled, I took them back to Target and got a store credit in return. So I was able to buy the FAB baskets I had been eyeing for months…for fareeeee:

Oh the dear lovin’ Lord, I adore these things. They are sturdy and pretty and HUGE.

And oh yeah -- the chalkboard labels? I’m dying.

I got a round one and a square one, trying to overcome my symmetrical issues. :)

Then, it was time for the pillows. Oh, the glorious pillows. Sigh.

I had gift cards/credit for Pottery Barn, so was able to get a few of their pillow covers free o’ charge. I got some in cream, some in rust. They were $25 each, and I love their texture and the fact that they are washable.

Then, one day I saw a pillow in the most recent catalog, and there was this odd light shining down from the heavens on it and I knew…it must. be. mine. It was $40, and I only had $15 left on my credit, but I went ahead and paid the difference, and oh la la, it was SO WORTH IT:

Isn’t beautiful? It’s got all the colors from the rug – blues, reds, golds, greens. I just want to squish it, it’s so pretty.

Because I didn’t want to shell out the cash for inserts, I used other pillows and inserts from around the house to fill them:

 

:) They worked perfectly. For the longer pillow, a regular bed pillow filled it nicely:

Just the pillows alone warmed up this room SO much!

And now, we have a lovely, warm, cozy, almost-fall-but-not-quite family room:

The bigger rug makes this room feel twice the size, I swear. It was $199, which wasn’t bad at all for how large it is. Especially considering the 8 by 11 was $400, for just a few feet more.

Because the room felt bigger, the $10 beadboard coffee table was feeling all wimpy. I moved the black Goodwill table from our living room into this space, and at first was worried it was too big. But after about five minutes, I was in LOVE:

The Bub can really spread out his games, anyone on the sofa can prop of their feet, and did you know doing laundry is waaaay easier when you have a lovely spot to fold clothes right in front of the TV?:

Well, it is! :)

All of these changes, along with the addition of the Craigslist dresser a couple months ago, have made this room feel so grown up and finished:

It is truly my favorite room in the house right now:

I love how my Ballard art has all of the colors of the room in it as well:See that little black smudge towards the top on that art? That’s why it was a fraction of the cost at the Ballard Designs outlet. :) It doesn’t bother me one bit for that price!

I love that most of the changes in here are easy to work with for all seasons – I can spray paint the candlesticks whenever I want, the rug will always work and a few pillows can be changed out to lighten up the space in the spring.

If you could see me right now, you’d see the dreamy smile on my face. Love:

;)

I’m in full fall nesting mode and loving it! I love these changes so much, I’m making a few to the living room too. I’ll show you that soon.

Have you started warming up your spaces? Are you pulling out the pumpkins yet? If you say you are, I’m SO doing it!!

**I keep forgetting to announce the Wuslu giveaway winner – I will do that in my next post for SURE.