Living Room Update

This past week my mom and I went to an open house in my neighborhood.  It just happened to be the same floor plan as my home and I was dying to see how it was styled and if there was anything that I felt we needed to update before we go to sell our home one day.  Since there are only 4 houses in our entire neighborhood that are this floor plan, it was a great chance to see someone else’s take on the house.  But I can tell you that I left feeling both excited and depressed at the same time.  Excited because the value of the home has increased greatly, but depressed that I felt like there are still lots of things that I want to change in my home.

As a reminder, here is what my living room looked like a couple of years ago (before I broke down and moved the T.V. in).  Small, simple shelves that I picked up at Lowes right when we moved in just because we needed something  on the wall.

And here is a quick iPhone pic that I sent to my mom, but it definitely shows the scale of the T.V. on the wall (taking a break from fall decorating…).  How hideous are all of those power cords all over?!  This was shortly after I painted the mantel black.

Drum roll, please…………this is what it looks like today!

We’ve never lived in a home for this length of time, and while I have slowly, but surely started making big changes, I feel as though I have left a lot of things as is because I was always worried that we would be selling the house sooner rather than later and I just wanted it to appeal to the masses.  I guess that if truth be told, I also didn’t want to invest a ton of money that may not be recouped.  After going through the open house, I was reminded that there really is no “one size fits all” in decor and that I should go for what makes me happy.

So while my hubby was away for a few days for a work trip, I called my dad over and we whipped up these attention grabbing shelves to anchor my living room.  We used the tutorial found on Shanty 2 Chic as a starting point with just a few tweaks and it is safe to say I am obsessed.

And remember all of those ugly cords?  My dad added an outlet up on the middle shelf.  The surge protector, X-Box power adapter and all of the cords are now hidden inside the basket.

Not only do I feel like it makes the wall look much larger, it gives me more of a chance to personalize the space.  With electrical and woodworking supplies, this project came in at just $175.

There’s still plenty on my to do list for this room alone (change wall color, replace flooring, raise and update curtains), but this first step has inspired and encouraged me to continue changing my home to make me happy.  What do you think?  Is there a longest of things that you want to update in your living room too?