Recently our house was featured in the Home and Garden section of our local paper, The Herald Bulletin. The author, Julie Campbell, did a wonderful job and was very flattering in her description of the house. I thought it would be nice to add to some of the pictures that were in the article.
Our house is a pretty open concept. You basically can stand at the front door and see the whole thing. It kind of makes for a pitiful tour when new people are over; however, it sure is a lot less walking and usually means we can get on with eating and playing cards a lot quicker.
Stand at the front door and look left and you'll see/be in our dining room. Like Julie mentions in the article, the piano used to be your typical, dated, brown, scratched, and worn piece. After a lot of searching on the internet to find out how to properly paint a piano, I decided to just wing it and went with a chalk paint method that I found online. It completely transformed it.
The corner hutch came from our previous house and holds my daughter Morgan's collection of Churchill china. Some of the plates have been used in the table setting.
The blue HeyWoodite chairs came from the high school that my husband and I both attended. They have been with us for about 8 years and have been used as art class chairs, school chairs, and porch chairs. They're super durable and stack when we need more space.
This is the piece that seems to be getting the most attention. Our Buddy L chandelier. I would love to take claim for this awesome idea, but alas, it is a copy of another man's genius. Originally, there wasn't a chandelier over the table, just some directed track lighting. It worked, but you just couldn't look up or you would be blinded with a spotlight in your face. So, we found this idea online and "biggity- bam!", we have a super fun conversation piece hanging above the table.
Standing at the front door and looking right, you will see our family room. Yes, that is white furniture, and yes, that was the best furniture decision we've ever made. We purchased the couch and chair at Ikea, and the slipcovers are super easy to clean. We don't have to wash them very often because we use some fun vintage sheets to tuck around the cushions. The coffee table used to be a tall kitchen table. Mr. D cut the legs short making it very versatile. The sides lift up for eating around or playing games. The two baskets under it are full of the smaller games while the larger board games are behind the white curtain under the stairs.
This area under the stairs is new. It was closed in when we moved here, but at one time we think it housed a gas fireplace. We don't have much storage or closet space on the main floor and we really wanted to make the most of every possibility. I'm constantly changing up the decorations in the house. It's the best way I've found to curb a shopping urge. Swap things out or shuffle things here and there and you've got a whole new space. It's also a great way to find out if you really like something or not. If you can't find a place for it, get rid of it. Here I have a vignette dedicated to my grandparents. I think spaces like this are most interesting when the pieces come together to tell their own story.
We picked this EXIT sign up at Hobby Lobby. I believe it's an item that they still have available. This area by the front door has a collection of decorations inspired by travel. I found the vintage maps of Indiana and Illinois at a garage sale this summer. The globe was crafted by Morgan for her dad's Christmas present a couple of years ago. The transit or telescope-y thingy, as I like to call it, was another gift for Mr. D. Keeping items that are similar together can have a bigger impact than spreading them around the room.
Just like the article said, the porch is my favorite part of this house. In fact, that's where I am right now, still in my jammies at two in the afternoon. I'm just hanging out with Mr. D as the kids are heading in and out throughout the day. We've had amazing weather this summer, and we just can't seem to get enough of all this fresh air.
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