Lets train

Home Tour Main Floor updates

To say that we've done a lot of work and a lot of decorating/furnishing on our main level is an understatement. Lots of pictures in this one, hope it doesn't slow down the ol' blog too much!

Family room:
We are LOVING this long, skinny room that serves as our family room/office area. Ta Da!!







Let me back up a bit and go into detail before I get to the classic 'before & after' shots. One thing I really wanted (why do I feel like I've typed that phrase a lot lately?) was a new couch for our new house. Our old couches have served us very well for the past 7 years, since I got them right when I graduated with my masters in 2005. Those babies have seen enough dog/baby poop and dog/baby barf to last a lifetime. We splurged on this new 'L-shaped' beauty that provides us with about twice as much seating compared to our old overstuffed couch and loveseat combo. I really wanted a dark gray couch this time but the khaki on this fabric was too pretty to pass up. And I think dark gray with the blue walls and rug would have been too many cool tones. At first I was going to get an Ikea couch but we ended up finding this one at a local store in Milwaukee called Colder's and I know the name brand is called England.

Although we custom chose 4 throw pillows to come with our couch, I ended up hating them. And so I had to go and buy a ton of new ones at Target, Pier 1, and also Bed/Bath/Beyond. Poor me, right? Um, SO MUCH FUN!!


We started with the chevron rug, then painted the walls and woodwork and ceiling. After the couch arrived and I chose the throw pillows, I picked out navy panel curtains from Target to make our official color scheme Blue & Yellow. Love it. Also love the gunmetal curtain rods from Target and the fun new lamps we bought there, too.

And can I just say that I LOVE having a mantel to decorate? I feel like this is going to change around a lot over time. And I love having enough space to really display all of my family photo albums. The mantel before and after:


And the main part of the family room, before and after (but we still have to get those navy Roman shades up over the two bare windows---can you picture how pulled together it will be then?)


Side view, where you can walk into the dining room or up to the stairs, or into the kitchen. And yes, all of my picture frames are blank now. Waiting on a shipment of new prints that I ordered! :


And the back wall, right where the front door comes in. We are using this little area as an office and I still love having our main computer in our main room:



Projects completed on this room:
Refinished floors
painted all walls
painted ceiling
painted crown molding and all woodwork white
bought new 8x10 rug
bought couch/pillows
bought all panels/curtain rods (goodbye hideous heavy draperies!)
bought all new faux white wood blinds
bought new lamps
hung TV and picture frames
organized crazy cords coming from said TV

Projects left to complete in family room:
get mom's last set of navy Roman shades hung near mantel
purchase a new office chair
put pictures in frames



Sunroom:

This is basically one giant playroom for Truman and his future sister. We love having this extra space to confine toys and let T go nuts in his own little domain. Ta Da!







Those green paneled curtains are something my mom and Aunt whipped up when they visited, after I purchased the fabric at 50% off at Joanns. And Nate is super excited to have a second TV in our home, since we've always been a one-TV family. I really love how it all turned out!

Projects completed in sunroom:
refinished floors
painted all walls and ceiling
painted crown molding and all woodwork white
bought new faux wood blinds
bought fabric to make curtain panels
bought curtain rods
bought new TV
bought baskets for existing shelves to store toys
bought rug

Projects left to do:
paint and hang French doors
buy two nice upholstered chairs for adult seating (since the random dining room chair and lounge chair aren't cutting it)


Dining Room:

Love having a big, formal dining room with tons of storage in that built-in buffet!







I have asked my grandpa to make us a new, bigger oak dining room table so we are using our existing one right now without any problems. We have been able to seat 7 adults and one kid for a few big dinners so far which is so much fun! And I scored those six amazing oak dining chairs for only $100 on Craigslist, and I plan to recover them from the existing cream into a fun print---our custom Pepaw table will be made to match these chairs. Our buffet gets used as a storage area a lot so I want to get some organizing bins to set up there but it works for now. And I have big plans for those ugly roll up shades on our pretty little windows, too. Anyone ever try to use fabric to cover existing roll up shades? I think it would be so pretty to have a printed, colored fabric up there.

Projects completed in dining room:
refinished floors
painted walls
painted crown molding and woodwork white (keeping buffet natural---you are welcome:) )
took down ugly drapes and all hardware over buffet

Projects to complete:
spray paint chandelier silver, get rid of ugly glass shades
get new table, new tablecloth?
reupholster dining room chairs into a fun pattern
cover little windows with fabric roll ups or just do more Roman shades:)
Buy two or three giant canvases of our family to hang on empty wall by kitchen


Half bath:
Love having an extra bathroom! This one was added in the 1970s by the previous owners, thank goodness, or we'd be stuck going up and down steps every time we have to go. Nate has done a ton of work on this baby, as you can see:


And a during shot, plus an up-close shot of my fave St. Lucia poster. Could our honeymoon really have been 5 years ago??


Projects completed in half bath:
tore up linoleum floors
laid and grouted new tile (had to re-do the grout once after a frustrating experience with pre-mixed thinset)
painted all walls a bright 'Harbor' blue by Behr
added all wainscotting
bought new faucet (attempted to buy a new sink but they don't make them small enough anymore and we have to be able to shut our door!)
bought new mirror
bought new cabinet
spray painted black frame white to add our St. Lucia print
bought new TP holder and towel holder (that is really a robe hook---love it!)

Projects left to do:
get new above sink light

So that is it! Besides our kitchen which is going to get it's own reveal post once a few final projects are completed. I can't believe how much work we've done in this house since we bought it in February. And we've only lived here for 1 month? Insane. Feels like it's been our home forever.