Living Room: Before and After

Sometimes, little improvements go a long way in helping to complete a room.

Last spring, it was a big home improvement -- brand new bay and picture windows for my home's living room -- that gave my home's living room a much-improved look. I especially love the bay window because it brings in a lot of light, and my children love to do their reading for school there. We got the new picture window to replace a leaky one, but the bay window was a total splurge. (Thanks honey!)

But shortly after the new windows were installed, I made some small improvements that I believe cost less than $20, but gives the room -- which I have yet to truly furnish -- a more pulled-together look.

Inexpensive Fixes
Using two striped curtain panels that I bought on clearance from our local Walmart, I made a pillow for our bay window (I simply sewed a covering for a pillow insert), made a smaller pillow for the rocking chair that's in that room, and recovered an old chair that had been sitting in a spare bedroom upstairs. The chair had been covered in an ugly brown burlap, and all I had to do to recover it was unscrew the seat and staple the fabric to the seat.

I also covered our scratched piano bench in the fabric. (I simply stapled the fabric to the underside of the lift-up seat on the bench.)

But while our piano bench looks nice, I have to redo that project -- I need to get better padding to use for the piano seat's cushion. So, I'll be looking for a Michael's coupon in the next few days to finish up that project.

I'd love to do more to the room -- like add a loveseat and maybe some day, add wood floors -- but it's best that I continue to focus on the small improvements. With the economy these days, saving money for a rainy day (or for college education for the kids) is a better approach! But a girl can dream!

If you have ideas on small improvements that go a long way in beautifying a home, I'd love to hear them! Or, to see more photos of the improvements to my home's living room, visit MomHomeGuide.com.

Lauren Kim is the executive editor of MomHomeGuide.com, a website for moms on creating the perfect home for one's family.