Fresh New Year Winter Home Makeover

Hello foxes!! It’s my first official post of the new year and I’m so excited to finally get to share all the results of my flipping and fluffing – I’ve got so much to show you between the living room, dining room & kitchen, and to so much to share with you about how I’ve got the house looking new, without spending a lot! 

The biggest change I’ll be sharing is in the living room!

Going into the new year, I wanted a fresh Winter look for my whole home! Coincidentally, my Better Homes & Gardens assignment for January, was “New Year New You” and I couldn’t wait to start fresh with a look and feel that would help set the tone for my whole home, and my new year!

Our Living Room Has A Whole New Look

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I know so many of you loved our big, fat living room furniture… and I did too, but I had been thinking about a serious change in the living room for about two years now, and I finally decided to pull the trigger and make it happen!

• ONE – I listed my big chair and a half & matching ottoman for sale on Facebook marketplace and had it sold the same day. A very nice lady came to pick it up, and Jimmy and I loaded it up for her in our vehicle and helped her get it in her house. There was no way she could get it in her car, or do it alone, so we gave her a hand.

NOTE – I’m saving that money for a future project. But if I wasn’t partnering with Better Homes & Gardens, it would have well covered everything new I’m going to be showing you. Selling things you no longer want or use is a fantastic way to fund the things and projects you do want or need!

• TWO – Next, we gave our family room sofa to someone who needed it, and put the big sofa from the living room in our family room. Still following me? haha. I told you, it was a lot of furniture finagling.

• THREE – The last step was to steal the love seat from The Little Cottage and lovingly place it in it’s new home, in our living room – I’ll show you what’s taking it’s place in The Little Cottage in February!

I am absolutely head over heels in love with the white sofa in our living room! It’s all I’ve wanted for years and years. A bright, white, airy, smaller-scale sofa. While ours was admittedly cozy… I felt like I was suffocating with the size of all the furniture pieces in our little tiny living room. It was bought when we were in a much larger house, and while I was very thankful for it, it never really fit in this home. When I had moved the furniture around previously, and put the big chair in front of the fireplace, I loved how open the living room felt. And I wanted that feeling back. Now, I feel like I can breath. Of course there will always be lots of pillows, and throws. Because I love them so much!!!!

This super fluffy rug was my moms idea! When I was working on the room I texted her a photo and she said “it needs some color” and I said “I think so too, how about a rug”? I unrolled this cutie and we both loved it! It’s super cozy on the toes too, and I always love that! Layering a smaller rug on top of my big sisal rug is an easy way to add a little more color or texture, without spending a lot or committing to something really long term. It’s a great punch, for a lot less than buying another rug the size I would need for this room if it were sitting here alone.

Remember when I said there was a lot of furniture flipping? You do, good! Well the black iron table also got flipped, and it’s so perfect with the black library lights, they really play off each other. The great thing about this table is, that I carried it up from The Little Cottage, and when I want something visually lighter for Summer (because we all know I will) I will carry it out to the shop and store it for a bit.

I kept the decor very simple yet cozy, with battery operated lights, and lots of candles!

Jimmy and I made & mounted another chunky shelf out of vintage reclaimed mouldings (like this one) and I kept the decor Wintry with my bleached trees, vintage spools and the old mirror I had over the mantel at Christmas.

You can never have too many candles on-hand during the Winter months. We inevitably lose power at some point when a big storm blows through. And if they are stacked on some old silver trays. Even better.

It’s pretty apparent I’ve never had these two chairs in the same place at once, because I painted the legs on one white. And now, I don’t know which I like better? So I’m waiting to see. Sometimes, things take me awhile to decide on.

– What do you think?

Light or Dark?

And do you like the new end table?

I just love it! And we had the best day going to pick it up! I got it for twenty bucks from a friend I made when we had a booth at Vintage 101. It’s knocked around, and beat up, and it’s perfect. I could have bought a new end table… but not even kidding, every time I find anything I even remotely like it’s at least $300.00 and that is just not in the budget right now. Twenty felt a lot more doable. LOL

We ran down the coastline to Bandon to go pick it up, and she gave us a tour of the new inn she is going to be opening soon! Maybe when it’s all ready, I’ll get the opportunity to walk thru and share it with you all. It’s the cutest vintage coastal cottage inn you’ve ever seen! The decor is super darling.

I think it’s a great fit for my chalk painted lamp too. I just love these lamps, and that I can switch out the shades and they just fit my style and everything I decorate with so effortlessly.

Now if we turn towards our dining room area… I finally got the chance to use those PINE CONE dishes!!!!

When I said I was going to do a very simple Winter table with them, I wasn’t joking. I wanted easy, and Wintry feeling, and that’s just what I did. I’m not even calling it a tablescape. It’s a… table with dishes on it, and the easiest centerpiece ever! You’re welcome.

Just for fun, I even hung that little snow scene I painted. It kind of feels weird, like I think it’s real art or something… but I had this really neat vintage frame that has managed to avoid being sold in the booth, or at any of our many tag sales, and it was the exact right size, so I figured why not?

I flanked the painting with two of the black iron Better Homes & Gardens lanterns, sans the holiday sprig and bow. I love that we put the two hooks up there at Christmastime. And that I grabbed two of these! The black on black is subtle, and lets the green vintage sign shine.

The dishes have the prettiest whisper of branches and pine cones on them. I ordered them on a whim when I saw them on clearance and I made sure to tell you all about them a few times. I’m really glad I took a chance and ordered them! If you did too, I’d love to see how you styled them!

For the simple centerpiece, I used a DIY Wood Trough Box [tutorial here], 3 candles and copious amounts of Pine Cones.

See how much more open the living room is with this new arrangement? It’s less cramped when coming in the front door, and the traffic flow is so much more open!

I feel so much better walking around my own house.

In addition to all the candles, I’m also in lantern la-la land. They’ve been a decorating staple for… forever. And I love that Better Homes & Gardens has such a wonderful & affordable variety.

Now that all the key furniture pieces in the living & dining room are settled in, we should have some fresh fun in the kitchen!

Last January I worked on cleaning, purging & organizing my entire kitchen. You can see my kitchen organization post [here] and see all the before and afters. I organized every single drawer, cabinet and my pantry, and I utilized some wonderful storage containers. I am happy to report that everything has stayed very organized and my efforts were well rewarded!

This time around, it was all about adding some pretty back in. The first thing I did was go crazy over the new hobnail collection. It’s so lovely and has a modern take with a vintage vibe.

I’ve got the Olive Oil & Vinegar Set and the Butter Dish popped up here on the counter. The little matte gold ring just sets it off the Butter Dish lid beautifully!

The gorgeous beveled mirror comes in a soft, neutral grey, and I just did a little paint dry brushing on mine in a soft Ivory to make it play nice with all the white in my kitchen.

I didn’t come close to capturing how pretty they are, but I also got these gorgeous new wood and marble pieces to show you! The big one is a cook book/tablet holder. And the wee one is trivet.

And while I’ve still got the galvanized metal set…

I could not resist the hobnail canisters. They are just delicious!

I put them in the place of high honor. haha

Canisters are great because they hide all manner of things… are there tiny chocolates inside?

Or 47 chip clips?

Only I know the answer to that.

But I can tell you they have those delicate little matte gold rings, just like the butter dish.

Remember when I showed you on my Instagram stories all the amazing clearance at Walmart, and I showed you the candles that look like heavy cut crystal? These are them! I hope you got some.

The house feels so good now. It feels put together, and calm, and very relaxed, even though so much around me is in disarray with all the construction going on. This was the perfect project to kick off the new year and I am so happy I made the changes I did, and treated my kitchen to some pretty. We will continue on with our kitchen makeover projects (edited due to the repair costs) during the year, and I’ll have more changes to show you soon!

If you look closely at the photo below, you might notice that some of the blinds are missing, and there is only one window left to be installed in this picture. I had a crew of five watching me get everything ready and photograph this post, and let me tell you I got a lot of questions about what I do.

Now that I’ve got this all tackled, I’m ready to flip from decorating, to DIY! I’ve got some projects I’ve been meaning to get to and lots of stuff on my to-do list. Like a tutorial for that chunky shelf we made.

I hope your year is starting off well. Are you working on cleaning & organizing projects, or is something else calling for your attention? This made me feel so refreshed and revived and ready to tackle my next project! Happy New Year! I can’t wait to see what this year brings for us all. xo Shannon

Visit my entire BH&G project gallery [click here]

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