Living Room and Foyer: Afters

So, today I will be showing you the foyer and the front living room.  Just a reminder, here are the before photos.  (either from the MLS listing or photos I took on our trips to see the house during the purchasing process)

 

Here is this foyer niche.

And down the hallway that leads to the den, she had a small desk.  At this time I don't have anything in that spot.  I think it crowded the space and I didn't want it looking crowded as soon as someone walks into our home. 

 The living room is directly on your left when you walk into our front door and you can see into our dining room from here also. 

 

 Lovely bay window that was really being hidden by the sheers and curtains.  I have other plans for this window. 

Here is the foyer area: 'After' Photos 

 Empty space when we first moved in

 

And here it is with 'our' stuff moved in:

 

Living Room: 'After' Photos

 

First the empty space when we first moved in: (don't you love that window? I sure do)

 

 With our stuff moved in.

 

 There are more things 'planned' for this room.  But does a room ever get completely finished...I think not!  I will keep you updated as changes and additions are made.  Hope you enjoyed the 'afters' of our foyer and living room.  Thank you for stopping by.  I have enjoyed having you here.

Blessings, Cherri

Dining Room Reveal

  Within a week of moving in I had already painted our dining room.  This is one of the rooms I had a vision for before we ever moved in.  However, while moving, we decided to give our dining room furniture to our son and his wife so that left me lacking in the furniture department for a while until I found what I really wanted.  I just completed our dining room this past weekend. 

  I will remind you of some of the 'before' photos of this space. (the below three photos are from the MLS listing prior to us purchasing the house)

The room isn't really big but it is adequate for us as we don't use the dining room that often anyway.  (but boy do I love a pretty dining room)

 

 

 

 So, here it is empty and just waiting for some TLC...then it became the storage area for everything that is supposed to go in our dining room...

 

 It only has one window and outside of that window is a covered front porch.  So, this room doesn't get a whole lot of natural light at any time of the day.  I had seen a dining room on a blog that I 'stalk', I mean browse, and it was similar to the shape and layout of my dining room.  I realize that her paint color is very dark but only painting the top of the wall, above the chair rail, will help keep some light in there.  I went with Valspar's Bracken paint color.  Very close to the inspiration photo. 

So, here I go...I think it took me longer to tape off the room then it did to paint two coats on the walls. 

 

 

Here is some of the painting progress...

 And now for some pretties...the room is finished (well, is any room every finished? I think not...)  I do have a few things still to add on the wall with the mirror and the wall above the hutch, but other than that, I have everything done to this room for the time being. 

 

 The table cloth (using that word very loosely) is material I purchased from Jo Ann's Fabrics (on clearance...yea!!!) and just hemmed the edges and draped it across the table.  I bought all that they had left and it was the 'perfect' size for this table.  The runner is made out of burlap that I also bought at Jo Ann's on the same shopping trip.  I think it turned out lovely...it is the very look that I was going for. 

 I had also seen a photo online (don't you just love the internet for inspiration?) that used about 7 antique silver trays of varying sizes and made a beautiful wall décor display.  I had three trays and decided to use that same concept above the chair rail.  I like how it turned out. 

 

 This is the view of the dining room when you walk into the front door.  You are looking through our front living room. 

 

Hope you have enjoyed a peek into our dining room.  Let me know what you think.  More rooms to come.  Have a blessed day!  Cherri

Our new home and our first 'project'...

Ok, we did it...we closed on our home.  Actually it was June 27th but I am just getting the opportunity to post about it. 

 

 

Here we are getting ready to enter the house as owners for the very first time.  Yippee!!!

Can't you tell we are happy?

 

It was a Thursday and our plans were to close on the house and over the rest of that day and Friday, we would move all of the boxes, lamps, large wall décor, and anything fragile that I didn't want going into the moving truck on Saturday. So, it all began.  Loading and unloading until we were completely exhausted

 

 

However, you know me, I had to work on a project in the midst of all of the 'crazy'.  Do you remember in the 'before' house tour that I showed you my inspiration for my laundry room?  Well, I knew that if I put my washer and dryer in there, that I would probably never get around to moving them out and stenciling the wall behind them.  So, then came the idea of getting it done 'before' the washer and dryer were moved in.  Which means, getting it done in the middle of moving in. 

 

In comes Cathy.  A great friend of mine.  She is all things crafty.  She is even brave enough to actually cut and create her own stencils.  What???  That's totally not me so I knew I was in good,  great, hands with her helping me on this.  With a lot of back and forth on colors, design, etc...we settled on the below stencil shape (which she made from scratch and colors.  She came over early Friday morning (remember...there's a whole lot of moving going on all around) to get started.  I don't know how she stayed focused with but she got in there and was in her own little world and got to work right away. 

 

 

Hard at work...I am loving it already. 

Hi Cathy...thank you for helping me out with this.  You are the best!

  Here is a close up of the design and color.  (I will have to come back later and add the names/brand of the colors because right now I cannot locate the paint sample)  We went with two colors to add depth and dimension. 

This is just with the lighter color - no darker color has been added yet.

 

 

In progress...

Here is the entire wall done with the darker color added sporadically over the wall.  I love it!!!

Here is a close up shot of the finished results. 

With the washer and dryer added and the shelving back up. 

 When looking at the 'somewhat finished' picture above, I have to mention two things.  One, I did not realize that our washer and dryer were not tall enough to cover up the outlet and the spigots.  I have some ideas for covering/masking those but will get to those later.  Right now, we have other 'more pressing' projects at hand. 

 

Also, I still need to find a cabinet and wooden shelving to replace the wire racks that were already in this space.  Once those have been found, purchased, and installed, then I get the fun of adding the baskets/bins/pretty stuff to stage the space. 

 

Once that is complete, I will share an updated post on this space.  So, what do you think?  Does a pretty laundry room make doing the laundry easier???