We’ve been in the midst of adding some touches and improvements around our simple living and Grandmacore home this year. Over the past month or so, we’ve done both practical and pretty.
I realize that “small changes” means different things to different people. These might seem small and inconsequential to some people. Others might consider them extravagant. Whatever they are, we’re very happy with them and it has made our home so much more cozy.
To start with, we changed out many of the window shades. We had shades on them and went to blinds. I’m much happier with this choice.
Another practical thing we are doing is switching out the foam in the family room couch. David has two cushions done and will finish the third tonight. This is the foam he is using. He purchased Fairfield Cushion Wrap at Michael’s.
GoTo Foam 4″ Height x 24″ Width x 96″ Length 43ILD (Firm) Upholstery Cushion Made in USA
We also purchased one of these to add a bit more support since it is an older couch.
BEN’SHOME® Couch Cushion Support – Heavy Duty Solid .5
For reasons I won’t get into now, we did not put up window treatments on many of the windows when we did our small cozy remodel several years ago. (I just looked at those pictures and wow! I really need to share some new ones. We’ve done a lot of cozy little improvements since then!) So the family room had only shades. We found a rod and valences that went perfectly with the red walls and green couch.
This is the rod we bought.
I found the valences on ebay and they are perfect! They are even prettier with richer colors in person. They are Waverly Laurel Springs Parchment Lined Valances.
Lastly, I bought new pillows for the family room couch. I chose these.
Qupace Set of 2 Pillow Covers, Spring Bird and Flower Pillow Covers 18x18in, Embroidered Cushion CoversUtopia Bedding Throw Pillows Insert (Pack of 2, White) – 18 x 18 Inches Bed and Couch Pillows – Indoor Decorative Pillow
We put new white blinds in the four first floor windows across the front of the house. I purchased these curtains and rods for them. I love them! We opted not to use the hooks to hold them back and are leaving them down all the time. So I have these curtains in the living room (2), the entry, and the laundry room.
HushLoom Lace Curtains 84 Inches Long, Vintage Floral Light Filtering Scalloped Edges Sheer Lace Curtains Rod Pocket, 2 Panels Set, Branch Pattern (White, 52″ W x 84″ L)1″ Curtain Rod with Albert Finials (Gold, 28”-48”)
Speaking of the entry, we purchased a cushion for my oak cedar chest. When we set up an office/studio for David in the basement, we moved my oak cedar chest from the basement to the entry way. It now has a cushion on it and looks pretty in front of the curtained window.
I ordered new pillows for the living room. The couch is a light taupe color and these just pop on there. They are much nicer than I expected.
Qupace Set of 2 Blue Vintage Embroidered Throw Pillows Covers 18 x 18 inches, Vintage Floral Embroidered CoverUtopia Bedding Throw Pillows Insert (Pack of 2, White) – 18 x 18 inches for Indoor Decorative Pillows
We also purchased a coffee table for that room. If you remember, the living room has been a living room, homeschool room, living room, and David’s office before this so we’ve never had a coffee table in there. The table is much nicer than I expected and will work well for us.
Lastly, we replaced a bunch of knobs that were original to the house. The antique brass ones are in the kitchen now. I would have preferred something more gold, but this was the best option of price, design, and color. They fit quite well with the oak floors in the kitchen and dining room. The gold knobs are in the laundry room and built-in cabinet in the family room.
Xlroaafs 10 Pack Antique Brass Cabinet Knobs Vintage Drawer Pulls,1-2/5AOBITE 6 Pack Gold Cabinet knobs Kitchen Cabinet Handles with Vintage Cupboard Drawers Hardware Dresser Drawer Handles Kitchen Cabinet Pulls (6, Brushed Gold)
So my laundry room went from having a broken shade I could not open for months (which drove me nuts) to beautiful knobs, curtain rod, and curtains. I hung a couple of things I already had on the wall and it’s gorgeous!
That’s what we’ve been up to lately. It’s taken a lot of my time to research, order, and implement along with the rest of life. Hopefully I can share some pictures when I get some time to take them. But I’m very happy with everything I purchased. Just some small changes in each room can make a huge difference!
Cozy Grandmacore for the win!
It all looks lovely and well-thought-out! I appreciate the warm, rich colors.
Thank you for sharing Sallie! I love your changes and many of them are what we did in our home when we first moved in. I can’t wait to see the pictures!! I also appreciate your putting links to what you purchased. We are going to need to update some things as well.
Being in Florida, we put in the large slatted blinds in place of the plastic ones when we first moved in, (not cheap on the outlay, but wonderful to see and helps keep out the heat from the sun). We love red and green, too. We used a pale sage green on many of our walls (love it in the bedroom, so peaceful to us), a wine colored couch in the family room with pale gold walls and one that is a dark red in the family color of the couch (added pale gold curtains from Ikea to help keep out the heat in summer), and then we like black and tan in our rugs (just kind of happened when we saw our first one and loved it), and love using wood items like tables, benches, shelves and such. My Jack likes to make wood things so we have those here and there.
The kitchen is white ship lap walls, a few of the cupboards with doors removed and we have kept the fake brick vinyl floor as it is still in good shape and we love the color. Jack put in butcher block counters and then the rest is some items in red (surprise), with all the other usual kitchen things. We are not minimalists and love being in the kitchen!
Hope you don’t mind me sharing back to you. Deb