Extreme Makeover! (well not that extreme)

My house has been for sale for at least 6 months and I haven't had a single person want to look at it.  There are so many houses around mine for sale and they are just not selling either.  So I have accepted that for now I am going to have to stay here but needed to make some changes so that I don't hate it.  I hate clutter but definitely have hoarding tendencies (I'll be on the show in 20 years for sure).  I also REALLY hate cleaning.  Now my house was not a pigsty or anything but it needs some sprucing up and updating.  Some of my furniture and stuff is from my freshman year in college..which was..well...a while ago.  My mom came down to help me today because I have a tendency to procrastinate, wander off task, and/or have complete meltdowns.  Mom keeps me focused...for the most part.  Our first mission was to recover my dining rooms chairs which were a light beige that showed all sorts of stains (like the big one where a cat threw up).  Here is the before and after.  I had never used a staple gun before so that was fun.                                    

We also got new placemats, napkins, napkin rings, and put some lights in my tree.  Here is my new (and a bit Christmasy) dining room!

We also found this super cute fabric and I am going to recover this bench seat.  Right now it is just folded because neither me nor my mom can sew at all.  Mary- this is your project.



In between stapling I was tying knots for my new wreath.  I want to start making lots of wreaths but figured I should start with an extremely easy kind as I am not very crafty (although I really want to be, darn it).  It turned out ok for a first attempt.  I stole the idea from this blog: Ribbon wreath.  I think it might be a little small but that was the only size wreath mold the store had and it could be a little neater  My next wreath is going to be one where you loop lots of different ribbon together. 



While we were out shopping I stumbled across a few other fun things like this adorable pillow from Pier 1 which was 50% off.  It was meant to be on my bed!  I also got a cool fluffy purple one for my couch downstairs. 

And then there was this.  I have no explanation other than I needed it.