I have a secret...

I am no good at decorating.  There, I've said it.  It's one of the reasons that I found blogging hard for so long.  All of the bloggers I visit seem to have this wonderful decorating gene.  I just don't have it.  I know what I like and am comfortable with, but when it comes to taking a room and seeing what it needs to really come to life ...well, I just keep staring.  Even with bloggers and Pinterest for inspiration, I am still stymied. This is where my amazing mother comes in.

Last year we wanted to redo our downstairs den so that our grown-still-living-at-home-children would have a nice place to escape.  The walls with NO windows were papered in a navy and burgundy giant striped wallpaper.  With a dark red brick fireplace and dark green carpet that needed to be removed, we had some challenges.

I know what you're thinking... the sofa completely clashes with the walls.  Yeah, I figured that one out all on my own. He he. The walls were that way when we moved in to the house, and this was the 2nd tier sofa and loveseat so they just ended up together.  Can't imagine why no one ever wanted to use this den!?!?

Well, we wanted to do something creative with the room, with a little bit of adventure thrown in.  My (adult) kids had some ideas of what they wanted to do, but weren't quite sure how to make it come together on a budget.  So, I called my wonderfully gifted and creative -- especially when it comes to decorating -- mother.  She immediately said, "Oh, what you're wanting is a British colonial look with a hint of jungle."  OK, but still how to accomplish it?

She began to brainstorm, and then she started to search the web and pin things to Pinterest for us. We thought about function (for the kids to be able to camp out down there and even bunk down if they wanted to). We thought about light (because there are no windows). We thought about furniture (because we knew those old sofas were going to have to go).  We thought about flooring (because we knew that awful green carpet had to go).  We thought about what we could do with the dark brick fireplace.  We thought about the "adventure" theme that the kids were wanting... and suddenly a plan began to come together.

First, (after priming the wallpaper) we painted the walls a creamy, almost-yellow, off-white color so that we would have a neutral backdrop and open the space.  Next, we chose a chocolate brown color for painting the cement (which also had to be stripped of all the glued down strips of carpet tacks and primed...  yuck!)  Once the floor had been painted and had time to dry, we came up with the idea of stenciling something around the edges because there were many rough spots where the carpet tack strips had been pulled up (you can see these in the top left part of the photo).  Keeping in mind our adventure theme, I came up with a rope trim and made a stencil from a plastic file folder.  We also wanted to add bits of intrigue and so my son made up an East India Trading Co. logo for stenciling also.   The result of all this is the photo at left.  I loved the way the stenciling turned out.  We painted the rope in the light tan of the baseboard trim color, and then stippled back over it in the darker brown for an antiqued flair.

Next, we had to tackle the fireplace.  We decided to paint it, too, as it desperately needed to lighten up.  I wasn't sure how this would go, but we took a deep breath and plunged in.  We were going for a sort of faux stone look, so I Googled how to do that and found that cutting a sponge with large holes to the same size as the bricks, and using a couple of shades darker paint, while leaving the grout the color we painted it, would imprint a stone look onto the bricks.

We painted it first in the same color as the walls (above). And we came back in lightly with the sponge adding the darker color onto the bricks.   At this point we could see that we were actually getting somewhere, and we were ready to start adding some furniture.

We knew we had just enough money for a couple of key purchases, so we chose an affordable futon so that there would be something to sleep on down there.  I had a wicker rocker that had been in our first nursery that would work.  We found some great throw pillows -- some were given and some were purchased.  We found a "rattan" chair that was a floor model and was very reduced in price.  We found a throw rug that virtually matches the floor.  We even found a couple of other accent blankets and things.  We were also given an old trunk that really goes well with the decor.  We found a great mirror that functions much like a window for the room.  And here is the result:

We love how it turned out, and best of all the kids have gotten a tremendous amount of use out of it.  Amazing how far a little inspiration can go with someone as creatively wired as my mother is.  I am blown away by her gift for this because while I did get some creative genes, I certainly didn't get this one!