Christmas Tour 2016

Happy Holidays everyone!

So happy to have you hear and I hope you are just arriving from The DIY Playbook. I'm so happy to once again be taking part in The White Buffalo Styling Co. Tour.  Lindsay is simply the sweetest and so is her adorable home!

So I have to say this year a felt a tad bit of pressure....you know, with this whole unfinished house thing happening and also the fact that my Christmas post from 2015 seems to be popping up everywhere this past week and I felt kind of like it was going to be a hard one to top....the pressure!! Joking of course, well maybe theres a little truth to all of that:)

Once again I kept with my theme of Simplicity. I hope you enjoy my little tour and don't forget to head straight over to Katie Gavigans tour because I know its going to be perfect!

ENJOY

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Our Living Room: Progress and Barn and Willow

If you've been following along at all over here than you will know that little by little I keep posting about the updates to the house. Well its time to talk about this little living room of ours.

I found some old images of the house on line in its original state before the previous owners had remodeled. 

Waaaay Before

 The previous owners

After we demoed to make way for the new entryway.....Aaaack!

So this all leads me to where we are now and how I was going to take the room from the way it was before to the way I envisioned it for our family. I wanted to take a modern approach but keep the simplicity and not over style it.
When I started thinking about window treatments for our new home I knew I wanted simple. Our goal with this house all along has been to approach the design with classic touches and items that will stand the test of time. I wanted a simplistic well made design and thats exactly what I found with Barn and Willow. The drapery panels are beyond gorgeous and the workmanship is impeccable. I knew I was getting a great product but was blown away with just how nice these drapery panels really are when they arrived in the mail.

A little about the process....
I don't know about you but I'm a touch and see kind of girl and even though I work with E Design clients all the time and a lot of the furnishings I use are purchased online, I still get that little feeling of "what if this (insert item here) shows up and its garbage?!" Its the worst so I jumped for joy when I realized Barn and Willow will send you all the swatches you need to choose exactly the right panels for your home.  They will even send you an actual panel to rent for a small fee if you just can't decide from the swatches. That's incredible! So when I thought I wanted one kind while looking at the website but once the samples arrived I ended up choosing something completely different. I ultimately decided on the Belgian sheer linen in oatmeal with the privacy liner. After I decided on the correct length I ordered. If you need any help at all with choosing the correct length, material etc. they even have a free design session with a real designer that will help you chose exactly the right window treatments for your home.....AH-MAZING!

The After 

(just don't look too closely...we still have some work to do)

The bottoms are weighted so they hang to perfection and they even provide you with a lovely little cotton bag full of hooks for hanging rings if you so choose. I know I will eventually do this once I get around to it but for now they still look lovely just like this. 

The sheer linen allows so much light in to the room but the privacy panel keeps the world from seeing inside and the heat from escaping out those old windows. The windows are quite pretty but I certainly wouldn't call them efficient in the heating department. 

This little house of ours is slowly coming together. I can't even begin to make you understand how it started out but we had a vision and a plan and its beyond rewarding to see it come to life. I'm excited to have draperies in my home that are in keeping with our vision and I plan to continue using more of Barn and Willow in the near future....have you seen the linen roman shades....to die for!!!

BSHT 2016 Thanksgiving Tablescape

Most of you know that we've been working our tails off to get this house not only livable (insert sarcastic chuckle) but also ready for my favorite holiday......Thanksgiving.
Its the only time of year that I get to be with my entire family all at the same time and for one week out of the year we all come together here at our house. All of us under one roof and its a constant state of laughter (usually at someone else'e expense) eating and relaxation. There is nothing better than seeing all the kids bunked up together still fast asleep, while I sneak down to the kitchen early in the morning, to make the first of many pots of coffee, and one by one everyone starts to wake. We always end up spending the morning, all together at the kitchen table, talking until someone finally declares "lets get this day started!" It makes me so happy just thinking about it.
When Lindsay from White Buffalo Styling Co. invited me to be a part of her Thanksgiving tour again this year I was on board from the start. Hopefully you've been able to see all the other tours and you just finished touring My Fabuless Life because her Thanksgiving brunch is amazing!

I bring to you my very simple Thanksgiving tablescape.

I hope you all have enjoyed this tour as much as I have and I have to give a big THANK YOU to Lindsay for creating such a fun tour with some many talented bloggers. Without her hard work we wouldn't be able to pull these off!
Let's CHEERS to hours of laughter, good food, great drinks and maybe even a little singing (we've been known to break in to song once or twice)  and all of it with those whom you hold dear this Thanksgiving.
We have so much to be thankful for. Let us not take one day together for granted. Let us never
miss a moment that could one day be our best memory.
Happy Thanksgiving friends!

Renovations and Progress/ #1 gets a new space of her own

When we first looked at this house I fell in love with this little room and I immediately knew it would make the perfect bedroom for our oldest daughter. It is completely separate from the other bedrooms in the home and it can be closed off from the rest of the house. There is a hallway door that shuts off this end of the house which includes her own bath and soon to be den one day. What more could a tween want!?!

Before

The room was carpeted and there was some water damage in here so the first thing we did was tear out the old carpet. I painted the floor with Sherwin Williams Porch and Floor Paint in Whitetail 

Then we painted the walls, doors and trim in Sherwin Williams Super Paint in Extra White. 
Here is the After

The Extra White and Whitetail brightened up this once very dim lit room and now it feels light and fresh in here and perfect for my girl. 

I added natural bamboo roman shades to the windows for warmth and texture and also these cotton curtain panels to balance the window behind the bed. 

The Moravian Star pendent is my favorite part of the room since I have always wanted to incorporate one in to our homes design. 

The bed is HERE from Wayfair and we both absolutely love it! Its really the perfect bed for this space. The bedding is a mixture of some of my favorite IKEA essential pieces, Ballard Designs, Homegoods, Anthropologie and her favorite...this pillow from Taisa Silecky's shop on Etsy.

While searching for bedding for her space I came across Taisa's shop and fell in love with just about every piece she had listed! 

One day this little nook between her closets will be the cutest little window seat but until then it is the perfect spot for her computer and Lego creations. 

Im still on the hunt for right dresser for this spot. Something small that will fit perfectly under the  mirror. I'm still searching!

SOURCES 

Bed/Rug (similar) /Quilt(similar) /Duvet/Comforter/Etsy Pillow/Roman Shades/Curtain Panels/Star Pendent/

Ghost Chair 

Renovation and Progree // Dining Room

I can't even right now with all this waiting, but so it is...... and its got me thinking about what its all going to look like eventually in here which prompted this little post about my Dining space/family room. 
So this is what the space used to look like....

Before 

This is the before image of the little addition on the back of the house. The previous owners were without kids and so this area served more as a party space with a wet bar. This wasn't the best way for us to utilize this area so instead we are going to install built ins at this end of the room. We will have a tv mounted in the center and it will become a small area for relaxing. I'm thinking a small super comfy sofa down there.  Here is the opposite side of the room. This is where our dining table will be. Its s large one...108" and so we have 8 chairs, four for each side. You may think thats way too big for this space but this is how we are approaching this house.....we want to share it with everyone! We want to make memories here and that involves lots of food and friends and we HAD to have a table that would fit all of our people at the same time. So if that means giving up some design space...well, we're cool with it. 

Here is the space now...oh help me Jesus.

(this is the side that used to have the wet bar) 

The carpet is out and the walls have been demoed. This opening to the right was widened after we had the ventilation duct moved to the right about a foot and a new header was installed. That will open in to the new kitchen. The walls need to be painted bright white. But I guess we actually will need ALL of the walls in before that happens. 

But can you see it? The dining space with the giant table that will serve so many evenings that lead to nights full of laughter, great food and even better, our people all doing life together. I can! 

And here are a few of the items I have chosen to live here in this space and I'm pretty dang pumped about it. CANNOT WAIT!!!

 Artwork, Table, Chairs