I love a good bay window, but sometimes when it comes to adding window treatments, I'm a bit baffled.  Our bay window sat naked for quite some time while I pondered what to do with it.  I finally decided on drapes and sheers.  I admit, I am not completely loving the sheers, but as you can see, we get a ton of light in this window, especially in the afternoon.  Our rug and furniture would be ruined by the streaming sunlight without these sheers.  So for now, it works.  

So today, lets talk about using an inspiration piece

to pull the room together.

This friend of mine was ready to freshen up

 a number of rooms in her home. 

She really liked the idea of bringing in some orange.

And knew she needed to purchase a few new pieces.

I really thought a rug could be the perfect solution to pull it all off.

We decided that we would keep looking----

It was a great shopping day.

It was warm and had golds and greens as well as the Orange

she wanted to add to the space.

It made for a great inspiration piece because it had

3 of the colors that we wanted to place around the room. 

Here is the Living Room

We picked up a couple of IKEA chairs to help lighten up the space,

 as well as some new toss pillows---

You know how I love to add pillows!:)

What a different feel the room has now

with the rug and the lighter chairs.

We decided to make a little entry grouping.

It really worked well in that space.

See how well the cabinet goes with the colors in the room.

The floral pillow on the couch has just the

right colors and design to go with the rug. 

And my friend picked it out herself.

There are other times when I do the shopping and get what

 I think works. But most of the time the client shops for

 thier own accessories--

 it gives them a real feeling that the space it theirs,

because they picked out something that they were drawn too.

Lamps behind the sofa looking out into the fall leaves---

I love putting a round table between two chairs,

and this one worked out great!

Notice the artwork on the wall also has some of the same colors

that we were pulling around the room.

So if you are wanting to create a new feel to a space

Using a Rug for the inspiration piece

may just work for you!

This is the house of a good friend of mine. 

Her house was ready for a good "facelift"!

I will show you some quick before and afters

and in upcoming posts

 I will give you all of the juicy details and more photos!

Living Room BEFORE

Living Room AFTER

Kitchen BEFORE

Kitchen AFTER

Family Room BEFORE

Family Room AFTER

It was quite the project and we had some really funny stories.

My good friend Connie does a blog and is a fantastic writer.  

She will be doing a write up on the redesign

and I will be sure and give you all a link, so you can see

 how it all went down from her perspective as well.

See you at the end of the week!

We gave this living room a little shake up!

We turned the couches on an angle and placed them close together

 in a L pattern so you can have a nice conversation

without having someone walk between you.

See how welcoming and inviting this arrangement feels.

We have divided the room up into different areas.

The back wall with the keyboard now feels like it has it's own space.

The two couches create a conversation area

as well as tv viewing.

On this back wall we arranged a nice reading area

with a lamp and table.

It also works for veiwing the tv.

Notice how we added a lamp and some flowers on the table.

This is a quick easy way to accessorize a tabletop.

The red pillow in the chair is a nice way

 to pull color around the room.

Overall, we created a warm inviting place

to visit, read a book or watch a movie!

This Living Room had a fantastic rug

that we used for the inspiration in the room.

BEFORE

AFTER

When using an inspiration piece it is good to pull out around 3 colors. 

We took some blues, rust and gold colors from the rug.

See how adding the blue really made the space feel so much more comfortable.

 

BEFORE

There were some rust colored accessories on the mantle,

but it really needed something else.

AFTER

See how the painting has similar colors to those in the rug.

The bits of blue really pull it together nicely.

As you can see some of the room is done,

but the buffet in the back on the left was not yet completed.

AFTER

Here is how we tied it in to the rest of the room.

See how we added a touch of blue,

a lamp and some natural balls.

It is so much more inviting now!

Using pillows is a great way to tie in the color and pattern.

See how one pillow is the same pattern as the chairs and the other has rust, gold and blue.

 It really creates a pulled together feel in the entire room.