FAMILY ROOM CHANGES

  I mentioned last week in this post, that I did a little rug rearranging around here. 

Let me introduce you to the newest addition to the family room.....

Oh, and I forgot to mention that I had the family room 

(+ the kitchen, dining room and foyer) repainted.  

The family room is now BM Seashell.  

I was craving a more neutral feel.

I switched out the colorful drapes for something a little more simple. 

I just cut a drop cloth in half, hemmed them with hem tape and clipped them up with rings. 

They work fine for now.

I'm itching to add some more navy to the room.  I have my eye on a few pillows from etsy.

I love the rich, vibrant colors in this rug.  It looks red and a tad purple in these photos, 

but it is definitely more of a burnt orange and navy.

I removed the skirted slipcover from the ottoman. 

The cream fabric that was underneath won't be safe for long.  

I'll have to come up with Plan "B" soon. 

I'd love to add an old wooden trunk as a coffee table, but the kids (and Willee) 

love using the ottoman as extra seating.

I added a bit more green back into the room also.  Every room needs a little green.

The new 9x12 size works much better than the previous 8x10 West Elm rug that was in here. 

This rug screams cozy to me.  While I'm definitely not looking forward to winter, 

I can't way to get a fire going and curl up on the couch with a good book. 

I got the rug from nycrugs on ebay.  This was my first time buying from this seller.  

The rug was a fair price and shipped quickly.

It was listed as new with tags.  I noticed a small stain on it once we unwrapped and unrolled it.  

I emailed the seller right away and sent a pictures.

It wasn't a big enough deal to pack it up and send it back. 

They ended up crediting me $100.

The other ebay seller I have bought from several times is newyorkruggallery.

I know buying a large rug, sight unseen, is not for everyone.

But so far, I have been very pleased with all my on-line rug purchases.

UPDATE:  I can see comments that are posted on my blog, but they are not coming to my email.  
I have tried everything I can to troubleshoot the problem and have gotten nowhere.  
I normally like to respond to comments via email, but for now, I will just reply to the comments. 
Sorry!  I promise I haven't been ignoring you if you commented. 

HAVE A SEAT

No really, just pick a seat.  

There are plenty to choose from. 

I mentioned in this post that I counted the chairs in our home and came up with 37.  

Now, just to clarify, that does included dining chairs and two child size chairs. 

Here is a look at the "chair situation" in our home. 

We have owned this chair for a long time. 

It was originally dark brown wicker and I painted it with BM Kingsport Gray.

I ordred these two swivel/gliders a couple of years ago. 

They are a bit hit with the kids, since they are similar to a merry-go-round.

Still loving these bentwoods that I recovered recently. 

Here is a shot which includes quite a few chairs. 

I picked up the two floral chairs at a consignment shop. 

They work perfectly in "The Nook".

I have four of these vintage school chairs sprinkled around the house. 

One now resides in the foyer. 

My ghost chair was a steal from Craigslist. 

There is a whole lot of chairs going on in here. 

We have the yard sale wingbacks I had reupholstered, 

the wicker and chrome chairs I found on Craiglist 

and the rattan and chrome chairs I got from an estate sale. 

Mixed together, they make one big happy chair family.

The black Eames chair I found at an outdoor antique show is still residing in the office.

These two beauties, which also came from an estate sale are currently living in the basement. 

I love these chairs, but I still don't have a place for them.  Might have to get rid of them soon.

Moving upstairs, the boys have two red tolix-like chairs in their room. 

They came from Kroger, of all places. 

Another vintage school chair fits right in at my daughter's desk.

This chair was another thrift store find that I painted and had reupholstered. 

Lastly, this thrift store find makeover in our master bedroom.

Full disclosure, there are a few more chairs living in chair/lamp purgatory the basement 

and four more on the third floor. 

I also have quite a few barstools, lamps, frames and art that I need to let go of. 

I'm thinking of having a tag sale soon. 

Not to be confused with a yard/garage sale.  

I've done that before and the last time, I vowed never to do it again. 

If you are local and would be interested in coming to the tag sale, send me an email here.

Date and time TBD. 

Thank you so much for being loyal readers and I hope you have a fabulous weekend.

For some reason, my husband has decided he really wants to take the kids to the circus this weekend. 

I volunteered to stay home and get our taxes together.  The lesser of two evils, in my opinion.

CHAIRS, CHAIRS AND MORE CHAIRS

I have lost count of what round of  musical chairs I am on now, 

but it seems I have a bit of a chair fetish.

I just recently bought these great Bentwood chairs and loved them at the dining room table. 

For about two months, that is.  

Then, I came across these vintage chrome and rattan chairs.

I bought them from an on-line estate sale.

I paid $12 total for the four chairs. 

They are similar to the chrome and wicker chairs I bought last year. 

Those are now residing in furniture purgatory (AKA, the basement).

I am in the process of recovering the seats with some fabric I had on hand. 

I have every intention of finishing up the project over the weekend.

Since the new chairs ended up in the dining room, 

I decided to move the Bentwood chairs to the family room.

Those seats will be recovered this weekend also. 

How about we take a little walk down memory lane to see just how indecisive I really am.

It does make me feel a little better knowing I didn't pay more than $10 a piece for all of these chairs 

(with the exception of the parsons chairs - still a great deal from the Pottery Barn Outlet).

Full disclosure here folks!

I think I need to start getting rid of some chairs (and tables & lamps).

Furniture purgatory is getting a little over crowded. 

MUSICAL CHAIRS - ROUND TWO

I promised in yesterday's post to show you where the wicker and chrome chairs ended up landing.

The didn't move far.  Just around the corner and through the kitchen to the family room.

I do like all the texture in this little area, but not so sure about all the brown.

The table came from my parents.  I shared many meals at this table with my family.

It now serves as more of a homework, craft, board game spot.

I don't want to paint it. 

However, I love what Shelley did to her table. 

Might be an option.

Just for kicks, here a some of the other chairs that have temporarily lived at this table.

We bought these chairs about 16 years ago 

and stained them ourselves in our tiny one bedroom apartment.

They served us well over the years, but I was ready for a change.

 

In came these old wood and metal school chairs that I bought at an antique show for $10 each.

I loved them here, but they sat a bit low and made us all feel really short when we sat at the table.

They are currently residing in several different rooms around the house.

Even though little Willee had his way with the corner of one (or two) 

of these wicker and chrome chairs, I still love them and they are super comfortable. 

I think they will stick around, at least for now.

I've been busy decking the halls around here. Looking forward to giving you a tour soon.

Be sure to stop by on Monday, December 9th 

for the start of the Twelve Days of Christmas - Tour of Homes.

A FEW OF MY FAVORITE VIEWS

There are several spots in my house that make me really happy. 

I walk by them many times a day, and I always think, I should take a picture of this view.

Today, I did just that.

First up, the view from my kitchen windows.....

Deer are abundant in our little town and they love to hang out in the back yard.

Willee isn't quite sure what to do about this yet.

I certainly wouldn't call myself a couch potato, 

but when I am lounging on the couch, this is one of my views.  

I love seeing the two consignment store chairs, the butterfly art, the glass bottles,

and the family photos when I glance this way.

Here's another view from the couch.  

I think it's all the textures in this corner that always catches my eye -

like the fireplace stone, the metal scones, the woven blinds, the wicker baskets and the fabrics.

This is the view into the dining room from the foyer.  

We don't come in and out of our front door, but neighborhood kids are forever ringing our doorbell.

Therefore, I see this spot often.

It's definitely the color that draws me in here.

I love a neutral backdrop, but I have to have color in my decor. 

It just makes me happy.

(Notice my Jade plant is still alive)

This spot makes me smile for many reasons.  

For starters, the baby doll, which my daughter has had since she was three. 

Also, the chair is so darn comfortable and I love the bright raspberry fabric on it.

The thrifted lamp and rusty stool round out this corner nicely.

You will often find me hiding out in my daughter's room, reading in this chair.

This is what's happening in the boys' room now.

Who doesn't like a good dinosaur fight? 

I've got my money on the T-Rex.

This is the view from our bed, into the master bathroom.

I think it's the painted ceiling that makes this view so pleasant for me.

I am such a sucker for a ceiling painted with color!

This has to be one of my all time favorite views - my little guy playing the piano.

I posted here, about how happy it makes me to hear him play, but lately,

I have found myself on the verge of tearing up every time he plays a song.

I think it's because he is normally a pretty rough and tumble little boy.

 To see the softer side of him literally melts my heart. 

Best $75 I ever spent!

On the flip side, there are other spots in my house that I'm not so fond of right now. 

I'll share those in another post....

THE FINISHING TOUCHES

Sorry I was MIA last week.  

A took a little jaunt down to the Florida Keys to celebrate my birthday.

The weather didn't want to cooperate, but nonetheless, 

I was able to catch up on my reading and napping.  

That's what vacations are for, right?

With the help of my parents and my in-laws, my kids were well taken care of while we were gone. 

My saint of a mom even stayed an extra day after we returned and did some sewing for me. 

I have been patiently waiting for my mom to help me put the finishing touches on our family room.

This is what we she created....

I had some leftover fabric from the drapes she made last year.

We used a coordinating stripe for the trim.

She also made a couple of these...

I bought this remnant a while back and planned to use it for a valance for our powder room.

Imagine that, a project I planned and never got around to doing. 

The yellow pillow came from Homegoods and the blue one came from Pottery Barn.

I had to hurry and snap a picture before my children threw all the pillows on the ground.

This is couch is plenty big for three pillows and three kids.  Not sure why they don't get that!

I suppose "finishing touches" is a little too final of a phrase for my liking.  

You and both know, no room, especially in my house, is ever really finished. 

But for now, I am going to sit back, kick my feet up and enjoy the space.

I have been fussing over this room for a while now. 

I think it's time to turn to turn my attention elsewhere.

Look out stairway and second floor landing, I'm coming for you!

Sharing with:
Savvy Southern Style

UPDATED GALLERY WALL

Ever since we got rid of the short lived sectional last year, 

I am been meaning to update the gallery wall above the new sofa. 

I finally got around to it one day last week.

Once it was done, I kicked myself for not doing it sooner. 

There were several issues I had with the old gallery wall.

This is what I did to address the issues:

I switched out four frames with new frames with mats from Target.

I added two gold oval frames I had on hand.

I condensed the entire display to work with the new smaller sofa. 

I added two of these frames with oversize mats (in two different sizes).

I also added two of these simple black frames with mats. 

The only two pictures I added to the gallery wall were these two.  

Those cheeks, oh how I miss those chubby little cheeks!

I started the process by taking down the entire gallery wall.

I vacuumed behind the couch, filled all the nail holes and wiped down the wall.  

I had intended to repaint the wall, but my paint was too old 

and once I used a magic eraser, the wall looked almost as good as new.  

Have I mentioned I HATE to paint?

Next, I traced all the frames onto newspaper, labeled them,

cut them out and started playing around with a new arrangement. 

When I finally got everything arranged like I wanted, 

I used my newspaper templates as a guide to make new nail holes, 

and then replaced my newspaper templates with the frames.

Much better!

I had been dreading this project for almost a year.  

In total, including frame shopping, I think I spent two hours on the darn project.

Why oh why do I procrastinate so much???

I think gallery walls can be quite intimidating.

The approach I used makes the process a little less painful. 

Happy to check this one off my "to do" list!

So do tell, what kind of projects are you putting off tackling?