Hi All,
We are safely back in Plano and it is good to be home. My sweet mother in law always said that there is a problem if you aren't happy to return home after a trip. I agree with that statement!!
I am starting the home tour, but let me first say that I am not a decorator and I decorate my house to appeal to me. I don't even have a name for my style. I like traditional pieces that withstand time, but then sometimes I add abstract art with a pop of color. I move furniture and accessories around a lot to see how it feels. My decorating philosophy is to buy new pieces when I know they will get a lot of use. Items such as sofas, chairs and every day pieces like the kitchen table, I usually buy new. The other stuff is usually thrifted or handed down from family. I have tons of DIY projects in my head and will discuss these with you as you see part 1 of the tour.
Tex gets very nervous when things get moved around. He can't understand why I have a need to change things all of the time. I get bored I guess. He's a good sport, but once in a while, he will come unglued about the house stuff. It usually happens when there is too much clutter, or what he considers clutter. I call it highly accessorized!
Come on in!!
The hubby gets an award for the greenest yard. Just kidding, everyone has a green yard because it has been raining all summer!!
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This is the view when entering from the front door. The dining room is
on the right and living room is on the left. |
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Dining Room
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| Dining Room |
That mirror above the buffet is from At Home. You may not have
this store in your city, but the corporation owned Garden Ridge and
re-invented the brand. At Home is the result and I love shopping
there because the prices are amazing for some really expensive
looking pieces. Where can you find an enormous mirror like that
for less than $200? At Home is comparable to Cost Plus, World
Market and Home Goods. My kind of place! I know my
mirror is a cheaper version of a very expensive designer one.
I found this one at Wayfair, but it is considerably smaller than
mine and more expensive. I think the one I bought measures 54"
round because I had trouble fitting it into the Suburban. The
house has massively high walls that are very hard to decorate.
It is hard to find wall art that is the right scale. I often create
vingettes to fill up wall space.
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| China Cabinet from Home Goods |
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This is the dining room looking toward the living room and through the
entryway.
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In this view, the kitchen is on the other side of the wall and I am standing in the dining room at the front of the house. To the right, is a guest bedroom and that open door you see leads to a guest bathroom. Across from the bathroom is a butler' pantry. I will show the bathroom in the next tour.
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| This is the butler's pantry on the other side of the wall outside the dining room. |
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This is the formal living room. You see it on the left when you walk in the front door.
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Yes, the sofa is gone. I am in the process of buying a new one.
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This is the corner of the living room. The window faces the front of the house.
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Kitchen Nook
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We have a kitchen nook by the window and the table was purchased 14 years ago. This is the second set of chairs I've purchased to go with this table. I bought this set of dining chairs from Craig's List. They were brown and I painted them and recovered the seats. I broke my own rule about buying second hand chairs, but these are very sturdy. They came from a formal dining set and the seller graciously sold me just the chairs. I love how they looked with the existing table. The original chairs were ladder back and I am moving away from the French Country look. I made the window treatments with fabric from Calico Corner. The light fixtures all come from Lamps Plus. The kitchen wallpaper is old and needs to be updated at some point.
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| My flower arranging skills could use some help. |
The kitchen island has a curve in it which was a nightmare to design and execute. I am so happy with how it looks, but Tex bangs into the corners a lot.
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| Kitchen looking into the family room |
The granite composite sink is "da bomb!" I hesitated to get a sink with no separation or division, but it is deep and spacious. The color is "greige" and I love, love, love it!! The bar is where my husband sets up his computer on the days when he works from home. I think he likes this vantage point because he can see the television and see outside too.
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| That alcove opening you see to the left of the sofa leads to the master bedroom. |
This is the family room looking out the windows overlooking the backyard. We have a rear alley and driveway and you can see our back neighbors through the windows. I just had those chairs recovered. I will try to find a picture of them before. That green chest between the chairs was a good DIY project. I like the way it turned out. I made the curtains. The hooks they hang on are mug/cup hangers that I found at Target years ago. Pictured below are the pillows I sewed recently with fabric from Hobby Lobby.
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| Family Room |
John's favorite seat in the house is at the bar. I bought those stools at Home Goods. They are so comfortable and they swivel. I had a tiny glass coffee table in here that was way too small. I scored this massive one at Goodwill. That recliner chair is the one I sit in to watch television. It is well loved! My friend told me to buy carpet that is dirt colored and I have used that tip whenever I need flooring. This rug gets tons of traffic and never looks dirty. I got it at Home Goods a couple of years ago and love it. We had a cream color one in here previously and it looked amazing, but I couldn't keep ahead of the dirt. This is where I sacrifice design for function. Lighter color rugs look great on the dark wood floors, but just aren't practical.
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| The television is the focal point of the room. Such a guy thing. |
This is a Thomas Kinkade print that I bought a long time ago at Tuesday Morning. I'm ready for a change and want to get something a little more abstract. You are getting a good look at that the molding that is darker than the cream wall color. I purposely did this for maximum contrast. It took a little convincing to get Tex to agree to that decorating feature. He's a white molding guy. I will add a link to the blog called "paint colors" so you can reference the woodwork and wall formulas.
We put in hard word floors and re-tiled the fireplace when we remodeled the kitchen. It was a big job and a big mess for months, mind you, while my mother was living with us! Sorry Mom.
This vignette is right outside the kitchen. This picture shows the open floor plan. I plan to change the ugly green color on that bust statue. It was a DIY project gone bad.
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| Scored the LaBarge mirror on Craig's List for $30. |
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| This is a little nook under the staircase. |
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| This is a little alcove outside our bedroom. |
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| I don't want you to think we are neat freaks! |
Now that I have made the bed, you may notice that the picture is off center. I can't make up
my mind if I want the desk where it is, or if it should go elsewhere. Thus, I don't
want to keep moving the picture until I decide.
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| Wall across from bed |
I need to interject more color in the room. You will see a red lamp on the desk and the picture over the bed. They may inspire me to add more complimentary colors to the room. Maybe I will paint the desk chair bright orange. What do you think??
I bought this skin at Canton Trade Days in June and love it. Our elderly dog, Coal,
has developed a lot of anxiety as she gets older. It could be that she is hard of hearing and her
eyesight is getting bad. Anyway, since I brought home the skin, she seems to use it to calm down. It's like her friend. Very strange. I also bought her a "Thundershirt" too and she wears it when we have a stormy weather. I think she needs meds.
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| Outside the Bedroom |
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Coal
That is the end of House Tour 1. I will finish the downstairs in the next post. The final post will be upstairs and those areas are full of decorating possibilities. I'm sorry this post was so long and please leave comments for me. I love reading what you have to say. Isn't Coal the best looking dog?? I just love her.
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