Gwen Moss: February 2020

Hello Friends,

And welcome to my blog. If you're new here I'm SO happy to have you visit! Welcome. Welcome.

And if you're one of my returning friends... well, you probably know I've been completely off the grid for awhile. No Instagram. No blogging. Just a total break. And maybe you figured it out already because we do talk about real-life things here. But the truth is, it's been a difficult time as I navigated my way through January. As you can imagine, facing a new year with all the energetic focus on the future feels completely different to a grieving parent.

But I'll share more about that later.

In the meantime--- I've got company!! Yes, YOU!

You're here. And so many others because there's a house tour going on and I have to admit, I'm pretty awe-struck by the bloggers Cindy has assembled here for this living room project.

If I was my normal nerdy self I would be downright intimidated because I'm such an long-time admirer of these gals, I just love their distinct styles. And whenever I see them participating in things like this ---I can't wait to see their homes.

Also, because I love funny stories (especially at my expense) I have to ask you this personal question.

Have you ever been home in your jammies, with not a drop of make-up on, just drinking coffee in your messy house and in my case, holding a wet paint brush---when you get a call from some out-to-town friends who are nearby and want to stop by RIGHT NOW and say Hi?

I'm laughing as I write this because that's exactly ME. And this project. The back story is that apparently I had said yes to Cindy some fuzzy months ago about a 'refresh project' and of course I felt honored to be included because...well, who doesn't love hanging out with Cindy and MaryAnn?

Only I guess I didn't hear the words, LIVING ROOM and so I was just humming along, finishing up my bathroom and my new linen closet. And feeling relieved I could at least share these parts of my house when the time came.

Of course. Right?

The guests ALWAYS gotta hang out in that one room you didn't get to. HA!. But no worries, in real life if this happens--I hope you've learned to do what I do, shrug and say WTF and pull out a good bottle of wine. Cause that's my attitude.

The good news is that it really did force me to keep it simple, and I actually challenged myself NOT to buy anything new for this room. You know how we always talk about shopping our own house? Well I actually did it (besides buying flowers and plants). And here's the hard part---not getting all crazy and trying to pretend I'm a designer, which of course I'm not. I did some easy stuff. Dusting for one. And I hope you like it.

Simple ways I refreshed my living room

5 things

1. Fresh flowers and plants

2. Change out pillow covers

Seriously, don't you love finding pillow covers you washed and then forgot about? It helps that I'd just cleared out my (hoarder-looking) linen closet.

3. Layer couch with colorful throw or quilt

Since I was using a jewel-colored Batik cloth for my throw, I brought these Mudcloth pillows back out for my white chairs.

4. Shop your home

Walk around your house with a fresh eye and
relocate prints and art from other rooms..

Here's another example. I spied this vintage print in my kitchen

and I moved it into the laundry room ..

so I could bring this modern print into the living room.

The biggest change in this room happened when I moved all these deep gray botanical prints from an overlooked wall in my dining room, and hung them in here.

Hard to get a good pic because of the glare from the window.