I'm in need of a rescue

Many of you probably already know this, but this past January, we bought our first house.  It's been both exciting and overwhelming.  I feel like there's been a lot piled on me since then.  Seriously, a week after moving in, we got a puppy.  I don't think I've shared the story of how Toby came to be ours so here you go:

We moved into our house on a Saturday.  The following Monday, my husband was gone, traveling for work, for the whole week.  That's a typical week here.  During his time home the next weekend, he wanted to put our fence up so that the little guy could go outside and play.  Sunday afternoon, he and his brothers and dad are out there, finishing it up (since he had to leave the next day.  Again.) when he tells me his boss is going to come by.  He and his fiance had just gotten two golden retriever puppies, a brother and a sister, and wanted to bring one over for the little man to play with.  He knew that we had been talking about getting a dog for the little man as a belated Christmas present (we wanted to wait until we were in the house before we got a dog) so he told us we could have him. Apparently having two puppies was much more than they were able to handle and they wanted him to go to a good home.  So, before I knew it, we had a dog.  An 8-week-old puppy with parasites that wasn't housebroken.  Yay me.  I was (and still am) going to school full-time, had a house that needed unpacking, a two-year-old to take care of and a puppy needing constant supervision because he would have accidents on the carpet.  I took him to the vet, she gave him some medicine that got rid of the parasites.  He is now 5 months old and a happy, healthy (and now completely housebroken) dog.  But he's been problematic and a big source of stress for me (with my husband having to travel so much for work, I'm primarily responsible for taking care of him) at the same time.  He's the runt of his litter and has some major submission issues which means he pees when he thinks he's in trouble or gets excited or feels intimidated.  He pees nearly every time my husband walks by him.  Now, not that I am not grateful that he is a part of our family-I wouldn't give him away unless he injured someone or seriously just became too much for us to handle-BUT the whole thing was just bad timing and I haven't been able to catch my breath from it all yet.  

Enter my sad, neglected house.  Needless to say, our house is in need of some serious help, decorative-wise.

Here's our great room.  It's a nice, big space.  But it intimidates me at the same time.  I just don't know what to do with it.

Our (free) couches are in serious need of replacement.

Never mind the drum set sitting by the TV.  Not sure what it's doing there.  Or our sad TV stand.  Most of our furniture is hand-me-downs from when we first moved to Albuquerque and had no money.  Not knocking hand-me-downs, because they sure beat sitting on the floor, but they're not exactly what I would pick if I had shopped for our furniture myself.  I do, however, love that little cabinet to the left of the TV.  We use it to store our movies and games.  It needs a little fixing, but it's a great piece.  People ask me all the time where we got it.

 

As you can see, my walls are white and bare.  And my couch is sad.  Again, not awful for free, but the cushions are all starting to lose their shape and I'm not a huge fan of micro-suede.

And I'm not in love with the current arrangement of the furniture in here-it tends to attract clutter, which I don't like-but I don't know what to do with it.

With all that I've got on my plate-school, toddler, puppy, housework (oh and by the way, did I mention I'm 11 weeks pregnant?  So add just plain ole exhausted to that)-I'm just so overwhelmed by it.  Every time I sit down and try to figure out what to do with this room, I just get frustrated.

Then there's our master bedroom.

It's a mess.  Literally.  Another space I just don't know what to do with.

We don't even have a head board!  Part of the problem is, we're planning on getting a new bed, so I don't really want to start decorating in here until then.  We've already got some great bed linens for the new bed and I want to do something that will coordinate with them.  But in the meantime, I've got nothing.  Right now, it has a very impersonal feel to it (at least to me.  I'm sure my husband doesn't care.)

Here's where the amazing Mandi could help me out:

If you've never heard of Mandi and her amazing blog, Vintage Revivals, you are seriously missing out.  The woman is a serious decor genius!  

Look what she did with her own house.  

Before.

After.

Amazing.  If she can do that, then my house should be a breeze.

And she's super-generous, too.  She is having a contest in which she will come to the winner's home to give said super-lucky person a much-needed home make-over!  How awesome?!?!?!?!  I know she could give my house the help it needs and help me sort out all of the decorating ideas I've got floating around in my head.
So, Mandi, here's why you should come to my house:
1.  I live in lovely, sunny Florida and June is prime beach time.  So when we're not giving my house the once-over, you could be working on your tan.  And I know where the nice beaches are :)
2.  I lovelovelove your blog and all of your super-craptastic creations.  I truly do love your guts.  If you'd like me to go on, I can-I am not above flattery!
3.  I think we'd be friends if we were to ever meet.
4.  I think my sad pictures of my house speak for themselves, but just in case they weren't loud enough: my house, in its current state, makes me sad.  It's a nice house and it needs some love that I can't give it right now.  It meets all the criteria: it's in desperate need of a make-over, we own it so painting isn't a problem and I'm totally open to whatever fun, crazy things you come up with!
A big, fat thank you to Mandi and her super sponsors for sponsoring this awesome opportunity in the first place.  You all rock!