Fabulous Rug & Quick Makeover

It seems like every weekend since moving back home we've been busy, not necessarily busy working on projects around the house and getting settled. We've been busy having friends and family come over to visit, which is so much fun to show them around and share our ideas and thought process about floor-plan changes etc. In between spending time with family & friends this week, we squeezed in two updates to our living room..

Do you remember my fabulous coffee table I scored on Craigslist months ago? It finally made its way into our living room and I love it [the height, size & style looks amazing in our living room] but it had a few flaws. Mainly several nicks in the finish and I wasn't a huge fan of its deep bronze finish. So what does a DIYer do? Spray paint it of course! After much thought, I decided it would look best in a flat finish. I figured a flat finish on the metal would resemble cast iron a look I love. Here's a close up of the nicks, I was hoping to camouflage with a some black spray paint! 




I left the spray painting to my resident pro, Hasani. I love spray paint, but I don't love doing the spray painting. Anyways, the flat finish on the coffee table was just what it needed. 

Months ago during a huge sale at Rugs USA we purchased a large grey Dhurrie rug for our living room. The rug just set in our rental apartment for months and months, I couldn't wait to see how it would look in our living room. Before placing in the rug in our living room, I purchased a Mohawk rug pad from Target to give our rug a little more cushion and help keep it in place on our hardwood floors [ we also made sure to wait 30 days before placing a rug on our refinished hardwood floors ] As a reminder these pillows are 'temporary', and will most likely be our 'fall / winter' pillows. 




We're in love with how the rug and newly painted coffee table look in our living room. I'm so happy we went with a large size rug for our living room, last time we went with a smaller 5x7 rug. Thanks to the great deal we got on our new rug, we were able to go with a larger size. 





When we first rolled out the rug, I was a little concerned there's too much grey. Since we have light grey walls, and two grey sofas. My backup plan was to use this rug in our bedroom, if there's too much grey in our living room. But after thinking about the living room plans: new pillows for our sofas [ see fabric selections here ] hanging drapes [ still deciding on fabric ] bring in some artwork & those amazing aqua teal lamps, paint our campaign dresser & find fabulous side tables and styling the coffee table, its going to feel layered in colors and not all grey

We'll see how everything evolves over time. What do you think of our new rug?

Side Note: This post is my 501th blog post for CLH!! Fun milestone :)

Oh Crape Myrtle Tree

We're in the planning on stages of re-imagining both our front and backyard, more to come on this topic next week [big plans to share] Virtually everything has died the past year our home was under construction and during the waiting stages. In our backyard there are a few trees we plan on having removed. Two of the three tress are dead and the third one is diseased. I've been smitten with Crepe Myrtles trees for quite awhile. I love their flowering colorful long lasting blooms. They pretty poplar in where we live in Northern California. 


(via Pinterest)

The other day I was texting Shavonda about my love of Crepe Myrtles and plan to add one in our backyard. When she mentioned our local energy provider SMUD might offer Crape Myrtles for FREE as part of their Shade Tree Program. As luck would have it they do!! SMUD works along side of Sacramento Tree Foundation offering free tress to promote shade, improve air quality and add beauty. 
I'm already dreaming of the perfect spot, pending SMUD approval, a Community Forester comes out to our property and helps us find the best spot in our yard for your tree to thrive and provide shade. We plan on planting our tree in early fall. I'm so excited! 

(via Pinterest)

Right now I'm leaning towards a pale pink or fuchsia Crape Myrtle for our backyard. I'm already getting giddy or the though of snipping a few branches and enjoying the blooms in vase in our homes. 

Do you love Crape Myrtles as much as I do?