Living room right now & a painting

I guess you can consider this post like an "after" of my living room even though I really never showed a "before". I think this is the first time ever that I'm very happy with the way my living room looks and feels. There are only 2 things that I want to still change: a drum shade for my glass lamp and a new couch. But other than that I love how my living room looks.

Here's what I did:
Several months ago I knew I didn't like the way the living room looked and wanted to change it. However the furniture would all have to remain, so basically I'd really be changing decor pieces, art/pictures and pillows. The room was so dark and cave like feeling.
Here's some before pics. Oh, I cringe to look back at these and it was only about 6 months ago!

With only one window and it faces the neighbors house, dark furniture and dark fireplace it was too dark.

So, like I said a few months ago I decided to make some changes. So I started with emptying the room of any extras. Only furniture, curtains (I liked those), lamps and our family pics remained. I put everything up in a closet and left the room like that for about a month. At first it really bothered me that it was blank, but after a while I got used to it and I started getting ideas of how I wanted it to look and feel long term. I needed a brighter lighter space.

Right away I knew the fireplace "rock" wall surround had to be painted.  I also knew that the tv dresser and the steamer trunk had to be repainted to lighter colors. So after painting those items I had a better feel for how the room was going to look.

I went back to my decor closet and picked out only those items I loved and really wanted back in the space. Then I went back and picked out a few more pieces that would fill the gaps that I really liked. It was FINALLY starting to feel good and fresh and light. I also picked up a few pieces at Goodwill and TJ Maxx. I also took pics as I added stuff to see what things looked like in a photo. It was easy to see dark spots this way, and unbalanced areas.

Then I had my dad fix and I painted my mirror.  I made some cute little art project, and last but certainly not least I got some new art.

My extremely talented friend Chelsea paints and she very generously painted this for me. I LOVE it!!! It adds such color and character to the room, and it almost makes it feel likes there's another window in the room!
Ok, so here's some pics.

 I spray painted the piano lamp silver, it used to be brass. Candle sticks and frame I already had but have been spray painted. Turquoise canning jar I bought, small blue thing (official name) bought.

 I already had the pillow, blue glass vase (from my parents when they were in Germany), and blue plate (Homegoods)

 I love the colors when I look at the fireplace bookshelves and mantle, they make me happy! The bottles are old wine and liquor bottles. Already had the green platter (Homegoods), turquoise platter (Ross), Pottery Barn phone (Goodwill).

 Everything was already owned except the green vase (Goodwill), and the wood bowl (Target).

 The pillows are from Pier 1, that I got years ago and they used to sit on my bed but once I changed things they seemed appropriate in here and I wanted them to match. I also used to have more pillows on the couch but anytime someone sat down they'd move the pillows on the floor, so 2 is enough. And my MIL bought me that awesome lamp for my birthday (Hancocks). The wire basket is from TJ Maxx on clearance, the green basket is from Goodwill that I've spray painted a couple of times.

 Isn't it gorgeous?! The pillow is already owned (Homegoods), which I love so much I kind of decorated around it. The green bowl is a Goodwill find.

I LOVE how it turned out and I didn't spend that much money. I think most of my money went to paint: fireplace, dresser, steamer trunk. I bought a few accessories on the cheap, spray painted ones I already had with paint I already had, used pillows I already had and bought the canvas for the painting.
I love that I really got a totally new look by using a lot of what I already had! I would ideally like to have a new couch that is the dark brown leather of the chair and something not so fluffy looking, a bit more straight lined. But it's not in the budget right now and it's in great shape and it's so darn comfy!

So what do you think? Is it a lot more pulled together, please say yes! What about that painting?! It's totally awesome right? Do you love your living room/family room?

Comments make me Happy!