{Mom's Living Room Makeover: Before}

My mom is pretty awesome.  I know that a lot of people say that about their moms, but my mom really is.  She's such a Godly woman, constantly trying to find God's will for her life and how she can minister His love to others.  On top of being a great example, she is one of my biggest supporters.

She has wanted her living room made over FOREVER!  We painted it a while ago, but that just didn't do it for her.  So when school was out for the summer, I had the time to try to make her room something she would LOVE.  But before we get to all that, let's look at the before of her living room.  (Please excuse the quality of the photos because I didn't take them with my "good" camera.)

The color on the walls is a neutral color.  Since we painted not too long ago, mom really didn't want to paint the walls again.  (If she paints the living room she has to paint the hallways, the stairwell, and the hallways upstairs.  It's quite the undertaking!)  So the paint was a keeper.

The furniture is fairly new as well, and it's comfortable, so it would have to stay as well.

Since we were keeping the walls and furniture as is, I had to find ways to try to completely change the look of the room without changing any major pieces in the room.

I am in no way, shape, or form a professional decorator.  I've really only decorated a few rooms in my life.  So trying to change up a whole room without painting and getting new furniture was definitely a challenge for me.  There were a few things I thought needed to happen in the room, though.

1. The room needed color.  Since the wall color was staying the same.  I knew I would have to bring color in with a rug and accessories.
2. The room has tall ceilings, and those ceilings needed to be accentuated.
3. The pictures on the walls were nice, but the room needed more art in groupings, rather than all of the art following the same line across the room.
4. The room needed a new floor plan.  Mom always felt the room seemed empty.
5. The room needed a new rug.  The rug in the room looked dated, and it was really too small.

How was I going to achieve all this?  Well, I like to always start with an inspiration piece for a room.  I get emails from Joss & Main every day.  Usually, I just drool over their events.  Recently, though, they had an affordable rug event.  I found the perfect rug for mom's room.  

{Via}

It would match the couches and bring some much needed color to the room.  It was large and a reasonable price, so with my urging, mom purchased it.  That was the first purchase for the room and the only major purchase.  With it, we had the beginnings of a great room makeover!  The room is finished now, and you will get to see it in my next post.  :)