It never ceases to amaze me what an impact a small change can make in my home. A little tweak can bring new life to a space in my home and make me love it even more! I recently completed a few little updates around my house and am so happy with the results!
One small change I made recently was switching out the cabinet hardware on my tv stand. The knobs that came with the tv stand were nothing special and didn't stand out. So I started to keep an eye out for some new knobs that had some more interest. I found some acrylic and brassy-gold knobs at Hobby Lobby. They were 50% off to boot! So I swapped them for the old ones and they make such a difference.
The brassy-gold tie in nicely with the hinges. Plus, they pick up the same hue as the brass animal I have sitting on top of the tv stand. Who knew two little knobs could make me love our blue tv stand even more?!
I also made a change to our vacation gallery wall in the living room recently. I adore our little gallery wall because it features photographs and artwork of all our travels! Looking at our gallery wall brings back so many sweet memories of all our trips Adam and I have taken together. I had included a mirror, a "K" initial and some other artwork to help fill in the space originally. But since I first hung the gallery wall, we've done quite a bit of traveling! I just kept adding frame after frame and it was starting to look a bit sloppy.
So I decided to take the whole gallery wall down and start over. I took out the stuff that didn't relate to our travels. Then I laid everything out on the floor in an arrangement I was happy with. From there I made paper templates of each frame, including marks indicating where I would need to add nails to the wall. (I followed a similar method in this post.) Then I added the nails to the wall and hung everything up! Luckily, most of the old holes were covered by the frames. I did have to Spackle and repaint a few holes, but the end result was totally worth it!
I love how the map with push pins indicating the places we've been together is front and center. And the new arrangement of photos is far more pleasing to the eye. This update was free, though it did take some time. But what a difference it makes!
The last of my little updates took place in the office nook in our bedroom. I used to keep all of our paperwork in a file cabinet next to the desk. While it was very functional, it was not very pretty. You can tell from the photograph below that our printer sat on top of the file cabinet, as well.
When we got our tv stand, I decided to move the printer into it. Since it is wireless, it could go anywhere around the house. It fit perfectly into its new home. Then I had to figure out what to do with our file cabinet. I went through all the paperwork and was surprised at how much I could get rid of! I managed to get all of our paperwork into a small wooden file crate. Since it was so small, I was able to put it in our closet, which meant I didn't even need the file cabinet anymore! So I moved that sucker out of there.
That wall looks much less cluttered now. I also picked up this surge protector that plugs into the wall. That way all the cords are off the floor. Another little update that made a big impact!