Saturday, January 3, 2015

Making Our House A Home

Well, it only took us six months, but we've finally hung decorations, organized the office/guest rooms, and added some warmth to our house. 

There are still a lot of big projects to face, like tearing down a wall and redoing the kitchen/master suite, but for now the majority of the house is coming along. Here's what Matt and I spent winter break working on. (It doesn't seem like much, but shopping and decorating take a deceptively huge amount of time and effort.)

To see the before shots, go here. I'm not putting the photos in this post because, let's face it, scrolling through a million house pictures isn't really why most people read this blog!

Living Room
First, we spent approximately half my lifetime at Lowe's picking out curtain rods and curtains (which we returned, then went to Bed, Bath, & Beyond to find new ones).
This is my "OMG CAN WE GO HOME?" face.
Then we got to work!
Matt removed our oatmeal-colored verticals. Yuck.
I patched and painted the holes, with Archie's help of course.
Matt hung the curtain rod...
...with Archie's help, of course.
We debated on colors. Originally I really wanted red curtains and finding a set that matched our rug nicely was awesome. But in the end we went with white.
Our living room gets pretty dark so white curtains make it feel more open. Plus, the sliders go out onto the pool so light, airy curtains made sense.
The finished product. We also hung an autographed SUP paddle Matt won at a race.
Dining Room
Our dining room is connected to the living room, so we wanted curtains that matched. We went with the same white. When we moved, my parents gave us three pieces of real art. We've now hung two of them; the third's frame shattered and we need to reframe it.
We hung the Möbius Strip in the dining room.
The view to our front patio. We clearly haven't done anything out there yet! You can also glimpse the new cushions I got for our chairs...no more red and green plaid!
Guest Rooms
Even though we're planning to get a queen bed for at least one of these rooms, they're still complete enough to accommodate guests.
One of our hand-built shelves came crashing down this week (too many books!), so Matt had to take them down and add supports. Now the office/second guest room is all set up. Our framed diplomas are hanging over the desk, too.
We have two beds in the first guest room, and now there are even pictures on the walls!
I had some fun framing my All Star Game tickets, etc.
Foyer
We hung our second nice piece of art, the King of Hearts, on one side of the foyer. Across from it we put up a nice mirror surrounded by photographs I took during our various trips around the world. I can't wait to add more photos to the collection...We don't have one of Panama printed yet. 
From top left around: Edinbrugh, Aix en Provence, Florence, Jerusalem, St. Mark's Square (Venice), Cliffs of Moher (Ireland), Venice, Arc de Triomf (Barcelona), Aix en Provence.
We plan to get a nice table to put under the mirror, too.

Master Suite
We finally took down our gross, broken verticals in the master bedroom and can now actually let daylight into our room! We have a wonderful view.
We haven't hung anything on the walls in the master yet. The problem is that everything we love we want out on display where people can see it! So our room is still very bland; but our new duvet set, rug, and curtains do help!

Addition
The space off the kitchen that we had been using to store junk has been cleaned out and organized! We're not sure what we want to use this space for, but at least now it's not an eyesore.
 
Obviously there's still tons to get done, but the entire house feels warmer with so many little details added. I'm starting to feel proud of it and like I can really call it "home!"

Do you like decorating and organizing house stuff?
What is your favorite room in your house? Why?

ABK

20 comments:

  1. Great job with the decorating Ali! I am always interested in decorating ideas and such but I dont' really feel good at it. I tend to get overwhelmed with it actually and always end up wanting to buy more things....lol.

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    1. When I see like..."real" decorated houses on Pinterest and in magazines I get SO overwhelmed. I'm kind of just looking at what I like and at what I already have and using that as inspiration. It seems to be working!

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  2. You both did a massive amount of work! Congratulations on getting the addition cleaned up--that alone is quite an accomplishment. Nothing like having a party to get your ass in gear, am I right? And isn't it wonderful to be married to a very handy man? Besides all his other great qualities. HNY!

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    1. It's very nice to be married to someone who can figure out ANY hardware problem...and who doesn't really mind if I don't do my share!

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  3. I had a lot of fun reading this, and of course went back and looked at your before pictures. :) I especially like your master curtains. No your swimming pool... it kind of looks like it is covered, am I right?

    I am also intrigued by the little addition. What are your ideas for that area? Th cupboards and the brick shelf are really cool.

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    1. Our back lanai is partially covered and has hurricane shutters you can roll down to close over the sliding doors. The rest of the lanai is covered by a cage to keep out critters!

      The addition used to be another brick patio like the one off the dining room. I think we'll incorporate it into the kitchen when we tear out that whole area, but since it connects to the master bedroom and we're redoing that area as well, we may incorporate it into the bedroom! We just don't know yet!

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  4. Your house looks phenomenal! I am a terrible decorator. Like, I will do pretty much anything to avoid it. When I own my own home, I can place money on the fact that it will never look nice. :-D It must be fun putting your own touches on your house and making it a home.

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    1. It took awhile for me to even be interested in decorating because I was still in a rental mindset...but then it becomes like an addiction!

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  5. I love looking at and trying different decorating ideas. Houzz.com and pinterest are bad places for me. LOL Too many ideas. You guys did a great job making it your own!!!

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    1. Oooh now I'm going to waste hours on Houzz! Thank you! lol

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  6. Love the pictures of your home!! Everything looks super nice, it's great you and your husband could work on it together. I wish I was better at decorating--I'm excited just to have color on the walls in my apartment!

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    1. It is nice to do most of it ourselves...it makes it feel more like it's ours!

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  7. Happy New Year! It is awesome that your house is becoming your home! It looks very homey and cozy! I love all the little patios you have connected to your house, very cool! The weather also looks gorgeous. I have been trying to arrange a Florida weekend for Gunshow and I, sometime in Feb. or Mar. to get out of the cold weather, we shall see :)

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    1. Ooh, definitely come to FL. It's been weirdly warm for Dec/Jan, even for Florida.

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  8. Wow! Nice work. That is *exactly* what I have spent my break doing. You are absolutely right that it takes way longer than you think it would. I've been too busy to blog and I've even been skipping runs! It is well worth the effort you've put in, though, your place looks cozy and bright and fun!

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    1. I had to skip some runs too! I think decorating is still working out, though!

      I'd love to see how you've been decorating!

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  9. How fun! Thanks for the tour. I love cleaning/decorating my apartment. I have neglected my dining room area for the past 4.5 years! I think 2015 will be the year to decorate it.

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    1. We used to use the dining room as storage...it really is nice to have it all set up. It makes me feel like a grownup haha.

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  10. Looks awesome! It's such a great feeling to get your stuff put up and organized in your house. I tend to be lazy and slack off in that area. And it does take a loooong time. Especially painting- it's deceiving!

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    1. Our walls were freshly painted when we moved in so even though they're a super bland color, we're going to keep them. We may paint in some of the smaller rooms...otherwise I'm just hoping hanging things will cover the oatmeal color!

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