Freya Morris
When I purchased my mobile home sixteen months ago, I had a decor vision of Cottage style mixed with French Country. My goal was to create timeless rooms, and I needed to do it on a small budget. Because I spend my at home time mostly in the living room, I concentrated on that space first, and it's taken me all of the time I've lived here to finally be able to say it's finished, except for a ceiling fan which I need to address.
It truly helps to keep my home cooler and saves on my utility bill.
All but the vintage wicker rocking chair were purchased while I worked at Pier 1. floor lamp, area rug, vintage wicker rocker, loveseat.
I prefer to "float" my furniture in the room, which basically means keeping most of it away from the walls, especially the seating. But with the help of Youtube and my cordless power drill (some day I'll do a post about what tools every woman needs to own. . .I've learned so much) I installed them with merely one hiccup -- a stubborn screw that did not want to participate.
Next the fun part began -- scouring thrift stores for end tables, artwork and miscellaneous decor. I want to show you that you don't have to spend a lot of money to have a charming home.
One of my first purchases is the "Faith" wall decor that I made over by painting the word "faith" white, and dry brushing the symbols with white chalk paint. I like to grow geraniums indoors, and although these aren't currently blooming, they will make a show soon when the tree outside loses its leaves and allows for more hours of sun through this window.
I wrote about this corner of the living room in an earlier post Table Reveal and Other Chit Chat -- where I shared how I made over a yellow orange oak table into a French inspired beauty and chatted about the white sunflowers and the french print -- and this remains one of my favorite spots in my home. Although I don't do a great amount of fall decorating, you'll notice a few touches in these photos. The pumpkin in the photo above rests in a thrifted filigree silver dish.
The little lamp is a combination of a $2.50 thrifted truly ugly lamp base with great bones that I painted with chalk paint, and a linen shade -- in its original wrapper -- which I found at the same thrift store for $3.00.
If you follow my blog, then you're very familiar with the my DIY layered framed mirror to the right of this corner, inspired by my friend Kris at Junk Chic Cottage. It's not real wood, but I didn't care since I planned to paint it white anyway.
I like terra cotta pots for the way they age with use, taking on a special patina. The "Paris Bouquet" wall hanging, if I'm not mistaken, was the first decor piece I found for this room, purchased at a thrift store for $8. After I hung it, I thought it needed a basket of flowers held by a shabby chic plant stand underneath it. With the 50% off coupon I received for that big purchase, I bought the hanging chalkboard and wrote in French "hortensas et roses" which means "hydrangeas and roses" in English. Finally, the last piece of my Cottage Living Room (with a hint of French) is this corner. For the vintage rocker, I covered an existing chair pad by slipping it into a sham I picked up for $2 at ARC thrift store.
The hand carved curlew behind the rocking chair was purchased years ago when my late husband and I were on vacation. I had kind of a hard time deciding what to do with the wall in this corner, and came to the conclusion that it needed a little vintage shelf.
I found the little wall vase at Hobby Lobby in the craft section. Harvest Time plate and brown chrysanthemum transferware vase came from ARC thrift store.
It was pretty beat up, and needed some plugs to fill those screw holes. God bless you, and I'll soon be back to share more of my decor additions in the kitchen
