Working With What You Have

Anyone working with a budget knows the challenge of limitations. Personally, I love searching for free or next-to-nothing pieces. With a little time and energy, Craigslist, garage sales, and thrift stores can be treasure troves. However, sometimes scoring things for free means working with what you have rather than what you envisioned.

We recently scored a large brown couch in a great condition off of Craigslist - for free! While it's perfect for our young family - sturdy, neutral, comfortable - right now the brown-on-brown of the couch on our wood laminate has left our living room a bit...blah.  We were able to spice things up a bit with another free score, a braided blue rug in an cool, almost nautical, blue that also wasn't my first choice. But, rugs are expensive, and it's a vast improvement than the wood laminate alone.

All together, my living room has become interesting design challenge.  Adding to that challenge is the fact that our living area flows into our dining/kitchen area, which is a sea of wood (again, laminate) cabinetry, mixed with pops of red appliances and towels.

While it may not have been what I've first envisioned, I've decided a neutral palette with pops of red and blue could actually be pretty sophisticated if I do it right. I have to be careful, though, as this palette could easily turn "Patriotic Country" (which is definitely not my style).

I'll post some before-and-after pics when it's all done, but for now, here's some rooms for inspiration:

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