You know the saying about the shoemaker’s shoes?

“The Cobbler’s shoes are always full of holes”, or something to that effect!

Well, for all of the design & DIY transformations that I’ve cobbled together over the years, my own living room has been full of holes for, um… a VERY long time!

    

Affectionately known by my husband as “The Granny Museum”, it’s a room that we rarely use and have never given any design consideration since moving in nearly 17 years ago….gulp!  It has ultimately become a collective landing pad for random decor and sentimental hand-me-downs that have never quite suited our taste, but hold memories which are too special to toss away.  

    

    

So, it’s time for this shoemaker to whip up a sexy new pair of stilettos!  Leopard print stilettos!!  

    

One of the reasons why I’ve never gotten around to redesigning this space is because there’s never been a sense of urgency.  I’m always working on deadlines for other design projects, so I figured the best way to actually get this room completed (during this decade) was to give myself a firm deadline!  I’ve joined the One Room Challenge as a guest participant which means that starting NOW, I have only 8 weeks to chronicle my living room refresh and reveal the results in mid November.

    

So, now that a deadline is officially set, here’s the plan…

    

    

I’m not necessarily taking the Granny out of “The Granny Museum”, but she is getting a bit of a modern makeover!  The French Provincial sofa and armchair belonged to my Grandmother, and I have photos of my parent’s sitting on it holding me as a newborn when it was an olive green brocade.  My Mom then inherited the set and had it reupholster in this soft, textured grey ultra-suede, and now, it’s my turn to give it a little refresh!

    

I plan to pepper in some structured clean-lines, and the colour palette will be quite monochromatic with a little wink of pink and LOADS of pattern and texture!   One thing is for sure… I need to introduce pieces that are less “leggy”! Currently, every single piece of furniture has some type of curved, turned, or tapered leg, so I’ll be on the hunt for a few new pieces that have more volume.

    

I’ve put all of the existing living room items into 4 categories…

• Keep
• Buy
• DIY
• BUH-BYE

 

I’m keeping a handful of items that I love, and they will become the foundation of the overall design!  I’ve already identified items that I’ll need to buy to either fill in empty areas or replace pieces that will go, and then there are a few existing elements that will get a DIY refresh!  Annnnnd many of the pieces will be going BUH-BYE either on Facebook Marketplace or as donations to our local Habitat for Humanity ReStore.

    

I’d love to know what you think of my plan?  Connect with me over on Instagram where I’ll be sharing behind-the-scenes peeks and rolling up my DIY sleeves over the next 8 weeks, and be sure to visit the One Room Challenge Blog to see what other participants are up to!

    

XO

L-A