The Living Room: Almost There

This room has at least four times since moving here in February. This room is where everyone spends the most time. It finally took a turn towards "better" once I found this rug. I adore it! Hides mess so well yet is light and bright. My only wish is that I bought one more size up after adding one more chair to the space. Alas I will survive. Ha.

I can see why corner shelving is no longer popular. It is hard to fill without looking sloppy or too busy. The piggy bank has since moved and I now have some pottery that I found at a yard sale on the bottom shelf. The silver bowl is our dump bowl. Keys, loose change, and the like make its way here till I clean it out. Much better than dumping everything actually on the shelf.

I bought new mats for my frames and now my favorite Cecily Lowe print takes center stage. Plus one of my all time favorite photos of the kiddos I can see daily.

We actually bought this chair before moving in from West Elm's side walk sale. At first I could not make it work in the space so it lived in our bedroom. We then found ourselves hosting tons of parties and get-together's and having an extra chair not being used seemed silly so out she came. I love how it pairs with the blue side table and our well-loved pouf.

The ikea expedient shelving from years ago still need to be styled. Really just stuck on how to do it with a tiny budget knowing that one day this piece will change all together. I am currently dreaming of this piece. Would that not be all sorts of amazing. I did end up adding two more baskets to the bottom so they are now all uniform. It's a start. We stash extra cords and blankets in them. At first I was certain that our main big purchase would be new chairs, but now that the space is evolving they have grown on me. Eventually we will get comfortable swivels, but I don't mind them being on the back burner for now. I do love the extra texture they bring into the space. 

I am head over heels for our new lamp. I love the black against the white. It also helps to draw your eye to the back of this odd shaped room. The little basket was a from a friend and the sand dollars were collected by the kiddos.

Here I also filled the frames with new mats and finally put some photos in. My favorite Raka Mod succulent holder still makes me beam. The new addition would be the most perfect vase. It adds texture without being demanding visually.

These too have been rearranged a tad. My weird vase still makes me smile every time I look at it. The shelves hold so much old and new. The dough bowl was my grandmothers. I remember filling it with treasures from her yard when I was just a girl. The Peter Pottery was a wedding gift. The mirrored houses found at for a steal at West Elm add just a fun touch. The books are ones I have been collecting for years. Currently my favorite design books that I keep on going back to are Habitat, Ellen Home, kinfolk home, and Commune. This one is next on my list. Anyone have it?

This is the space from the other direction. You can see I put the chair back by the sofa. It used to live where the leather one is now. I know design wise it may not be "right", but livability wise it is just what this room needed. It adds as extra spot for tv viewing and adds a place to perch when we have guests which is almost always these days. The mirror, another west elm flea find, still needs to be hung and I am really hoping by the next time I post this that I won't be writing that once again. Ha. You can also see our dining room pendant sticking out. It really was such a great buy.

The light that comes through the windows is amazing. Just not for picture taking. The blog really is a family affair ;) As you can see we are trying to use much of what we have and add a few things here and there to pull it all together. Eventually we may end replacing things like getting new swivels, but for now we are still in the nitty gritty of home renovation. Currently things like new appliances trumps all.

ROOM EVOLUTION: 1 | 2 | 3 | There is even another stage where I seem to not have photographed. It held our old rug that was way too small for the space.

SHOP OUR SPACE : rug | piggy bank | silver bowl | 16x20 frames | Cecily Lowe Print | blue side table | pouf {similar} | woven baskets | stripe pillows | mirrored side table {similar & similar} | wood stool | black lamp | white vase | gold table frame | marble and wood book end | mirror {similar} | wood danish chair {similar} | sheep skin on piano bench | sofa | end tables by sofa |

The Estate of Things

As I waded through the house of someone unknown to me I felt a story unfold that I had not been told. It was a story of a couple that loved to travel, a possible AD man or photographer, they were collectors of art and fine rugs. I could see that this was their retirement home, but as I saw every mid-century modern piece and a hand stitched quilt for every season I knew that their first home must have been something special. A badminton set with enough gear to host quite the party was forgotten in the basement corner. Unframed portraits that were so beautiful that words can not describe. As soon as I saw this rug that most ignored I knew it was just the piece that I was wanting for our very own home. I am sure they bought it on their travels or so my version of the story goes. They found it worthy to be a piece to bring to their retirement home, to the home they would one day pass on in. It was a value to them whether it was bought for a special memory or a piece they just appreciated. I am grateful for it now to live in our home where the kiddos will pass upon it dozens of times a day. It will now rest here and we will be able to build upon the memories that this rug had started.

Can't find one locally... this shop is a current favorite.

The Kitchen as it Stands Today

Oh the kitchen. The kitchen that began here. I am quickly seeing that this will be the space that will continually evolve until we re-do it all together. Most upgrades will be on a tight budget, but the more I tweak it with little details the more I like it and the more I think we can live it as is. Well for awhile that is. The cabinets have seen better days, but the new coat of paint has done wonders.

I hung my favorite cow print which made the space feel more like home. The rug doesn't hurt either. I added new copper pulls to match the existing copper hardware. This was a cheap fix, under $3 a pull, and gave the cabinets more of a masculine feel. Plus I love how it unites the kitchen with the dining room.

This view is from the dining room doorway. The dark cabinets even make the 1950's laminate counters look better {well from a distance, the swirls are still there}. We did toy around with changing to ikea butcher block, but that may still be more that we want to spend on a kitchen that we know we will not be keeping.

Between the refrigerator and left wall we are planning to add open shelving. I will move our cups and some plates there in the hopes of opening up the built-ins some for more pantry space and to get some things off of the counters. Can you see the sink shining once again? Still giddy I was about to restore it after the mess we made with the first round of renovation.

As you can see I didn't finish painting the other side. I wanted to live with it for a bit since that piece will stay once we re-do the kitchen. I jump between using the same alabaster wall color to blend it in or going dark like the cabinets {Railings by Farrow & Ball color matched by Sherwin Williams}. Today my gut says go dark. I will also be changing the pulls to the copper cups as you can see how feminine they currently are which just doesn't fit into our overall esthetic.

Now what you can't see in the pictures is that our fridge leaks daily, the dishwasher cover warped so badly while we were out of town that I had to super glue it, the cabinets have been worked hard with in the U, and the said leak is causing the floor to pop. The latter we aren't too heart broken about though to be honest. All this to say that our Black Friday new appliance buying was moved to Memorial Day sales appliance buying! Tomorrow I am expecting all new appliance and I am giddy!!! This will also lead to again changing a few things.

NEXT STEPS:

The slide-in range will be much smaller so we will have to add a bookshelf or new cabinet {which we have downstairs} to the left of it.

We will be able to take down the last of the glass panel behind the current range. This will open up the sight lines even more and give us a flat surface all the way around. We will add some sort of lip so little hands can not reach up and get burned.

We may just go ahead and take up the floor. We will have to do a cheap alternative as our next kitchen floor plan may change a tad. We are wanting to continue the hardwoods into here as of now.

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Can I tell you how hard it is to not just go ahead and make all the changes at once. We already have cabinets that were gifted to us in the basement that just need a new coat of paint. They came out of a kitchen that was being re-done, but that are stunning and still in wonderful shape. Why won't we just bite the bullet then? As I ask myself the same question I know when we bought this house we did not want to go in debt over it. We have spent our whole marriage debt free {besides an occasional car and mortgage}. We lived way below our means during different seasons of life. We had one car for years and even then it didn't always want to run. We still do a version of Dave Ramsey even when I started bringing in money. We pay cash for all our vacations as they are a value to us and we budget them in. As I write this as a reminder to myself on why we can't do the kitchen now I do know that once we can fit into the budget new floors, counters, and any other unexpected expense it will be all the sweeter knowing it is paid for. Right?