Wahoo! I’m so, so thrilled about so many recent home improvements and updates I’ve done around my house, and it’s about time to share them with y’all! I’ve lived in this sweet older home for almost four years (crazy) with my two fabulous roommates, Lindsey & Tiphanie. We decorated it when we first moved in a few years ago, but it had long been rather untouched, save for a few small updates and touches here and there. I suppose I caught a decorating and home-revamping bug because once I started updating things, I just couldn’t stop! It’s one of my very favorite hobbies/passions – home decor/interior design.

The finished product in all its glory:

This is the navy blue/Grecian blue accent wall in the living room that I am obsessed with! Seriously. I wish I had more time to just sit and stare at it; it’s that fabulous. I’d been wanting to paint the wall for, oh, about four years, but I couldn’t decide on the perfect color… mostly because our carpet (I’ll spare you the pictures) is teal. But I finally had the perfect color inspiration and went to town on the wall! Once I decide to do something like that, it’s a pretty quick process.

Here’s the boring, uninspired wall before:

I love our white brick mantle and the beautiful fireplace, but I always felt like they were lost amidst the dingy white wall. I wanted the aspects of the room to really shine + be a gorgeous focal point! I had just painted the canvas seen above, and I’m also really proud of it. I’ve been trying to use my creative side a little more, and this was the perfect opportunity to paint (something I’ve always loved doing) + step outside of my comfort zone. I pushed myself to create an abstract canvas for our mantle, tying in some of the colors of the room. I chose to use a navy background (can you tell I love navy?) and then used flamingo pink/coral, dash of red, turquoise, and a fabulous gold to tie it all together. I absolutely love how it turned out (surprisingly surprised!) and am really loving it.

I ran to Home Depot on my own free evening, spent about four minutes picking out (what I hoped would be) the perfect blue color (somewhere between navy blue and my beloved Grecian blue.. not too royal, not too black, no purple undertones). I told the paint man at Home Depot that I sure hoped this would look great in my living room, and he looked at me a little incredulously. Fifteen minutes after I walked in, I walked out with my paint! No need to ponder paint colors for weeks on end.

My friend Kate and I spent a grand total of three hours one beautiful Saturday afternoon painting! I’m grateful for a friend who was so excited to help me out + also so thrilled with the paint color, too!

And just a couple hours later…

I just love the contrast with the surrounding white walls + the white fireplace. Really, really love it! And I also adore the way the blue walls changes colors a little bit as the sun moves around the room throughout the day. Some corners of the wall are a little darker at times (closer to navy), and some are a little brighter, depending on how the sun hits the room.

I also spent (literally) fifteen minutes late one night hanging up a new gallery wall above the couch! I knew the Starry Night picture would go in the middle, so I eye-balled it and starting hammering. I then added the other pictures surrounding it and was pleased that it worked out well!

Here’s a panorama shot of the blue wall + gallery wall:

I also adore my three new throw pillows that I scoured Etsy for. I played around with a lot of patterns and combinations, knowing that I wanted navy and coral pillows (two of my favorite colors). I am so pleased with these three pillows/patterns, and it really impacts the room.

The gallery wall consists of some of my favorite prints, works of art, and pictures. I hung a picture of Santorini, Greece (my favorite place on earth + the colors work so well in the room), a couple painting from the National Portrait Gallery here in DC, a navy and gold calligraphied “choose joy” print that I whipped up in three minutes, my favorite Southern Weddings Shop print about the South, and a couple other things.

I think our living room looks so much for fabulous now with the blue wall, gallery wall, and throw pillows + I am so pleased with the results. It was so fun to do, and it’s now one of my favorite rooms in the house. I love having a statement wall!

I also updated our kitchen – kind of randomly. I was about to cook dinner one evening before running out again, and I was annoyed by the wallpaper in our kitchen (blue and brown floral wallpaper that must’ve been sixty years old). We’ve avoided taking the wallpaper down in the kitchen after the dining room wallpaper disaster. It took seven friends about three straight weekends to take down the dining room wallpaper three years ago, as it just. would. not. come off the walls! So we avoided the kitchen to spare ourselves that misery again. But lo and behold, the wallpaper in the kitchen just tore straight off the walls, no problem at all. I seriously took down the kitchen’s wallpaper in maybe ten minutes flat. My roommates had no idea I was doing it! I then surprised them the next day by painting the wall a light/pale blue with paint we had leftover in the basement.

Ta-da!

It doesn’t look like much, but compared to what it was before (a complete eyesore), it is heavenly! The kitchen feels so much brighter, bigger, and cleaner with just a little paint. It’s amazing how transformed the room is now. It’s a breath of fresh air, and I just love the results!

(And yes, this is just the top third of the fridge with some of our wedding invitations from the summer…)

So these are some of the fun home projects I’ve been working on lately! It’s one of my passions, and it’s so fun & inspiring me. I am inspired and happier when I’m surrounded by beauty, and these updates definitely help with that.

Are you making any changes to your home soon?! I’d love to see!