My 'blue flower' family room

I have been away for a couple of days from my desk since I re-did my family room and gave it an absolut low budget makeover.
Here a view into our room before.



The first thing on my agenda was to repaint this old dresser, which I had picked up a couple of years ago on the curb somewhere in the neighborhood and planned on doing something with it. Well, it spend a long time in my basement assisting with the laundry...
My husband had asked serveral times when he could get rid of this old piece of junk and finally I decided to jump into action.
After thourough cleaning I spray painted it with a primer and then with antique white, splurged on knobs from 'Anthropologie' and here you see the result. It gives me a chance to put away things usually flying around in our family room, sweets, candles, games, and there is still space!
And I cover the view into my kitchen a bit. I am not a fan of that one and eventually we will tackle that too.





I love those knobs, I took different ones, I liked them all, so I decided to use three different types. The top drawers are smaller, so these mother of pearl knobs fit perfectly, below a bit larger ones.



Work in progress. We tried different turquoise blues and finally decided on Benjamin Moore's 'blue flower'. It is the right amount of blue with a hint of green, just perfect for the different whites in the room. It does not overpower and works with my artwork.



The basket in the photo below is used for cushions which are used outside, but with all the rain lately we had hardly a chance to sit outdoors...



My first fully blooming peonies of the season, aren't they beautiful?



And here the result of three days of hard labor...

I have a confession to make, a couple of weeks ago I visited IKEA and first found nothing good to say about most of the sofas, but Joni from 'Cote de Texas', as well as Maria Killam from 'Color me Happy' both suggested the Ektorp sofa and yes, I followed your advise, bought the thing and I am happy with it. I know, it is white, but washable and my kids, dog and hubby have strict orders...
My budget was $ 500 including the sofa and I managed to get by! Phew, I am very proud of myself...









All work, painting, hammering and the pictures were taken by V. Zlotkowski (and a little help from my darling husband)