Our Living Spaces

Ok, Ok, I know already!  Go ahead and take a looksie first, I know you are all dying!  Boy did I ever feel the peer pressure to get these photos up!  You know who you are ladies (wink)!  I hope it is worth all the hype and speculation!  It has been two years already since we moved here into Mark's childhood home,  we have so many little things left to do but I have to say I felt a huge sense of relief and accomplishment when the carpet in the living room was pulled up and the hardwoods were laid.  Hubs did such a great job don't ya think?!!!There is so much to show so I figured I would start with the spaces that we live in as a family just about 99% of the time, even though the kids rooms are right off the family room, they always seem to bring their stuff out into the family space.  This house is turning into the cottage in the woods that I knew it could be and it surely feels more and more like home.  I will try to give a quick little caption under every photo with the details. 

 

First order of business in this house that was accomplished was hanging this chandy from Ballards Designs.  LOVE it!!!  Love the oversized look, it is visible from just about every room in this house so I am so glad that I decided to make it large and in charge!

 

  Since the house is pretty open I try to make the transition from each room seamless.  Carrying the same colors and textures throughout the spaces seems to make the rooms feel like one big room.  Same Ikea slipcovered furniture, just new pillows in my current favorite shades of gray and chartreuse.  Found these pillows in Wisconsin at Gordmans and they became my starting point in here .

 Found some wonderful greeting cards at Iron Grate over the weekend and I framed them with my Dryads Dancing frames and hung 3 on each side of our couch/window,  I really like the look of it! 

 Original artwork in the form of greeting cards at $7 a piece, priceless! 

 Here you can start to see the new floors that we laid.  I chose Hand Scraped Maple Country wood floors from Home Depot, I love the wider planks and warm, rich color.  It really added alot of character to the rooms.  My cute little coffee table was a Craigslist find for $45 from Tag.

 Antlers are so hot right now and I love having a pair that were my Dad's.   (Um from a deer he got, not actually from his head, my Dad was not Bambi!)

 I have gotten rid of so much stuff since moving here, which means only very special items get displayed, this is from my Grandmother, my   parents sent these candle holders to her when they lived in Germany before I was born. 

 I had the buffett and chairs from my sister, and just a few weeks ago I got the table to complete the set, she is going to move and I was helping her and she said I earned it!! Woweee! It is from Ethan Allen. 

 This cute little book table was a find at Salvation Army, it was like new and I snatched it right up, even on the extra 20% off day!  Lucky Ducky I know!  Sorry it is blurry, I still don't have the greatest balance when I kneel on my bad leg. 

 Love my candles burning in the winter, this is apple crumble by Bath and Body works, my favorite scent!

 These pillows have a story, they are made by Hable Construction and are quite expensive, meaning I would never purchase them on my budget.  I had seen them in my favorite store Pizitz in Seaside a few years ago.  I went shopping at a consignment store while in Florida one day and they had a pair of these for sale, in my budget!  I snatched them up so fast the lady's head was spinning, she had no clue what she had!  These are the kinds of souvineers that I bring back from vacations! 

 I love the gray and chartreuse together!

 My succulents are still alive Susan! The ladies at Violets Blue told me that they were easy to take care of and they were right! 

 My Grandmother's piano is finally back in our house, Myah is taking lessons and I love to hear her play!

 The paint color on our walls is, are you ready for this... Sandy Hook Gray.  I chose it a few years ago, but since the awful tragedy took place there, I really want to repaint, it actually really bothers me. 

 Just purchased this tv cabinet at Meijers a few weeks ago, need to find the right baskets for those two slots.  And I need to get rid of those cords! 

 Sorry for the crummy photo, my wider lenses are being borrowed right now so I couldn't get a good shot of the whole room, I promise a better shot of the whole view shortly! 

 Love these cards! 

 Hubs has redone all the trim in  rooms,including a new transition to the foyer, love the wide trim details! 

 This huge PB frame is still a favorite piece of mine!

 I added these other PB frames that are ancient to each side of the big one and put a photo that I had taken at a sunflower farm.  I love sunflowers!

 I am trying to bring in some more white ceramic pieces to make the house seem not so old and chippy!

 The floors looks great with my PB Outlet jute rug, I would like to have a rectangular one eventually but this one was under my other dining table and I didn't have any other space to put it. 

 Reminders of other past trips to Seaside. 

 I had a 12x12 canvas made of Dayton with his senior picture!  I would like to get another one eventually of Myah. 

Hope you enjoyed this little sneak peak into our Living Spaces!  Be back soon with lots more to show you!!!

Hello? Is this thing on???

Wow, do I ever get the biggest loser award in blog land, where the heck did the months go???  Last post was on Mel's house, oh my!!!  Sorry folks, major busy life going on here.  Never fear, Leslie is here!  And I am more anxious than ever to start posting regularly again, truth is (now I sound like my 17 year old on  FB)  I just didn't have much to show as far as the house was concerned, so many projects were unfinished and were waiting for other parts to get finished first before we could move on.  And the fact that the best diy hubby in the world had back surgery in May and didn't go back to work until December, meant alot of projects were at a standstill till he felt better. He didn't think it was funny when I said "well, I can just do it".  Thankfully he is way more skilled at running power tools than I am so I just pretended to act like I NEEDED to wait until he got better to put a new window in.  Well, hold onto your boots ( well, Uggs up here in the north) ladies, I am ready to show you all the changes that have taken place in this little cottage in the woods.  It really doesn't even look like the same house that hubs grew up in.  I just wanted to give you all heads up that soon I will be posting lots and lots of photos for your viewing pleasure. I have to laugh when I look on Pinterest and I see photos of my home and I don't recognize them at first because I change everything so much!  I really like my new simple and fresh approach to living.  I hope you do too!  A few hints of what's to come, lots of  gray, chartreuse, white, hardwood, vintage, modern, cozy and very causal. What a cliffhanger huh?   See you all soon!!!!

My sister's home. {Pretties and Posies)

 My sister Melanie, closed her blog, Pretties and Posies last October.  She took a break last August and decided to permanently close it shortly after.   When she closed her blog she promised her readers that I would be posting pictures of her updated home on my blog.   Well.... here it is.  

When my mom was so sick last year, she moved in to Melanie's house for a month.  Before her move, Melanie spent lots of time but little money updating from her vintage style to a cleaner, coastal style, ridding her home of all of her loved but worn and dusty vintage pieces.  

Her kitchen stayed the same except for a few minor changes. She changed out her green depression glass and borrowed some of my ironstone to add to her milk glass collection. Now her cabinets are filled with white dishes of all ages.

Her dining room was updated with a smaller pedestal table to replace the large farm table she had before. She had her old dinng room chairs recovered with slipcovers made from canvas dropcloth. 

        

She got these chairs from Marshall's!

 

The Family Room. 



Not much was done to her family room. She added some blue patterened pillows and a striped rug. She also updated her end tables and sofa table.  She is still working on some finishing touches. Someday she will get it done.

The girls' bedroom was painted and redone last fall as well.  It fits in with the rest of the house with its coastal feel.

The sunroom.



Her old vintage glider was replaced by a new Ikea slipcovered loveseat.

She still paints once in a while.  This one hangs above the loveseat in her sunroom.

 

Her Master Bedroom.

Melanie's walls are still Benjamin Moore's Palladian Blue.  After 6 years, she still loves the color.  she added some soft yellow accents and purchased new nightstands to replace the vintage dresssers that used to sit on each side of the bed. 

Another one of her paintings.

Her husband, Chris built these bookshelves and  replaced the chandelier with this hanging drumshade.  

She had these chairs slipcovered in canvas dropcloth as well.   I love the way they turned out!

That's it. The tour of her home.  Melanie recently opened her blog, Pretties and Posies back up after receiving requests from her blog followers.  She will not be posting anymore, but if you want to check out her previous posts, it is open so you can browse... and pin if you want to.