DIY Plate-Scape/Living Room Wall Make-Over

We've lived in our house for nearly 4 years and I've just now got my living room about where I want it.

Since we moved in, we've painted it from drab, celedon green to a bright, cheery yellow, bought a new couch (which, strangely, ended up the same color as the green walls!), new chairs, new rug and a new coffee table (which we've never had before), and we also added plantation shutters on the windows.

Here are some random before pictures with our old furniture, that is now upstairs in the game-room (note how old my two oldest were--13 mo and almost 3! WOW time flies! Also note the celedon green walls, no rug, and I obviously had no idea what to do with the piano).

By this time, we had at least gotten a rug. Thanks, Sister-in-law! You know, for getting married and not needing it in your newly-wed home. ;)

I rearranged the furniture a couple times and then painted the room yellow. Here are mid-way pictures. New paint, new couch, new rug (old dog ruined the other one; dog is gone, too.)...it's getting better!

Moved the piano, but still don't know what to do above it.
And, lastly, we had the fireplace re-faced and added built-ins. Here's a before (that was taken before we moved in...I was making a file of the houses we were looking at and I can't find another one).

Here it is now. So much cozier and a better use of space. And no more God-forsaken mirror-with-no-point above the mantle!! (and the piano is now anchored with that framed piece, from SD's grandmother, that I just love!)

So all that has been left to do, besides the window dressings (coming soon!), was pretty up the wall above the couch. I had had a mirror up there (which you might remember from this post), but when we switched the sideboard with the couch and two end-tables, it wasn't centered on the wall and it was too tall and narrow for the visual space of the wall.

(Does anyone else have a room where the centers don't line up? Our fireplace/built-in area is shoved all the way down the front wall to the left side, because of the stairwell on the right, but the windows on the back wall stretch all the way across. Makes it very difficult to figure out how to center your furniture! GRRRR!)

Anyway, the mirror was off-center and too narrow for the space, as I said before, so I took it down. And all that was left was a big ol' blank, yellow wall.

Too much yellow!!

I knew I needed something. Artwork? Pictures? Another mirror? Something funky?

And then I saw some pretty "plate-scapes" over at The Nester's, and I knew I needed my own. I had planned to go antiquing to fine some pretty white plates and platters, along with some blue and white transferware, to hang on the wall over the couch.

But that really wasn't realistic seeing as how I can barely get to the grocery store, let alone an antique shop.

And then I saw someone's (can't remember!) post about painting plates to match her decor. Find a cheap plate with pretty lines, add a coat of primer, 2 coats of paint and voila! Instant accent for your wall or shelf.

But that's not realistic either, since I'd have to shop for the plates and paint, and then actually paint them.

So, I got to thinking...our everyday dishes are all white (Mikasa, French Country). We never use them all at once. If we have company, we use disposables or the china.

Well, why not?

So then, I got out my white serving platters, added a few salad plates and dinner plates, and laid them out on the floor to play with the arrangement. Then I added some fun colorful bread and butter plates (those I'll miss--I used them a lot--I'll get over it!) to give my "plate-scape" a little color, bought some plate hangers and commenced to hangin'.

Funny thing, though...I laid them all out on my floor, took pictures, moved them around, took more pictures, decided on an arrangement, and then ,when I started hanging, they ended up in yet another arrangement altogether.

But I think it turned out great anyway. In fact, after I had the whole thing up on the wall, I felt it needed more, so I added 2 soup bowls, which indeed balanced it out better.

And here's the final look.

(Here's another shot of the whole living room...you can see to the left where the sideboard finally ended up, and the piano is to the right of the fireplace)

What do you think?

I love it!

In fact, this whole plate-scape project turned out so much better than I had even imagined it in my head. I love how the red, green, and blue colors of my b&b plates really pop on that yellow wall, while at the same time picking up the colors in the throw pillows. Not planned at all. In fact I was totally set on the blue & white look and felt like I was settling by using the ones I had.

I'm glad I did though. I can't stop looking at it (that will wear off soon, though, seeing as I have children I'm supposed to be watching).

Just goes to show that if you purchase what you like (style/color-wise), then throwing your seemingly random things together (i.e.plates meant for food in the kitchen are now hanging on a living room wall like art) will work well in most cases. AND it saves you money, too!

Thanks for wading through this incredibly long and rambling post to finally see my DIY project!

And "thanks" to Kimba for hosting this DIY party. Be sure to head to her place and check out everyone else's DIY projects this week. I've got a couple more projects up my sleeves so I'm looking forward to working on them and sharing them with you.