The living room is the room that we neglect the most. It is the largest room in our home, but we tend to spend most of our time in other rooms. It is a work in progress. We just bought a sofa set to replace the two recliners that we have been using for seating. Not much cuddling as a family can be done in recliners, eh?
The Living Room Before
Some of our problem areas are the plain walls and balcony window. We are allowed to paint, but after having to repaint walls with our last two moves, we opted not make the same mistake. Repainting walls when gearing up for a move can be a pain. Whenever we move again, we don’t want to be stuck repainting the walls white. Dressing up the windows a bit will make a whole world of a difference in our living room. We also have to get rid of the college inspired tv stand. I am itching to slip cover the new sofas and maybe add some pillows. The rug does something for the room, should it stay or should it go?
$500 Budget & Inspiration
We have partnered up with Better Homes and Gardens and Walmart to redecorate our living room! Squeee! On a budget of $500, we will create a warm and inviting Better Homes And Gardens inspired atmosphere that we can enjoy as a family! I’ve chosen 4 rooms from Better Homes And Gardens as inspiration. Since we are not painting, I chose rooms that have neutral walls to complement the stage set in our own home.
In the pictures above, I am inspired by:
1. The patterns and colors in the pillows on the sofa, the lamp and the mirror on the wall.
2. What looks like a bamboo ladder and large tropical plant.
3. Again, the pillows, neutral curtains, and shabby effect on the coffee table.
4. The picture on the wall and chocolate sofa.
So our goal is to make our living room more inviting, liven up our white walls and balcony window. Since the space is small, I’m going to try not to over cram it with knick knacks. That can be a challenge with so many cute items to choose from. With a budget of $500 and Walmart’s Better Homes And Gardens line, we can make it happen, right? We invite you to join us in our living room makeover with Better Homes And Gardens!
Win $50 Cash!
Now that it’s officially spring – thank you! – you’re probably looking around your house dreaming up a project or two. Your imagination may be healthier than your budget but little moves can have a huge impact. For a chance to win 1 of 2 $50 cash prizes, tell us what kind of a mini-makeover you’re imagining for your kitchen, bedroom, living room or bath. Inspire us!
To see what my fellow bloggers, Katja of Skimbaco Lifestyle and Colleen of Classy Mommy are thinking about doing for their bedrooms and kitchens, check out their inspirations here.
Can’t wait to see how your living room turns out!
What fun! I love the inspiration rooms you’ve selected to work from. I look forward to seeing the end result!
How awesome! I am so excitedfor you. I would do my kitchen
First let me say how jealous I am of how clean your living room looks. Mine is so cluttered and messy. Those couches look so comfy!! I think the rug should stay. I like the color. I have the makeover bug myself. My husband is trying to talk me out of repainting (everywhere), lol. I love the coffee table in the first pic. Looks really sturdy plus a some storage underneath. I like the bamboo bookcase too. It is so weird that you are talking about the chocolate sofa. I was looking at curtains yesterday and fell in love with the whole chocoate color. No lie!! I figured it would be a good color for a house full of kids. I totally think $500 is a good budget and can not wait to see what you do with it.
I need a makeover!! I am always so amazed at what can be done on a small budget.
I love the coffee table in picture 1 and the mirror above the fireplace (I think it’s a mirror). I have read that the right mirror gives the illusion of a bigger room – I want to try that!
Also, the built in bookshelf in picture 1 would be way cool.
Can’t wait to see the pics.
-Kitty
I love the rooms you chose for inspiration, especially number 3; the multi-colored panel behind the sofa reminds me of a project I saw online for uses for wallpaper without actually putting it on a wall,just using it on a frame and hanging it on the wall..a great idea for renters who want to add color to plain walls.
My poor bathroom is in dire need of some inspiration. My walls are the same off-white color they were when I moved in 20 years ago. Since I’m not planning on replacing my clawfoot tub we’ve dubbed Titanic, I think I’d love to work around it with a shabby-chic look.
Hooray for you. Can’t wait to see your finished project. I love that shabby coffee table.
We just finished painting the kitchen. We used colored plaster in a dark red. It looks like the outside of an Italian villa. You are supposed to burnish it, but we did not. We left it all rough, so that it looks like plaster that has been there for 400 years. I like it. In fact, I may go back and, just here and there, add a swoosh of plaster for some extra texture.
Now I need to come up with some kind of window treatment for the 3 big windows in the kitchen. Also, the adjoining eat in kitchen has wallpaper border – a fruity print left by the previous owner. It is not for me. I need to find a border to put over it. I want something Italian looking to go with my plaster paint.
Thanks for having the giveaway and good luck with your project!
Can’t wait to see the finished product!!!
Our bedroom needs a mini makeover! We need window treatments and new bedding! Our color schemes are chocolate and light brown!
I like #1 the best.
Sheena so excited to see how your living room turns out. Happy shopping! I’m partially done my ktichen – but still needing to add finishing touches (dishes, placemats, light fixture etc.) I’m so inspired now I want to makeover my bathroom!
Very cool- I am so excited to see how your room turns out! I need to reimagine our master bedroom and bath, we’ve never given them attention since building this house and they are well overdue for makeovers!
Wow! I love your design ideas, and your place already looks more organized than mine. I love a home that looks comfortable, and yours looks lovely, cant wait to hear about what else you have planned!
My apartment is really small, sevveral parts of it need upgrading. My main focus is the bathroom. The bathroom is nice actually, it’s spacious with a nice sink/counter and a big mirror that has a slightly vintage look. I would love to make my bathroom look like a pretty “powder room” like back in the old days. I’m think of covering the walls in a pretty wine wallpaper with gold embellished designs on it, and then paint the edges of the mirror in Gold to math. I am thinking of also getting cute little glass containers and filling them with cotton balls, another with loofah sponges, and possible another with beauty sponges. I am thinking of re-glazing the bathtub and possibly even adding a small footstool accent, that can be placed in the corner, with perhaps a nice potted plant. It’s a room that my guests will always see, whether they are just visiting for a few minutes or staying the night, so I’d really like the bathroom to be pretty!
I love the rooms you choose….I love rooms with plants or flowers.
I’m hoping to have a focus wall where I will start painting and will add curtains with bold colors. I want Caribbean colors in my living room and yet I want it warm and inviting.
You go girl! Of the 4 inspiration rooms, my favorites are 1 and 4. I love the neutral color palettes and the clean, modern lines of the furniture. They would make it easy to change accessories later if you wanted a whole new look.
Anywho, my mini makeover would be to get some organizational storage pieces for our bedroom. We have a lot of little “stuff” that tends to get misplaced, so we need some boxes and baskets we can label to put it all in.
Congratulation on your make over1 I like number 2 and 3. two has nice clean lines and 3 has an old antique coffee table I really like. Good luck!
For my mini make over, I would choose my bedroom and up date my pillows and give my nights sleep and dreams my make over. I had a wonderful down pillow that exploded! My husband, not understanding that I can sew – THREW IT OUT! I have not slept the same since. I need a new down pillow.
I would like to makeover my master bathroom. I am thinking a Spa theme would be great.
My bedroom is a mess. It’s got plain white walls and ugly painted tan trim (it’s how it was when I moved in.) I’d love to make the walls a nice, relaxing color and add some pretty pictures of the places I’ve visited. I need to add some clothing storage space to make things easier to deal with. I need to make my bedroom a relaxing place!
[...] Our Living Room Makeover With BHG: Inspiration – We have partnered up with Better Homes and Gardens and Walmart to redecorate our living room! We invite you to join us in our living room makeover; there just may be $50 in it for ya! Share this post or bookmark it for later! [...]
I would like new towels for my bathroom
I cannot wait to see how your new space turns out! Very exciting to be teamed up with Better Homes & Gardens and Wal-Mart!
My husband and I are in the process of re-doing our daughter’s bedroom. She is only 5 months old and we are ALREADY bored with it! In fact, this weekend I am beginning the painting process with an argyle print on one wall. *sigh* I love decorating.
We actually made over our bathroom a couple years ago, but never finished it. I would love to put the heat back in it and add a couple pictures and a clock. I would really love to make over our whole house, but we’ll be gutting most of it and totally redoing everying in about 5 years, so I just have to be patient
By the way-I love the colors of the throw pillows in Inspiration room #1!
I’m thinking of painting or some how decorating my kitchen cabinet doors in lieu of getting new cabinets. Thanks for the chance.
I really want to change our kitchen. I’d love to paint the cabinetry a moss green, add a slate backsplash, and pour in concrete countertops. What might I accomplish on my own? Hopefully, the paint and the tile.
We have a small kitchen but it is the one room that has been neglected. I finally picked out a paint color for the walls & want to paint the cabinets white. Then just add some new towels & cute accessories to the counters. I’m going with the “steel” blue & white color scheme with hints of chocolate to match the yucky carpet we need to replace someday.
I would love to be able to purchase some white paint for our baseboards to complete our newly renovated living room! We have gone from plain white with brown carpet to tan and red walls with hardwood floor! Just need a little more to be finished!
We have decided to spruce up our living room which is all solid colors…with patterns! Pillows of safai animal prints, a window shade with bamboo stalk patterns, a rug of yellows and gold multicolor strands…to go with our soft tan and olive walls and eggshell sofa! Also, a few accessories, wooden and shell windchimes, a few palms in pots!
I would like to do a mini-makeover in my bedroom. I’d like to get some paint to “Martha Stewart” my 25 year old furniture. Thanks for the giveaway!
In the last three years our bedroom has become a co-sleeping mommy and baby room. Its just about time to move the boys into their own rooms and turn our bedroom back into a Husband and Wife bedroom. We can certainly use a makeover by adding a new bedspread and pillows along with some wall decor and new drapes. Its been so long since we slept in the same bedroom together being able to create that atmosphere for a couple in love again would truly be something that our relationship can use. We seemed to of lost eachother over the last three years of baby nursing and co-sleeping that we need to find our way back to eachother and our own space in the bedroom as a couple a makeover would certainly help us accomplish that.
Thanks for the opportunity to enter.
I’d love to do a mini makeover for my bath! I’d start with a new shower curtain and that would perk up the entire room. I need some new towels, too… and the walls could use a paint job.
I guess that’s enough for a “mini-makeover” so I’ll think about the horrid shape the bathroom window is in and replace it some other time!
For my kitchen, I’m imagining painting the stained, scratched old formica counters so that they’ll look fresh & clean, installing a new faucet in the sink, and adding some colorful new dish towels.
For YOUR living room, I suggest adding art to the walls. You don’t need to spend a lot; you can find lots of great original artwork on Etsy and Red Balloon for not much money, but please add something — even a framed poster. A room with bare walls just never feels right to me.
Annulla´s last blog post: Birkat Hachamah: Blessing the Sun
Ooops — correction to my above post (I wasn’t able to edit it).
The name of the Web site I was thinking about is NOT Red Balloon, it is RedBubble. Sorry!
i’m imagining new curtains for the kitchen since we haven’t changed them or barely washed them since we moved in.
[...] our living room a Better Homes And Gardens inspired makeover. It’s time for an update! Since my last post, I’ve held Greg hostage at our local Walmart shopping for home furnishings. Since we have to [...]
I need some throw pillows for our couch, a new entertainment center, some soft lighting and possibly a plant. Would love to make it a warmer place to be. Thanks.
We have small makeovers planned for the next five years, we live in an old 1930′s house and we hope to restore it to its original craftsman / victorian style. I think the most inexpensive change we hope to make is to the floors. We have carpet and vinyl flooring now. We hope to replace the vinyl with porcelain tiles and replace carpet in the main rooms but not the bedroom with Wood laminate
Our eating area has 2 sliding glass doors and 3 windows then the entrance to the kitchen, because the sun is shining most of the time in that area I have started adding vertical blinds and wood blinds, we need to add some curtains also so that would be my mini make over, but as my husband says no makeover is mini so every little bit of winnings I get goes for my makeovers.
Thank you
camper223[at]live[dot]com
My mini makeover would be for our bath. It would include painting the walls and ceiling, new towels (a color that coordinates with the paint and a color that would an accent color), a new shower curtain, new bathmat, and possibly new vanity lighting (if it was a good price). Thanks!
I like # 3 the best. I would love to do a mini makeover based on it. Right now I am in between jobs so my mini makeover would actually just be a fresh start altogether. I definitely need some comfort and coziness
I will be starting my first real job and first grown up home. I will be starting from scratch rather than a makeover, with just a beige couch so far for the living room. I definitely want some punches of color and everything BHG is classy!
First, I think your living room looks nice how it is.
We have a neutral sofa we inherited from the in laws, but now we really need some color. Some throw pillows, maybe an area rug. I am tired of the beige blahs
I’m thinking that a new shower curtain, rug and towels would give my bath a little shake up.