Before and After: A Rental Redo

A few months ago a friend asked me for assistance in redecorating her living room.  In telling me what she would like to do and after seeing the room, I realized we had to overcome the following challenges:  she is renting the property;  the room is painted a surprising dark navy blue; and she wants to stay within a fixed budget.  

Here is the before:

Living Room

So, I began the decorating process with my usual go to place, Craigslist and other second hand shops in the area.  In these resources, I found a rather battered console that had beautiful lines--a coat of coral paint fixed that problem.  A  pair of ordinary dark wood lamps turned attractive with, again, a coat of paint.  A good thing to keep in mind when redecorating is to always use what you already have and my friend had some lovely pictures, some vintage, some modern.  These changed the look of the room by simply gathering them together on one wall.  A low budget black and white striped rug helped ground the sofa and coffee table (both Craigslist finds).  The photos below illustrate the end project--a beautiful living room that is an excellent example of what you can do without breaking the budget, using second hand and by recycling what you already own.    I want to extend my sincerest appreciation to Peter VanderPoel, for photographing this room with such skill and artistry.  Please check out his website at the following link: VanderPoel Architectural Photography. 

After:

Photo Credit: Peter VanderPoel

Photo credit: Peter VanderPoel

Photo credit: Peter VanderPoel

Photo credit: Peter VanderPoel

I will provide an itemized list of the costs associated with this re-do in a future posting. Hope this may encourage or inspire you all to buy second hand!