Clean Slate

After a busy few weeks of packing & unpacking, my family is finally all moved into our new (to us) house. Now comes the fun & challenging part of decorating.. one of my favorite things to do! This place is challenging because there are a few obstacles.
#1, We're renters so we can't do anything too drastic.
#2, i'm working with dark wood trim that I've grown to really like but it makes the house seem dark.
#3, my couch doesn't fit the flow of the living room.. like not at all. So it's kind of awkwardly placed in the only arrangement it'll work in this room. Believe me, we've tried every possible way & it just doesn't work well with this room which is unfortunate because I like the couch and it's virtually brand new.
#4, I have so much wall space, I don't know what to do with myself. I've changed my mind a bazillion times about what I've wanted to do in certain spaces.
#5, There is WAY too much neutral going on and I can't stand it. I love color. And right now everything looks so traditional and kinda blah. My living room is thirsting for color.

I came across a blog article the other day, I can't remember who wrote it or where I saw it, but the lady talked about how she was sick of the decor in her home so she sold everything she owned, painted all of her walls white and started all over from scratch. I almost wish I could do that. But at least at this point in time, there's no way I could. Especially not with 2 kids. But it got me thinking about what I would change, what I'd like my house to look like, etc. I put a design board together of an ideal living room, for the fun of it and this is what I came up with:


All courtesy of WestElm, (I got lazy and didn't want to visit several sites ;) but this is pretty darn close to what I'd love my living room to look like)

Would still need to find an ottoman, some lamps and curtains.... but someday, I'd love to start over on a clean slate and see what new design I could come up with.