the living room that was…

The living room that was is no longer.

It used to have a comfy couch and was a quiet getaway for when the kids were getting rowdy in the family room or just watching the same episode of SpongeBob LOUD for the 47th time.

But my ex-husband got custody of the couch, so now that once peaceful hideaway looks like this…

Ok, so the couch was only a love seat, but still, this room is EMPTY!  Which is why when I heard about Mandi’s Epic Room Makeover Giveaway over at Vintage Revivals, I got super-excited!

Not like I can’t do these things myself, but this room needs so much – couch, coffee table, paint, curtains, style, and with my $0 budget, a kid going to college in the fall, and very little time after my full-time job, I figured that this project could actually get finished with a little help from Mandi!

More inspiration for why I need help with this project…

The walls are white & bland, and definitely yearning for color. White blinds make the windows look barren.  Curtains are called for…

Did you notice the scary shadows that are vaguely reminiscent of an octopus?  That’s from this scary monster…

Frightening!  It is, indeed, a hideous beast! I was thinking that maybe Mandi could do something fabulous like this…

…but then I grew up and came to the realization that not even Mandi could salvage that hideous chandelier from its ultimate ugliness.  So maybe she’ll have another fabulous idea.

The originally scheduled programming for this room was as a dining room, but since I don’t “dine,” I figured that the space would be more useful as a living room.

I did go through a brief period when I thought that it could be a combo dining-living room, but that would have required the purchase of this bad boy, which was slightly out of my price range.  (Budget = $0, table = $1899 + shipping.)

Since my fantasies have been dashed by the far-reaching powers of my [nonexistent] budget, I *hope* I can win this wonderful contest and have Mandi come play in my living room.  Between the two of us, imagine the damage we can do!

It’s not a total loss.  There are some things to work with that may be a wee bit inspiring for the likes of Mandi.

There is still a chair, although you can’t curl up on it and take a Saturday afternoon nap…

And this fabulous table that I scored at a resale shop, with my favorite lamp in the entire free world…a bird on a swing in a birdcage.  And you know I have a bird problem.  Guess I have a birdcage issue too.

Then there’s this vignette, with the bird of paradise painting that I did.  Yeah, I’m bragging!

And these odds and ends, an eclectic grouping including a Buddha statue and the needlepoint of a girl that my grandmother did for me when I was a little because she said it reminded her of me.  Yeah, eclectic.

Just imagine what Mandi could do with her awesomeness and my room!  And then we could both blog about it and it would be fantabulous!

So that being said, I’d love it if you vote for me.  And in the event that you’re not feeling sorry for me having to look at a bland room every day with a frightful chandelier that I’m afraid will somehow come alive at night and strangle me with its brass tentacles, please note that this room is the first thing that people see when they come in the front door.  This.

And if that’s not enough to convince any rational person that I need the Mandi makeover, there’s this.  Just think of how awful the custody battle was for that couch.

Yeah, I did go that far.

Thanks! You’re the best.