Sunday, August 28, 2016

Tearing Down Walls!

So, this year, 2016, has been the "year of the house" for us indeed!  We are so excited and grateful for the changes we've been able to make to our house so far; changes that are truly making this home "us." 
By the grace of God, we have a place to call home; a shelter from the elements, clean water running from our faucets, beds to sleep in, a safe place to gather together.  This in itself is such a tremendous blessing...one that I know I take for granted at times. So, to simply have this place, I am beyond grateful.  But then to be able to do these fun things to make it truly ours and even more functional for our family.....WOW...I am just so very thankful and undeserving. 
I love creating and working with my hands; seeing the before and the after; the story and the transformation of something old and worn into something that highlights the beauty of the age and the scars.  I am inspired by so many creative and talented people in this world.  My hope in my posts about design and creativity is to inspire you as well!  And maybe to let you in on a few inexpensive and easy ways to make your home more you. 
We love to reuse materials, repurpose and find the most affordable way to diy our design wishes....such a fun challenge!
I recently shared our master suite renovation.  If you missed those and would like to take a peek, check them out here and here.
Today, I am excited to share another big renovation project we tackled over the last few months.  It is one that we envisioned from day 1 of looking at this house to buy.   Needless to say, 8 years later, we are a tad bit excited to see it a reality!

Here is the before and during of our living room project.  Taking down the wall! Woo hoo!
Here it is now finished.
I am in love. This truly changed the whole feel, flow, and function of our home.  I love that we are all together now.  The house feels so HUGE to me now!  We love having people in our home and this just makes that even more possible for more people to gather, which I just love so much.
So, please come on in and let me show you around.  Family movie nights, a lot of coffee drinking and stories shared, cuddles and reading, games and puzzles....so much life happens in this room.
Turn around and you'll find our entry way, my best find in years (our beloved old lockers), and the addition of a distressed wood wall. I love this part of the room.  Those lockers house all of the things that I have moved around from place to place in our home for years because we just didn't have a good place for them. We don't have a mudroom or a garage or even an extra closet that's not in use so these lockers hide backpacks, my workout gear, basketballs, hats and gloves, my purse, and our weekly library books so they don't get misplaced.


Natural light is a must for me and now even more of it floods through the windows from each room.
 I have wanted lights over our bar to replace the big fluorescent light that was there, forever!  I knew I wanted metal pendant lights and that I wanted them to hang from rustic wood.  My amazing husband took my wishlist and made it happen and he did so so good!

We painted our cabinets a couple of years ago and added hardware which seriously updated our kitchen. The light and sign over the sink are two of my favorite things in this space.  I looked for a long time for a vintage looking metal sign that fit the space and that I could afford and finally found this beauty!  And the light, I spotted at Vintage Market Days with my sister in laws and just fell in love with it.  My sweet sister in law snuck back over to that vendor later and surprised me with it.  Its one of those finds that I would've been kicking myself for not buying later so I am so glad she got it for me!
We also brought the wood element in here as well. It is a win win because it looks great and also doesn't show the little scuff marks from little feet like that the light gray paint did!  Just another one of the wonderful things about vintage industrial style, the more beat up it gets, the better it looks!
 Check out that light. I hear that it looks like the Death Star. Guess what? I had no clue! ha! I just knew that when my very excited husband called me over to see it on our trip to Ikea, I loved it right away! I love the ultra modern feel and that it is SO completely different than anything I've seen before.
I could tell he loved it too which sealed the deal.  Then he blurted out that it looks like the Death Star and after he explained what that was to me (I know, I know), I knew my kiddos would love it as well!

 mmmm....the coffee bar. This makes me happy.
That barn door though.  And the wood beams from the opening.  I just love it. 
Some sweet friends let us come haul off some old barn wood from their property a while back. We didn't know at the time what we would use it for but just knew we couldn't pass up barn wood!  It was absolutely meant for this project.
These lovely built in shelves were here when we bought the house and honestly, were a huge selling point for me.  We homeschool from our kitchen table so this space is super functional for our family! Those shelves and cabinets house our curriculum, workbooks, manipulatives, and art supplies. And the bright colors and globe are just happy to me.

Well, there's a little glimpse into our lives lately!  We have a few more projects to complete the year of the house but we've completed all of the really big ones now!

Next up: Creating a work space in the laundry room to make it a more functional work space, adding new lighting and freshening up the space with new paint.

We'll be using the same process to cover the kitchen counters with concrete as we did on our new master bathroom. And we plan to add this tile to the backsplash
and paint over the red wall with a more neutral color that will brighten up the space. We will hopefully add some simple LED under the cabinet lighting and the kitchen will be totally done!

We'll be doing concrete counters in the other bathroom in the house as well and framing out the large factory mirror on the wall. 
And then....wait for it.....the year of the house will be a total success!!!

Posts on the details and how to's of these projects are coming soon!








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