Welcome to week two on the blog with my Zinus Spring Decor Makeover!! And what a week it has been!

(If you didn’t catch my bedroom refresh, make sure you head over and check it out here!)

This week I challenged myself to create a living area using only one new item, the Zinus Benton sofa.  Everything else in the space needed to be either thrifted, DIY’d, or from my own home. This idea took on a whole new meaning this week, however, as the Coronavirus hit our area here in Atlanta and everyone has been asked to stay inside home, only going out if necessary! I wanted to tweak my challenge to abide by these guidelines, so I opted out of thrifting or purchasing anything for the space in order to stay at home.

As you can see I started with the blankest of blank rooms. Three white walls, white floors, and a small window.

The first thing to do was to create some character in the room itself.  I headed to the basement and browsed my selection of extra paint from previous projects.  I chose to use Peach Maison by Sherwin Williams that I had recently used in my dining room. For visual interest, I opted for painting only three quarters up the wall and then adding some decorative trim to frame the windows. This instantly added some needed character to the previously very basic room.

But I wasn’t quite done adding color to the space. I thought it would be beautiful to add additional color into the room by painting a pattern on the floor. Because I was home bound, I decided to create my own stencil using a piece of plastic cut into a half oval. The process was simple! I measured the height of the wooden floor boards, then cut a piece of plastic into a square using the height of the board as the width as well. I then traced a half oval on the piece.

I wasn’t worried about it being perfect, I wanted the design to emulate old hand made tiles, each piece being unique and slightly imperfect. Then I used the plastic as my guide and painted the shape in rows until I had covered the entire space.

For the light I had planned on thrifting a wicker basket and turning it into a DIY pendant light shade. Because I was stuck at home, I decided instead to do my own version of a 1920's inspired fringed pendant using colorful yarn and two wooden circles. I first cut the largest circle in half and then glued strands of cut yarn side by side down the length of most of the circle! I was all out of hot glue sticks, (Whaaaa), so I had to use construction adhesive instead which was messy and stinky and I do not recommend it!



I made it through, however, and then glued the other half of the circle on top of the first and secured it with clamps for an hour until the adhesive had dried. I had my husband drill two small holes, one on each side of the half circle, then I threaded fishing wire in a loop on both sides. Next we took the smaller wooden circle, tied the fishing wire around it, and attached it to the ceiling with a couple of screws. Our new pendant light now brightens up the space with some vintage inspired joy!

With all of the DIY’s finished, it was time to shop for my home. I walked through my house looking for extra pieces that weren’t being used, or ones that wouldn’t mind being borrowed. I do this pretty often to my home, I love creating new spaces without spending a dime. There are so many different looks you can create when you swap out art pieces and lamps, or pillows and throws.

Finally my space was finished. It’s pretty amazing how you can create a high impact visual space utilizing little more than creativity and DIY. I love that my only purchase in this room was my Zinus Benton sofa. It really shows that it does not take a lot of money to create a space you love.  In fact, one piece of decorating advice I often give is to be mindful of the amount of money you spend when shopping for small decorative objects for your home. Oftentimes we’ll feel that a larger item such as a couch or a chair is out of budget, but if we tally up what we’ve spent on small things, we’ll see that the money was actually there, we just nickel and dimed ourselves out of it.  Small items are easy to fill in slowly over time. Invest in your large item, and then take time to fill in the small things.

One thing I love about Zinus is that they have created a line of modern furniture and mattresses that fit inline with most people’s budgets, allowing you to create a home you love without breaking the bank.  They also offer a 100 day return policy on all of their items, as well as incredibly generous warranties so you can feel confident when you go to purchase. #affordtobeyou

The sofa I used in this makeover is called the Benton Sofa, and you can find it HERE!

Want more decor ideas?

This Blog is Sponsored by Zinus, but as always, all opinions and thoughts are my own!