Hello, deep end. Mind if I sit down?

Woah.  Pinterest.  I finally found it.  And kow I know what people have been talking about!  It's simultaneously overloading my brain (so many inspiring things!) and providing enormous mental relief (so many inspiring things that I don't have to try to remember locations of!).  Last night I was so hyped on beautiful images, I couldn't sleep.

One of the things I'm committing to this year is our home.  I'm tired of living in a place that looks like an Ikea yard sale.  We need a style.  We need some color.  We need some furniture, unless you count wooden TV trays and $25 Office Depot printer stands furniture.  But here's the leap I've never been able to make: it costs money to upgrade from "dorm room practical" to "adult style."  Yes, Crate & Barrel has amazing items for every room in the house.  But really, we can only afford actual crates and barrels.  How do people afford to make their houses stylish and still pay for things like ... everything else?

I'm slow at this sort of thing, but Pinterest is speeding up the learning curve considerably.  Example: we need a TV stand/entertainment center.  Do we have $400 for a new one?  No, and they're all uggo anyway.  So I started wondering if we could maybe retrofit a second-hand dresser as a TV stand.  Pinterest, what do you think?

 

Wow!  Okay, so now I'm obsessed with finding a dresser and painting it.  And covering our brownish couch with a clean slipcover.  And finding more furniture to paint.  And making curtains and pillows.  Looky!

 

Through the magic of the internet, these are on their way to me as we speak.  

Hmm.  Apparently, knitting is my gateway drug to full on crafting.  I resisted it for a long time, but sewing was a chink in the armor.  Now with Pinterest, I'm all in.