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decor

Living Room/Dining Room Updates

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A few weeks ago, I announced that I was planning on painting the family room. Then, I talked about moving around some furniture, pretty much all of our living room and family room furniture.

Well… its done. All done. Whew.

Today, I’m going to be showing off the living room and dining room spaces.

Just as a reminder, here is what things used to look like.

 

Here is what everything looks like now.

 

The book shelves are where the kids toys used to be.

 

This is the dresser that we used as an entertainment center downstairs, but now it is perfect in the living room and holds all my table linens and extra serveware.

 

We rearranged the furniture a tad.

 

Then, I brought the desk back upstairs too. I finally have a place to sit and do a project, and then close the doors when I have to walk away.

Then we moved the glass cabinets into the dining room. If you look closely, I also added a little something (I will show you how I did it tomorrow).

I could not believe the transformation with just moving some furniture to different rooms. I feel like there is much more room, and better storage solutions for the space. My dream would be to have better seating and some more artwork, which pretty much means more projects 🙂

Have you every moved furniture and noticed a total transformation?

Reminders: Irish Wall

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Last week, we finished painting the family room (will be sharing pictures soon), and I was putting back all the things on my Irish wall, and thought you’d all like to see a few of the beautiful things that remind me of my family.

What is an Irish wall you ask? When we were kids, my Mom put together a collection of all of the things people had brought her back from Ireland, her own travels there, and things she had collected over time. She put it all together and displayed it on the wall right near the front door. When I moved into this house, I really wanted to do the same thing, so I gathered up all my Celtic crosses, a map of Ireland, a few things from my Grandma, and a beautiful print of Old St. Patrick’s Church in Chicago that my sister gave Brian and I for our wedding (we were married there) and put together my own Irish Wall.

I have a few crosses that have been collected over time, the one on the far left is made of peat. My Mom bought it for me as a Thank You for house sitting while she was touring Ireland a few years ago. The one in the middle is made of Connemara marble. Friends of our bought it for us when they were in Ireland on their honeymoon.

This metal shamrock is something that my Grandmother had hanging in her house, and all my aunts and uncles have hanging in their house too. When I see it, I am instantly reminded of all the times we spent at her house.

I also have a map of Ireland that Brian and I bought in Savannah, GA a few years ago. This is kind of a little known fact, but there is a HUGE Irish population in Savannah, and the city has one of the largest St. Patrick’s Day parades in the country.

There are lots more trinkets, and reminders of family and travels. As I put these things back up on the wall, I day dream about when I get to Ireland someday. Hopefully soon.

What sentimental items do you have around your house? Do they have a theme?

Time to get back to work hanging all these things back up. Hopefully, I can have shots of the room for you next week.

Flowers, Candy, and Books: Valentine’s Dining Table Decor

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I know everyone in the home blogosphere is decorating their houses for Winter, but to be honest, I’m a little lazy. I don’t like having to put things up and take things down all the time. Occasionally, I will skip a holiday or a whole season in this case. This year, I decided to skip the snowflakes and the winter white decor, and start on Valentine’s Day.

 

When I think of Valentine’s Day, I think of my parents bringing home little gift bags of flowers, candy, and the latest Ramona book as a treat. My siblings would get their favorite candies and magazines. It was just a small gesture, but it is one I want to continue with my kiddies.

Since I don’t know how to decorate with books, and my favorite flower (tulips for those who ever want to send me flowers) isn’t really in season right now, I thought it would be cute to decorate with some candy.

Valentine’s Candy is the best because it is in small amounts, doesn’t count toward your New Year’s Resolution eat healthy plan (at least that is what I am telling myself), and it is wrapped in pretty colors.

 

The first thing I did, was buy a few bags of conversation hearts and fill the glass hurricanes I keep on my dining room table with them. We are not conversation heart people, I actually think they taste chalky, so I stuck candles in the hurricanes and used the candy strictly for decorative purposes. I felt kind of weird using food for decoration, but there are people that use bags of lemons that go wasted, so I didn’t feel so bad after that.

 

The rest of the candy is for consumption though (trust me I keep sneaking dark chocolates). I bought all our favorites: Dove dark chocolates, Dum Dum suckers, and a bag of Valentine M&M’s and then put them in some glass vases at different heights.

 

I then found some leftover fabric from this curtain project, and Ta Da! I made a simple, easy, sweet, and edible tablescape for the cost of some candy, that let’s face it, I would have bought this time of year anyway. Plus, at the rate we are going, the vases will be empty in time for Valentine’s day for Brian to fill with flowers (hint, hint).

Happy Valentine’s Day!!

Flashback Friday: Living Room/Dining Room

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This week’s installment of Flashback Friday covers the Living Room and Dining Room. These rooms required a coat of paint for move in purposes, but there are some plans that we have for the future of these rooms.

I think our eventual goal would be to make the Living Room more family friendly. One of the projects that is coming soon is a desk that Brian will be building (we already have the lumber).

I have one before picture, but this level consisted of more mustard yellow. You cannot tell from this picture but we are talking French’s Mustard. Also, all the walls and some of the trim had marks and dings from the previous owners.

Then with a little help, I chose the perfect shade of blue and started painting. These rooms flow into each other so I knew I would have to choose a color that I really liked as it would be everywhere. I didn’t want to go the neutral route as a lot of the furniture we had planned for the room, was pretty neutral. Also, I wanted to play off all the light these rooms get. I wanted something clean and bright so we chose Behr Aqua Breeze (I apologize for the iPhone photos. I didn’t know I’d be writing a blog when I took these).

 

 

So here is our entrance, living room, and dining room after our personal touches. We added a picture gallery, a dining room table that Brian built and I stained, and lots of  other furniture that we already had on hand. Here is our progress thus far.