Decorating Dilemma

I thought I had a little bit of style until I moved into a new house.  Now I feel like a decorating hack.  I now realize that buying a house that is not a fixer-upper is not all it's cracked up to be, because although the house is nice, it might not be your style and I have found that injecting my style into someone else's style is not as easy as painting the walls...despite what Realtors would have you think.  "It's just paint!" Are they kidding?  More like paint, window treatments, furniture size and placement, even little things like the covers on the ceiling fan lights or the colors inside the can lights.

So, I am at a crossroads with several of the rooms in this house, starting with the master bedroom.  I picked out a darker gray color for the bedroom to replace the faux yellow and gold color scheme they had in the room.  After the painters left, I felt like something was wrong but couldn't put my finger on it.  Then it hit me a few days later, the ceiling was a yellowish color to go with the yellow on the walls.  The carpet on the ground was also a greenish blue color that went well with their colors but not at all well with the new gray walls.  There were also tuscan style yellow covers on the ceiling fan lights and gold insides of the can lights.  So, now I am having to make changes little by little.  I changed the covers on the fan lights to white from yellow.  I put up white curtains and I pulled the painters back in to paint the ceiling and trim white.  Getting there, slowly...

Note:  I like this duvet cover from West Elm but it is having issues.  The silver details are unraveling and I haven't even washed this one yet.  I had another one on which the silver details completely unraveled and I sent it back to be exchanged for a new cover.  So now, I need to get yet another cover after I send this one back...again.  Annoying and I don't know which cover can replace this one.  Especially since it took about 6 months just to find this one.

Notice the carpet?  Like the texture, hate the color.  I am stuck.  I have a dog that sometimes does her business on this carpet and although I promptly clean it up, I would cry if she did it on a brand new carpet.  I also have kids and a boyfriend who is not always good about taking his shoes off after walking through mud.  I thought of hardwood with a rug underneath but this is Chicago, land of brutal, unforgiving winters.  Carpet is a luxury in the winter that I don't want to give up, even if it is more aesthetically pleasing.  I tried calling in a decorator and she said to dye it, but had never dyed a carpet herself or seen the results of anyone else who dyed a carpet.  Not calling her back.    

I like my night stand but my boyfriend's is a mess (see first picture above).  I tried opening his drawer and sweeping everything inside and practically got knocked over by the amount of junk spilling out of it.  Basket next to the night stand to hold all of that stuff?  Perhaps...

Before:  I hung these hooks on the wall hoping that it would provide a pretty way to display and store my jewelry.  Plus, if I put it in the drawer, it will become a big mess that I constantly have to untangle.  Plus, without seeing it all on the wall, I might forget what I have.

After: I think this is a more tidy look by grouping the light and dark jewelry together.  I also took out stuff that I haven't worn in ages.  

Finally, bed styling.  These pillows came from the couch in my boyfriend's old house.  Hating to waste perfectly good pillows and having blown through a lot of money on various home improvements, and needing something to pull the bed together, they are now in the bedroom.  I am not thrilled with them but I am on a budget and they don't clash too horribly with the hated carpet.