***Update – the giveaway is now closed!
Redecorating a room is nothing like having a baby.
Except, it totally is.
You find out the awesome news…Is this really happening? YES!
You start having the weirdest cravings…Watercolor! No, kilim! I need that vase! I want EVERYTHING!
You may even get a little hormonal…IF YOU SPILL BEER ON THAT RUG I WILL MURDER YOU.
And finally, after months of gestating and physical discomfort, your metaphorical loins give birth to…your new living room!!!
It’s finished! And, it’s NOT LAVENDER! And there’s a giveaway at the bottom of this post! Woooo!
Let’s rewind a bit to how this room looked back in June. If garishly painted rental apartments make you queasy, you may want to look away.
Yeesh. Art hung too high, boxes of crap on the floor, and that lavender and beige combo. Screw that shit, let’s get back to the gleaming white present:
I can’t decide what my favorite part is! The bright white walls that make photographing blog projects soooo much easier. The deep black fireplace which really showcases the woodwork. The curtains that add height and warmth and just a hint of grown-upness. The coffee table THAT I BUILT. Or the dreamy vintage kilim rug from Kaya Kilims!
I would love to tell you a great story about the redecorating process. But there isn’t a great story. It’s a room, that I wanted to paint, and then struggled to finish because of delays like migraines and life, and then during painting I got huge design/project plans which kept pushing the finish out further and further, and then I finally got everything done. 4 months after I thought I would. Pretty boring, right?
So let’s have a little museum-style tour instead.
Ladies and Gentleman, if I may direct your attention to the fireplace:
Here we have a once-lavender mantle refinished in Behr Marquee’s Limousine Leather, semi-gloss. The tile surround, in poor repair, was painted as well, enhancing the overall feel of the fireplace and adding to the contrast against the white walls.
Side note: I do NOT recommend the Behr Marquee line. It was extremely thick and difficult to work with, dried too quickly to be practical, showed every brush mark, and did not cover in one coat as promised. The Behr Ultra Premium Plus in Ultra Pure White, by comparison—used for the walls and trim in “interior eggshell enamel” and semi-gloss, respectively—was great going on and had excellent coverage. In my newbie opinion.
Above the fireplace hangs a large-scale fiber, copper, and wood piece that the blogger created especially for her readers.
I am SO excited about this DIY Giant Tassel Wall Hanging! Each of those tassels is 15″ long! Months and months ago I promised Lidy of Hello Lidy that I would try my hand at fiber art, and while this isn’t exactly macramé, I’m very pleased with how it came out. With a white room it’s important to add lots of texture so things don’t feel sterile. It’s also a very simple DIY which I’ll be sharing in the next few weeks so you can make your own!
If the blogger would allow us to continue…moving to the right, we find a vintage brass bar cart, furnished with the couple’s libations and collection of novelty beer glasses.
We got this amazing cart for freeeeee from A.’s parents’ basement. Never pass on an invitation to peruse other people’s cast-offs. Oh, and look, cables sticking out underneath. I’m such a pro.
As we continue around the room, we find the blogger’s rescued TV console, a Target ottoman with added tapered legs, linen curtains from Ikea, and a shared study/craft desk, also from Ikea.
The desk was a genius suggestion by A.—no more hunching over the coffee table for DIY projects! Good luck getting a chance to use it for studying like you intended, baby—it’s mine, all mine.
AHEM. To continue, on the room’s left wall you can see another project created by the blogger: a living installation of Wood and Brass Mounted Air Plants.
Plants and wood breathe warmth into a room, and this DIY combines both in a fun alternative to framed art. Look at that little tillandsia nestled in its brass cocoon! I love it. I’ll be sharing this project in the next few weeks too.
Nearing the end of our tour, we come upon a clean white Ikea shelf housing records, stereo, games, and cat toys. A large movie poster and industrial-style lamp complete this corner of the room.
In case you can’t make it out, the poster is for The Day of the Dolphin and reads, “Unwittingly, he trained a dolphin to kill the president of the United States.” It’s one of A.’s only decorative possessions and I just love it. We are suckers for hilariously bad “B” movies (and even “C” or “D”).
Last, but far from least, we find the blogger’s self-proclaimed “crowning jewels” of the room: a vintage kilim rug from Kaya Kilims and a handmade coffee table.
Ok, the DIY Storage Coffee Table: I built it. (Well, except for the yummy brass hairpin legs, those are from Reform Brass!)
This table has lived in my head as an idea for so long that I can’t believe it’s now a real thing that exists and that we use. DIY is magic, folks. And it’s soooooo ridiculously easy to make. If you can drive a screw into a piece of wood, you’ll have no trouble building your own. Tutorial coming up (you guessed it) in the next few weeks!
AND THAT RUG. Oooohhhhhhh, that rug. It makes me happy every time I see it. The kitties love it too, as you can see from this very blurry professional action shot of Wally:
Crazy Cat Lady side note: the cats also go nuts over the desk; look at Champ basking in the sun!
I don’t know where Jax was during this shoot. He’s always nosing about EVERYTHING that I do, until the camera comes out. How do they know??
Well, there you have it, my room baby. Can I be on bed rest for a week or two now that I finally got this bun out of the oven?
But oh, we’re still not done with this ridiculously long post. There’s one more thing to get to—a Loom & Mill giveaway for you awesome readers!
To celebrate my looooooong-expected living room makeover, Loom & Mill has kindly offered to give a pillow to one lucky reader, so you can have a mini-makeover of your own. And the best part is…the winner gets to pick from one of SIXTY-SEVEN pillows! Hurray to choices!
The giveaway will be open until midnight on Tuesday, September 30th. Winner will be chosen randomly using Rafflecopter and notified by email. If the winner does not respond within 48 hours, another winner will be chosen. Open to U.S. residents only—sorry, international folks, I’ll get you one of these days, promise!
UPDATE!!! Thank you everyone for entering and leaving such incredibly kind comments! Y’all are the best and if I had a bazillion pillows, you would all be getting one! But there can only be one winner, and the Rafflecopter wizards have spoken: it’s Elsbet! Congratulations!
OK, I’m FINALLY done! Phew, that was a long one. If anybody actually went through this whole post, THANK YOU. Now go back to your lives, people. And have a happy weekend!
This post was partially sponsored by Loom & Mill and Kaya Kilims, but all opinions are really truly my own; promise! I only collaborate with brands I think you will appreciate as much as I do. Thank you for supporting the companies that make Jade and Fern possible—and thank you, as always, for reading. xoxo
Marlene! This looks awesome! It was well worth the wait and all those hours/days/weeks of painting. Great, great job!!! I’m excited to see how you made that coffee table. It’s amazing.
And I forgot to mention that the Jaipur Veranda Oasis pillow would be perfect in my rumpus room.
You have a RUMPUS room? That sounds like a good time…
Thank you thank you! Yes, I’m glad all the WEEKS of painting paid off. 🙂 Thanks for visiting!
WOOP WOOP! love it.
Thank you lady! 😀
Yessss, I LOVE your space! Your coffee table, rug, decor pieces, everything! So, so beautiful and worth the wait 🙂 Also, cannot wait to see that airplant display tutorial.
Oh yay, I’m so glad! xoxo
love some of the throws! could use a new one 🙂
J
Don’t they look super inviting? You can never have enough throws!
i am head over heals, crazy, madly, insanely, in love with your black fireplace and mantle. It makes me want a horrible fireplace I can paint over. Humph.
I am in love with it too and I am so so lucky our landlords let me paint it black! You should move to Boston/Somerville, we are just oozing with apartments featuring horrible fireplaces and paint jobs. 🙂
I would love the Surya 18 x 18 Whitecap Gray Pillow for my beach-themed crafting room I am working on right now!
That sounds like it would be a perfect fit! Also, you have a whole room for crafting? Jelly!
The room looks great! I love the tassel above the fireplace! I want one! 🙂
Thank you Laura!! It’s so easy to make, stay tuned for the tutorial!
Love it Marlene, it’s so much lighter and brighter, and full of such interesting and unique touches!
Oh, thank you, Kevin! Coming from such a design afficionado as yourself, that means a lot!
OMG, congratulations on the birth of your new baby room, haha! I love it so much – can’t WAIT til you share all of those gorgeous decorator DIYs. I’ve already got a big hankering to make the tassel wall hanging for my bedroom. And that coffee table – amazing!
Why thank you! It’s a big baby, thank goodness it doesn’t need nursing though! (I’m taking this metaphor too far, aren’t I?) So glad you like it, Stephanie! xoxo
I love the colors & pattern matches. Everything is fab! It wouldn’t be that hard making any of this match with my home 😉
Yay! They have something for everyone, right? 🙂
everything is lovely. i’m especially blown away by how gorgeous your mantel is painted in black. and the fiber art above is perfect. this is a room i’d love to lounge in!
Aww, thank you! It is a super room for lounging, especially with low lights at night and a candle or two. 🙂 So glad you like it!
Omg, this is beautiful, stop making me jealous haha!
Haha, noooo jealousy! Thank you, Elsbet, so glad you like it! 🙂
I loveeee the coffee table!!! Cannot wait to see the DIY for it. The entire room came out amazing and worth the wait!
I am a little in love with the table too! And wait till you see how easy it is to make! Thanks, Laurel!
Oh and PS I love the Surya pillow with blue
Ooo, that’s one of my favorites too!
Awesome job, buddy! It looks gorgeous! Can’t believe the transformation.
Why thank you Mrs. Anderson!!! 🙂
I really love this red pouf!
http://www.loomandmill.com/furniture/poufs/jaipur-spectrum-red-1-8-x-1-8-x-1-2-pouf.html
Ooo, that one is snazzy! Thanks for entering and stopping by!
Oh. My. Gosh!!!!! It is honestly more beautiful than I imagined!!!! Not that I didn’t think it was going to be beautiful…it’s just a REALLY fabulous space!!! Well done!!! And that giant tassel wall hanging?! I’m seriously going to be making that ASAP. Everything is truly perfection – you really payed attention to detail. Amazed!
XOXOXO
P.S. That coffee table is legit!
Oh yay, Lidy, thank you thank you! I’m so glad you like it as I think your style is totally inspiring. 🙂 Make a giant tassel hanging, yeeeesssss! 🙂
xoxoxo
Every single detail is SO amazing and SO you. I LOVE that you went black with the fireplace, and that wall hanging couldn’t be more perfect. Everything came together so flawlessly!!! The 4 months were more than worth it.
Also, I refuse to believe that coffee table is DIY. NOPE. Impatiently waiting for that tutorial.
THE RUG!! AAAH!!!
I also caught a glimpse of fiddle fig! How’s it doing?? I’m still haunted by the death of mine :(.
Thank you so much Amy!! I loooooove the black fireplace too. Totally stole that from Dan of Manhattan Nest, and so glad I did. I’m very glad the look is flawless because there were certainly some bumps along the way! 🙂
Fiddle fig has more browning than last we spoke, but it hasn’t spread in a while. But it’s not so pretty anymore which is why no detail shots made it into the post. 🙁 There’s about 6 leaves that seem really healthy and might even have grown, and the rest have lots of brown. I never got back to the nursery because I am a lazy neglectful plant parent.
xoxo
This room belongs in my dream house! And the cat too. 🙂
I would love to have this mirror hanging in the entry way to my house: http://www.loomandmill.com/mirrors/surya-baltic-30-x-40-mirror.html
Aww, that is so sweet! Thank you, that made my day. 🙂
That mirror is the bomb! Thanks for entering, Robin!
Marlene!!!! The room looks amazing! Well done! I love the museum style tour, that is literally how I tour people through my house. Let’s talk about this wall hanging?!?! I am so excited to see the tutorial! And thank you for the shout out last week, you are such a doll!
Heehee, I hope these are in-person museum tours you’re talking about? Because that sounds amazing. Thank you, Hailey, so pleased you like it! Wall hanging tute coming soon! 🙂 And it is totally my pleasure to give you a shout-out! xoxo
I like the Surya Champagne 32 x 32 Mirror and would put it in a little nook area in my living room.
That one is sooo pretty! Thank you for visiting and entering the giveaway!
Loving the new designs, Marlene! Hoping I can do a similar DIY coffee table piece like yours! I’ve purchased the hairpin legs, just need to get the wood piece in order! I love those pillows and throws as well!
THANK YOU, Lauren! So nice to see you here on the blog! And I love that you’re doing a hairpin leg table too! It’s such a great style. Let’s get in touch! xoxo
Finally getting a moment to hop over and look. It is gorgeous! I l adore your painted fireplace. And the curtains, great job !! (our living room is currently one of my least favorite spaces. just reminding myself it takes time.. xo julia )
Aww, thank you Julia! And it does take time! It will happen! xoxo
I absolutely love that couch and I’ve been looking for one just like it for my new house. Would you mind sharing where you got it?
Hi Stacy and so sorry for the absurdly late reply! The couch was the Olaf (or Oslo?) from Boston Interiors. They have tons of fabric options and it’s super cat-scratch resistant. But I will say after six years the seat cushions are starting to sag a LOT. This was our first adult couch so not sure if this is a typical lifespan, but figured I would mention it! xoxo