Garanimals House...

do you guys remember garanimals?  the mix-and-match clothes you could buy as a kid.  the elephant shirt went with the elephant shorts.  i think i actually wore them.  i have a bad memory, but I think I did.

well, our house is kind of a garanimals house.  you can move a lamp from upstairs and find a place for it downstairs.    the green toile pillows in our family room can easily find a new home in our dining room.  in other words, i can redecorate our house a lot.  too much.  way too much.  i think i should be sleeping instead.

so these curtain panels were hanging in our den.  
they looked great in there.  until...

... i got the itch to try them in our family room.  i've had green check valances atop our french doors that coordinate with our couches for the last ten years.  and i’ve been itching to replace them.  but i couldn’t really find what i wanted.  until i walked through our den and into the laundry room yesterday.  i looked at these panels with fresh, new eyes.  let me just see, i said as i crawled up on my desk to take them down.

and i like them in here too! (even got my husband's ok last night).

  i think they make our family room much warmer and cozier.  and as much as i’m attracted to lighter colors now, i think red is still a great family room color.  and it looks great at christmas time. 

notice my be still corner has changed a bit?  i bought this cute little wicker/wood desk for my daughter’s room.  she decided it was too small and didn’t have enough storage.  darn.  so, twist my arm, i grabbed it and had to find a new home for it downstairs.  

see the old valances?

that bucket on the floor was $7.99 at goodwill.  that's pricey for goodwill!

but i had to have it.  the shade of gold is perfect in this room.

i'm not sure what it used to be, but i like it.

one of my favorite pillows...

someone else likes one of my favorite pillows too

i love these fresh sunflowers next to the gold rooster fabric...

this is one of my favorite new “vignettes”.  this sideboard is usually filled with accessories.  i recently decided to clear everything off and just place a beautiful white hydrangea in one of my favorite wire baskets.  

so simple.  so clean.  love it.

and this corner is new too.  i used to have six dishes hanging on these two walls.  i recently took them down and moved this wire shelf from our entry onto this wall.  i bought this wire shelf for $29 several years ago at a cute store in valencia.  last week, i found it’s cousin for $2.99 at goodwill.  score!  i filled them both with our parents’ and grandparents’ wedding photos and pictures of our dads when they were young.

that's my dad right in the middle with the sailor shirt on.  so cute!

and an old plate rack now holds my favorite decorating books.  i think this rack was $7 at a thrift store.  have you bought fifi o’neill's new book 
romantic prairie style yet?  love it!!

and my girlfriend gave me the god bless our home embroidered pillow for christmas a few years ago.  it’s nestled in with a red target pillow on the left and a $2 thrift store pillow on the right.  by the way, notice that this fabric matches our couch pillows i had made ten years ago?  what a find!

so that's our garanimals family room.
i encourage you to look at things in new ways.
if you want a new look, try shopping in your own house.  
don't think you always need to run out and buy new things.
  just play a little.
who knows, you might just love your new look.
and it won't cost you a thing!
i love that part.