More Home Pictures + RLL Credit

I love looking at pictures of "normal" people's homes.  Maybe it's wierd ... is it?  But I just like seeing how pieces all come together and what comfort means to folks.

I follow some really spiffy interior design blogs, and I have friends that use interior designers for their homes.  I even considered consulting one for our new home, but I wanted to challenge myself to see what I could do myself -- and then if I needed to hit the panic button, I had a few gals up my sleeve that I wanted to contact.  Who knows, maybe in a few years I'll be tired of our decor and then I'll want to re-do it all with a decorator.  But I enjoyed leaning on my own know-how and finding some pretty and budget-friendly finds for our home.

So for now ... I present to you our casual den.  This room is right off the kitchen and dining area (it's one big L-shaped open room, which I love) and it's where you can find Ian and I kickin' back after a long day.

For this room, I went with a tan/coral/blue theme.  I wanted relaxed furniture and a simple, clean look.  I'll try to source as much as I can:

Slipcovered sofa: West Elm

Slipcovered ottoman: Ikea

Blue bamboo rug: Tuesday Morning

Pillows: I bought the fabric from fabric.com and Hancock and had the covers made

Leather tray: Hobby Lobby

Blue & white ginger jar: Old Time Pottery

Glass candlesticks: World Market

Large black lanters: Old Time Pottery

Rattan chairs: Ikea

Pillows: Fabric bought from Hancock, had covers made

What do you think, did it all come together well?  My favorite part about this room is that we can remove the tray on the ottoman and push it up against the couch, making our own chaise lounge.  It's perfect for a movie night!

These lanterns from Old Time Pottery are some of my favorite accent pieces.  Do you have an OTP near you? These were $35/ea and I bought the large candles from Hobby Lobby when they had them 50% off.

For the price, these Ikea rattan chairs just can't be beat.

The coral and white fabric is from fabric.com.  The blue & white fabric is from Hancock.  I used a slubby tan fabric as the backing on these.  I just had my alterations lady to sew them and she did a fantastic job, even adding in zippers to all of the covers for easy cleaning.

Sidenote: Ikea has the BEST price on down pillow inserts - $7!  I think the size is 20x20.  You really can't beat that.

Framed but not yet hung, these are our beautiful and large coral prints that will be hung above the sofa.  I am in love with these.  They are huge - the prints themselves are 11x14 and I believe the frame itself is 16x20.  I ordered the prints on Etsy and worked with the seller to get the perfect colors for our den.  The frames with mats included are from Michaels.

If you saw my recent tweet about how much I detest hanging pictures, here's what I was working on.  Above is a lovely French-inspired mirror I bought here in Charlotte at Recycle Boutique.  It's brand new but made to look vintage.  I'm so in love with this thing it's not even funny.  It's hanging at the back of our long hallway.

And these floral botanical prints are some of my very favorites.  They look great but were a total cheapie to put together.  I was going through old books and found a planner from, I don't know, maybe 2008?  It was a botanicals planner and so all I did was rip out the pretty designs and then frame them with $9.99 frames (mats included!) from Old Time Pottery.

Okay, one last thing, and then I'm done.  Promise.

I know you've probably already joined Rue La La and are tired of hearing me harp on and on about it.  But really ... it's spectacular.  Okay, I'll stop.  But if you haven't yet joined, now's the time - click here for your invitation before August 23rd and they will start you off with a $10 credit in your account!  Um, hello!  That is amazing!

Have a great weekend and see you next week for A. Liz Designs Wedding Week (da da daaaaaa!), where I debut all of our professional wedding pics.  Ciao!