When redecorating goes bad

Well, for better or worse, I'm gonna post pics of the nightmare re-decor--but first:

Fashion forward Jenna--love when she gets herself dressed

Gavin and Brent's last fishing date for the season--unless there's one more:

OK, enough procrastinating.  Here is the picture of my inspiration hanging on my teal accent wall:
Here it is with the other teal accent wall I decided to paint in the living room:

Now...just remember it looks a little better in person...OK..breeeeeeeath....Actually, quick story about the color.  I wanted grey and picked out the first grey I liked.  The day after I was done painting, my chinese visiting teaching partner came by.  Her comments--word for word, "Oh! Yu payn yo howz!  Wha calaw iz dat?  Purpow?  Oh, it LAVENDA!"  I took one look around and realized that she was right.  My living room was lavender.  I went strait back to the store and bought a brownier grey and repainted. Ok...here's the view of half #1

Can you see the dilemma I had?  I had to work with speckled rainbow/white carpet and a pooh brown brick fireplace--not to mention the HUMONGOUS curtain hanging thing that looked worse grey--Oh, and I couldn't paint the ceiling yet as I had to wait for Brent to scrape the popcorn ceiling off--which could be another couple years, or so.

View of half #2

Now, couple of things I need some feedback on: 

1. The lights.  I got them at World Market and loved the idea of the delicate cascade of light that it promised.  They look yellow here, but are actually brown burlap. Likey or no likey?

2. The little accent drawer.  I thought I would pull in some turquoise and thought that black would look good on top--it was already ancient looking so I went with a crackle.  It looks like Halloween, especially because I hung that orange wreathe there when I was pulling out the fall decor.  Please believe me when I say I know this CLASHES--but I am hesitant to try another color.  I'm thinking red/cream or stay with the turquoise but use a mahogany brown instead of black...?

3.My beautiful kids.  I like the prints and am having them mounted and this finish put on them so they will be bullet proof and not SHINY.  Do they need anything else?  Above or maybe have them sitting on a long black shelf?  ...GAAAA, I hate this stuff!   

4. The black lamp shade.  I painted the balls turquoise--they were brown.  I've tried adding a black fringe, using a grey lamp shade, using a grey lamp shade with black fringe---I can't figure out what works?  or should I just leave it black?  I actually liked adding the table behind the couch--funny how we've had that table for, what...at least 8 years and it's always been in storage.

 5. My watercolors.  If you look back to view #1 you will see I hung them on the side of the fireplace.  It was just such an empty space and I couldn't figure out what I could do there--for free.  Again, like or no like?   

6.  I painted the trim pretty white, white.  I'm wondering if a creamier white would look better...

So, that is as far as I have gotten.  It's so hard and I am so impatient.  Time to be honest.  Are your eyes on fire?

Shoot me now...

The last couple of weeks I attempted a big project.  I took a look around my living room and decided it was high time for a little color in my life.  I bought a colorful print that I loved and used that as my inspiration for curtains, paint, accent pieces....and now, I am going to officially take back everything I've ever said about Interior Design being a crock of **crackers.** 

I am not going to share any pictures of the white trash remodel for now--not until I have the money to REDO what I just RE-DID. I'm going to share what was supposed to be the finishing touch--the creme de la creme, if you will.  Ya, it back fired too.  You see, I tried to copy my friend Mary's cute black and white close up's of her kiddos.  Let's just say I also take back anything I've ever said about how any person can take a great picture if they just had the right camera...

Who knew kids could be SO INFURIATING!!  Jenna sure tried to please me--that lady can pose and pose...

She would just change from serious to...laughy
to...triple chin all on her own!
Kesley was probably my biggest challenge--but surprisingly had the most potential shots in the end.  I got TONS of the smirk, the lower lip puff and finally a few that reminded me what we had for breakfast--biscuits and gravy--I guess we should have brushed teeth first! :)

 Gavin proved to be the biggest pain in the butt.  I mostly got this:
 After church (Yes, we did go this week) I tried a new approach--bribery.  One dollar got me lots of fake smiles (but a genuine effort), a few constipated shots and one shot that looked very much like a donkey...

They're not awesome, but this is what I decided on in the end.  They will be black and white when I print them.  They will hang above my couch and will probably only ever be seen by me because we don't get a lot of company---but I'm going to give myself an "A" for effort and feel good about it!