Ikea Living Room Makeover

Before and After~ There's a lot you can do with lighting, color and lotsa BOXES!

Today was the day I was changing things at home. I woke up at 830am to do some cleaning. I swept the kitchen, corridors and living room. I hand-mopped all the counters til things were clean.

I took the initiative to clean and de-clutter the house because I personally felt it needed some semblance of peace. You know, I had personally chosen to live in this place because it was within a 1-min proximity from school. It had a good kitchen and a decent bathroom. Despite these good things, my room is tiny and the living room is a bit of a mess. And... apparently, stuff from the previous owner was still around, the shelves were dusty and things were all over the place. The day I saw this place I was like, "This is so gonna change!".

And so, earlier this morning I posted a note on our school's FB page and a classmate of mine from Egypt joined me to Ikea. From 3-630pm, Shehab and I would go through every inch of Ikea til we found every item we needed.

Well, actually... we both ended up with more stuff than we needed. In my case, in addition to improvements for the living room, I purchased some essential kitchen equipment. I bought a grill pan as well as the real-deal-Spanish-paella-pan! In the case of Shehab, he bought this heavy drawer and a chair, together with other items for his near-empty 1-bedroom apartment. We hired a mini-van and I later helped him carry his stuff back to his place (Oh my back!!!).

Once I got back to my place, my housemate Anantha helped me clear away non-essential stuff in the house and packed things onto our wooden boxes. After a little bit more arranging here and there, well, you could see the result above!

Now I personally feel this place is suitable to accept guests! Tomorrow I'm hosting a small lunch for Anantha as well as a few others who are also vegetarians. It'll be my first vegetarian paella. I honestly hope it works out!

(Photo courtesy of http://www.newbalancesolde.com)

Side Story (Inspiration for Couch Color Combination)

My living room has this red couch which, in my opinion, should serve some sort of accent to the living room. And, well, since the living room was also small, I needed some items to make it feel cozy.

I remembered a special pair of New Balance shoes I owned back in Singapore (New Balance Special Edition Candy Pack). I figured adding purple to the red tone of the couch would add some vibrancy to the space.

And of course, to counter balance things, we cleared up an entire shelf to dedicate it as a point of focus for our eyes to rest. Adding plants as well helped make things appear more peaceful. Anyway, that was that!