Fall Decorations/Living Room and Family room

I know it's been a long while again.  I just can't get my act together lately.  The two boys are in football and my youngest is in Cheer.  I feel like I never have a minute to myself.

I know lots of my family and friends back home have been anxiously awaiting me to post some pictures of the house.  I took the time to take a few pictures of the Fall decorations I actually have had the time to put up.

Here is our Living/Dining room.  Very spacious, but I CAN'T STAND the vertical blinds.  This is a rental and they are in every room of the house....YUCK

This is the family room.  Also very spacious.  I am hoping to get a sofa table at some point, and a different coffee table.  The trunk has all our board games in it, so it is "functional" :)

 

 

 

My little Autumn touches inside the book cases.  I miss Autumn back home.  The pumpkin farms, the falling leaves, the crisp chill in the air, and football games that are so cold you are certain your fingers or toes might fall off!

  Here are the Autumn decorations in the Living Room.  I am certain my kids have forgotten about the candy corn!!  Otherwise, it would have been eaten by now ;)

Lastly, I had to share the great kitchen table my Mother found on Craigslist.  I am so happy to have a table in the kitchen.  We still need a bunch of other furniture (we got rid of so much in the move)  But this is a good start.  She also found a headboard for Lexi and it needs painted, I will show you that project once I start it <blushing>  it's been in the back of her car for over a week now.  Anyway....here is the table!

Isn't it cute?!!  Now the kids can sit in here and do their homework while I am working on dinner!!  That will make life so much easier.  

That's all for now...

Blessings, Paula

Another picture fram re-do!

With all the crazy stuff going on around here, there just isn't enough time to blog.  I have a few blog ideas kicking around in my head, and plan on taking you all along on my journey of moving to San Antonio, Texas! 

My Husband leaves on Monday, and then I will be REALLY busy packing,sorting,and de-junking!  There will be plenty to blog about then!

I also want to take the time to tell you the amazing story of how God has put all this together.  That will be my very next blog, I promise!!

For now, I will just show you another brilliant picture frame transformation that my Sister in law, Erin did.  She has all this lovely artwork that her Mother has created around her home.  I love when things are special and unique, that have meaning to you around your home.  

When we were walking around her bedroom, she mentioned how she was dissatisfied with the lack of artwork in her bedroom.  The walls are mostly on slants because they live in a cape cod styled house. Their bedroom is upstairs, so the gabled roof makes for slanty walls.  She did have this beautiful Iris sketch, that I believe was done in colored pencils by her Mother.

She took the frame off already in this picture, but it was a thin yellow frame.  You can see how it looked before below.  I suggested she swap the mat out for a crisp white mat, and paint the frame.  Both Erin and my Brother like a more contemporary look and feel in their home.  This type of matting was typical for the late 80's and 90's.  Very matchy matchy.... But the artwork is timeless.  No one could deny the beauty of the Iris sketches themselves!

Here is the "After".  Don't ya love it??!!  It made a HUGE difference.  I think it looks very current now.  I think these will provide the right amount of color inspiration for Erin to pick accent colors for her room now too!  I think the yellows, blues and purples in this picture are just dreamy!

It is such a treasure to be surrounded by all the wonderful and talented women in my family!  I also, love getting to be apart of Erin making her house a haven.  Nothing feels better than having your home reflect YOU and Your FAMILY, and surrounding yourself with things that you love and are meaningful. That is what makes a house a HOME!

Blessings <3 Paula

Living Room Tour

I am trying to get through a list of my blog goals one step at a time.  

Finishing my Home tour (before a possible move) is one of them.  So I can remember how everything looked, and so y'all can see how different our two families styles are and how we attempt to blend them.  

Here is our formal living room.  In "Chicago" (I actually live in the burbs)  we would call it a fronchroom.  We have a tendency to run all our words together.  So, front room becomes...fronchroom.  :)

All of the furnishings are my Mothers in the upper part of the house.

The accessories on the shelves are a collaborative effort.  Most items are from Kirkland's or Hobby Lobby.

I just realized that this picture has the holes that need stitched showing on the pillow.  Oops.

The sofa is an antique that my Mother found on Craigslist, and had re-upholstered in this lovely silky fabric.  Each cushion has springs.  They are VERY heavy and super comfortable.  It has been over 12 yrs since it was upholstered and looks brand new!  That's because...... if someone brings food or drink over there, you might loose a limb!!  I think if we end up moving we will  eventually go with a more neutral fabric so it's more versatile.  That being said....I still love it!

I would love to have beautiful pillows all over the sofa and chairs, but our puppies like to chew on, and sleep on them!!  The red and brown pillows came from Pier1. They were beaded and gorgeous when we bought them.  One of the puppies thought they were for their entertainment, and I was forever picking up beads off the floor!  Eventually I cut them all off.  Oh well.....

Chairs were from the Bombay Company.  My Mother's most favorite store.  Now out of business.. :(  If you look through the railing you can see all the junk the kids leave in the foyer. 

The greatest find ever.  The pillar holders were found at Goodwill.  A little Tarn-x and they look brand new!

My Mother made the ottoman.  I love the idea  of the ottoman instead of a coffee table, but have always felt it was missing something.....  I think it needs a skirt!!  The legs are kinda nekked.

The game table has a chess board on one side and a leather inset on the top.  Inside is a backgammon board.  Both the game table and the parsons chair also came from the Bombay Company.

 An Old Partylite ring and candle holders pulled out of storage for spring!  As a general rule, pink and purple are not my favorite colors.  But I desperately needed some SPRING colors!

Our dinning room and "fronchroom" are L shaped  here is the adjoining dinning area.

The dinning room table seats 10.  My Parents bought it 27 yrs ago at a place called "bare furniture"  My Father, a painter by trade stained and varnished the table himself.  Still lookin' good!  I would love to make slip covers for the chairs though.  The "country" vibe has long left their home.

I know ceiling fans aren't very stylish....but it can get really HOT upstairs.  My Mother would MELT without them.  :)

I try to  let you see the "real" me!  :)  I don't hide extension cords, phones, stacks of books in corners, sometimes not even dirt or dust. LOL 

We have three kids (two of which are teenage boys) and four dogs! I don't have a house keeper, and most of the cleaning, laundry, cooking, decorating, I do myself.  I don't have time to stage things perfectly.  As much as I love magazines like Ballard Designs and Pottery Barn....I don't live in a magazine.

Some day I am sure my house will be closer to showroom beautiful......but for now, you get to see "us" in all our messy glory! 

Blessings <3 Paula