This decade of our lives, I’m calling our “construction phase”  has left me searching for ways to make the house feel put together and comfortable enough for guests, even though most places don’t have baseboards, outlet covers, real furniture or paint.   While we’re earning a living and enjoying our family we’re also dragging this whole remodel thing out.   I’ve finally made peace with it.

Last fall I started building bookcases with doored bottoms and hutch tops.  You can see more about that here. I got the bottom frames done before our garage sale.  Then I put away my wood working tools to clean out the garage for the sale.  Here we are a year later and I finally drug everything back out and cut the middle shelves.  In the mean time, I styled the tops of the unpainted, undoored cabinets like they were supposed to be just the way they are.

A few weeks ago, I dropped off a donation at the thrift store.  I meant to just drop and go, but way up high on the back wall there was a HUGE mirror with a nicely arched top.  I took one glance and thought, “That’s way out of my price range.”  I turned to go, but my heart wouldn’t let me leave without touching it.  I felt a little guilty asking the woman at the register for help to get it down, since I knew I wouldn’t be buying it. It was lighter than I expected.  The frame was made to look like wood but was molded plastic.  I looked for the wax pencil marking on the back….$15. What?!!!!  Sold.

I meant to paint it, to cover up the off center 1970s decal at the top.  But from a distance the darker wood warms up the space and the decal is hardly noticeable. It’s so much easier to love it how it is #lazybutton.

1.  The lower half of the built ins hold my music.  Each file box is labeled with chalkboard tape and a wet erase chalk marker with things such as “voice lesson” “Trios” “Christmas music” etc.  Doors will eventually hide it for a less cluttered look. The left side is for vocal music and the right side is for instrumental music. We are using these plans from Ana-White and Shanty-2-Chic, just narrowing the dimensions to fit our space.
2. The vase and stems are from Ikea.
3. The wood ampersand is from Hobby Lobby.  It is 50% off at least one week each month.
4. The tall candle holder is from Big Lots and the small bowl is a planter from a thrift store. I filled the bowl with found pinecones and the candle holder holds a large moss ball from hobby Lobby.
5. We made the wood trim around the windows from 1x select pine boards from Home Depot.  Using this tutorial from iamahomemaker.com and this one from Blesserhouse.com.  We put an extra board on the top of the windows to beef it up a little, but made sure to leave room for crown molding.
6. The wooden tool box and 3 faux plants inside are from Ikea.
7. I made the magnolia wreath, tutorial here.
8. The leather chair is a find from Craigslist.  It belongs in my husband’s basement office after I refinish the leather into a better color.  But the office is too big of a mess to hold it even temporarily right now, so it lives here.  Our piano teacher has a comfy seat waiting for him when we start lessons again :).
9. The pom pom throw is a DIY crochet border added to a cheap Ikea throw.  Tutorial here. Plus every single pillow and cover is from Ikea, because I’m addicted and they are affordable, comfy and cute.
10. The rug from RugsUSA also belongs in Darren’s basement office, but it’s living here for now.
11. This is our old music storage system, a lateral file from Home Depot.  I have too much music for it now, and it’s destined to be painted and live somewhere else at some point. I’m in process of organizing and moving the music in it to the new file boxes–hence the stacks everywhere.  The white baskets underneath are from Target. There’s one for each child to hold their music books for lessons, but the system has become corrupted. They now hold the music I’ve been too lazy to put away properly and need an overhaul.
12. These lamps were a garage sale find and had too small shades.  I grabbed some cheap new shades at Ikea and upped their impact.  I’m tempted to paint the bases also, maybe a nice deep navy.

For help decluttering, reorganizing and styling, you should check out Havenly’s Design Services.

As I was writing down all the sources for these products, I realized how overwhelming it can be to put a room together.  I’ve gathered these items over the course of 6 years, just one piece here and there using my little monthly home budget and money I earned at our annual garage sales.  Nothing about the room is the way I want it to be permanently, but it’s functional for now and even pleasant to sit and visit with a friend there.

How about you?  Is there any room in your home that isn’t quite finished but is good enough for now?  Or tell me about a time you used something you already had in a new way to brighten up a space.