i can't have a bunny, but...

There's nothing that says, "This is MY house now" as quickly or easily as painting a room. Last week we picked three colors from our DIY paint deck, made a quick (HAHA) trip to Lowe's and bought samples.

Up went the three choices: Soft Rabbit Brown, Summer Sparrow and Magnet Dapple (all by Valspar). Care to guess who painted which samples? Mine's on the left. The mood we were going for was dark, warm and cozy. We spend our evenings in here watching TV or playing video games, and that just seems to call for a dark room.

It didn't take us long to come up with the winner, Soft Rabbit Brown, which was my favorite from the get-go. It didn't take us long on Saturday to empty the bookcases, push the furniture into the center of the room and remove the artwork. While Brian took Joey to DayCamp, I taped off the room and then we got started.

Within an afternoon our room was painted, dry and back to normal. We are IN LOVE with the room.

Before:

After:

We would like to pull up the carpet to reveal the hardwood floors underneath, and maybe put a nice plush rug down, but that's a project for another weekend. At night this room is exactly what we wanted and to us, that's a DIY success.

before and after: the TV room

REALLY before. So empty!

I am embarrassed to say that the room was in varying degrees of disarray like this until a week and a half ago. This was the dumping ground for things we didn't have a place for, stuff to go up in the attic, stuff we were giving to Goodwill, and Joey's toys.

And now it's finished and we luuuuuv it. The accent colors, orange and aqua, are running themes throughout the house. Instead of turning this into a guest room that we would use only very rarely, we made it our library/TV room. The chaise and chair/ottoman came from IKEA and can be pushed together to make a bed on the few occasions we will have guests. We put the PS3 and the FiOS box with the DVR in here, leaving the regular FiOS box and a basic Blu-Ray player in the living room. Now Brian can play Call of Duty in here and I can close the door and not listen to it! :) 

I lusted after this pillow at Target for a long time, and now it's mine!

Also an awesome Target find. I love how soft and cozy these pillows are.

The artwork is a mix of small indie artists (the black and white photo, the sun and the print underneath) and stuff we've done. Brian took the photo on the bottom right of the waves crashing on the beach in San Diego. I made the silhouette of Joey last spring and finally have a place for it.

The crayons are from my favorite ad campaign from the Zoo for the white alligator summer exhibit.The abacus (with a twin in the dining room) was a CB2 purchase in 2010. These two pieces are really the stating point for the colors in the room.

Dressing the bookcase took a while, but I'm pretty happy with the final product. 

Again, the Crate & Barrel outlet did us right. We have been wanting this clock for months and snatched it up yesterday for a steal! The photo underneath is one Brian took on our first hike together in Ogden Canyon, fall of 2008.

These two shelves are my favorite. The top has my going away book from the Zoo, our wedding announcement and photos with our parents from our reception/going away party and our wedding. Beneath is Brian's certificate of appreciation from President Obama on the occasion of his retirement, an EOD stein and miscellaneous books on the current war(s).

The little lamp was another Target deal. Perfect to sit on the shelf and give off just enough light without reflecting on the TV screen.

Who's the nerd that color-coded Brian's how-to books?

The leather chair? Oh, that's Joey's. Yes, we are now Those People.

During last week's Sandy Superstorm, we were holed up in here, cozy under blankets and away from the big picture window in the living room. I'm so happy we made this room into a place we'll use all the time, rather than having an empty room we'll almost never use. And Joey? He thinks the ottoman is pretty swell, thank you very much.