New Years Redo

As I mentioned earlier, I want to share some of our family room "redo".
I wish I took some before pictures.  It was very dark and dreary. 

And it was very cluttered!  
First step was de cluttering (New Years Resolution!)- getting rid of all the stuff I had that had piled up over the past few months and clearing out and starting with a clean slate.  

I decided to do the room redo via outlet stores.  Trying to save money where ever we can.
...It proved to be a bit difficult because you have to curate a collection that works together with the bits and pieces of returned and discontinued items that they have on hand on that particular day.  
And you have to check it over real good to see if it was returned or just a discontinued item.  Always ask the sales associate, they usually know the reason.  
Sometimes it is a minor flaw that doesn't matter when you look at the price you are getting it for and what you can do with it.

We started with my favorite store - that I can't ever afford at retail, but at the outlet it was much more reasonable.  
Arhaus Loft outlet in Cleveland.
I knew that they have very high quality furniture so even if it was returned it would still be of high quality.

Here we scored a new table and chairs and a great sleeper sofa (didn't need a sleeper, but what an added bonus!), two chairs and a leather ottoman.  Great deals! 

We were there all day moving things together and back and forth.  (thanks to my little sister for helping me do it!)
While we were there (all day), they dropped the price of this table by several hundred dollars!

We couldn't pass it up, and now its one of my favorite thing we got.
The table had a tiny little chip in it on the underside that didn't matter because it is a very rustic wood table. I put some dark Old English on the spot and you would never know.

The chair had a really ugly yellow slipcover and the couch didn't have any slipcover at all.  We threw a blanket over them to start with and then we had to order the new slipcovers from Arhaus and we were told that it would take 14 WEEKS and they were very expensive...

So, I got online and started researching.  
I came across a wonderful blog while researching http://evolutionofstyleblog.blogspot.com/2012/04/slipcovers-arhaus-vs-ballard.html 
that mentioned that Ballard Design slipcovers fit Arhaus furniture.  
And, that they have Outlets where you can get them very cheap!
So I googled again... and low and behold.. there is a Ballard Outlet down in Cincinatti where I was headed later that week to hit the Ikea (another of my favorite stores, where I get all my curtains from... so cheap!)  It was literally right across the street and I never knew!
So I headed down and I couldn't believe it.  

They had slipcovers and they were 75% off the SALE price! 
So, I got slipcovers for the chair and the sofa for less than $100!
Again, you had to chose from what they had, which was slim pickings, but I managed to make two mismatched covers work together with pillows (40% off sale price) and other accessories, all at a very discounted price!

Then we had to choose a paint color.  For me, that is soooo hard.  
Even though I am a designer by trade, I find it very difficult to choose paint colors for my home that I like once the whole room is painted and in the many different lights through out the day.
I spend more money in samples than I do on actual paint.  
We chose Rockport Gray from Benjamin Moore.  And so far I really like it!
Here are some pictures of the finished room.
It is a much lighter and a more colorful room than we have ever had.

Now to keep the resolution... of NO CLUTTER!
I have to get the whole family on board for that!