make over my living room!

We interrupt the updates about my cute kids to ask you to help us out.  See, Mandi at Vintage Revivals is hosting an EPIC Room Makeover!  This means I could have her come to my house to help me get out of my decorating funk and finally finish decorating my living room! (Plus, she is absolutely A.Maz.Ing.  I love everything she puts on her blog!  Seriously, when I'm talking to anyone about home decor or DIY, I think most of my sentences start with, "So, you know Mandi of Vintage Revivals..." It would be fantastic to have her touch in my home!)  So, please go on over to her website and vote for my entry!!

We have lived in our home for 4 years now (crazy, huh?!) and our living room has never been "decorated."  Sure I've tried lots of things here and there, but I can't commit to anything.  The room is too big, and it's the first room anyone sees when they come in, and the ONLY room that many people see, so I want it to look amazing.  But, since I'm not sure how to do that, I get stuck, and give up. Over and over.

Watch this short (and very awesome) stop motion video to see what I mean: 

Here are some pictures of the rest of the room so you can see what other issues I have (well, issues with the room at least-- I'm sure I have issues that you won't be able to learn about from the following pictures!):

I love this apple green color, and I loved this fabric when I bought it to make curtains.  Perhaps I loved it a bit too much, because the only way I could buy it was if I bought 10 yards of it!  Which meant I had enough to make curtains and 4 matching pillows.  Can we say "matchy, matchy?"  Oh yes, I think we can!

I was sick of the builder's beige wall color that was all over my house, and I wanted something bold.  What goes with the curtains and pillows I already had?  Apple green that's what.  Oh, and the only thing I have on my walls are these cool floral pictures from IKEA.  They actually looked kinda neat in the room until I painted the wall green and now I have green pictures on a green wall.  Oh, and my throw is green too!  Matchy. Matchy.

For a long time, the only surface I had to decorate in this room was this mantle, and the weird too-high-and-too small-for-the-TV cutout thing.  So, I threw up some wimpy, meaningless decorations (some of which are, you guessed it, green!) and they are still there.  I hate the way this is decorated, but I don't know what else to do with it, so I haven't done anything yet.  In fact, see that ugly clock, just propped up in the corner there?  I never changed the time when we were all supposed to "spring forward" because I keep thinking I'll just take it down when I decide how to redecorate, so why bother moving it now.  At this point, we are going to have to "fall forward" and then it will actually be the right time!  See?  Not lazy--energy efficient!

My living room has high, vaulted ceilings, which means I have this really tall wall.  Yes, a really tall wall with a really wimpy star.  And nothing else.  Although, my boys like to use the middle of the star as a target for their Nerf dart guns.

I have always thought a nice, patterned, colorful (hey I know! What about green?) chair would look perfect here.  But I've thought that for years and I still don't have one.  So instead, I fill this empty corner space with colorful toys.  (At least they are another color besides green!)

My husband painted this thrift store table for me while I was out of town.  In May.  I still haven't put anything on it.  Or on the wall behind it.  Still don't know what to do with it. But I love the table!

When we bought this house, I was so excited about this awesome, huge plant shelf.  I didn't really know what I was going to put up there, so I threw some framed pictures that I had just unpacked up there.  Here it is, four years later and I HATE my plant shelf.  I have no clue how to decorate them, my pictures are not working up there, that photo of my twins is about 5 years past needing to be updated, and you can see the can of green beans that is propping the frame up.  (See I told you.  Issues.)

Oh, look.  Another plant shelf.  Yippee!!  This one is decorated with nothing but a blanket of dust.  Fancy.

So, now that I have exposed some of the major issues we have in our living room, some of you are going to think less of me.  But, while you are contemplating un-friending me on Facebook, can you please go on over to Vintage Revivals and vote for my entry?  And if you still love me, in spite of the nauseating amount of apple green, please go on over and vote for me too! (My entry is somewhere near #130) You can (and should) vote for me once a day starting Friday (September 7th) until the 14th.  Thanks!

And don't worry, I'll be back soon to post more pictures of these awesome kids: