Did I Reach My Goal?

Almost a year ago in this post I asked you all to hold me accountable to finishing ONE room in my house. I wanted to have one space where I wasn't constantly feeling like I needed to do something and we could relax in something that felt like our style. The room I picked was our living room... the room we definitely spend the most time in.  We had lots of company come to visit over the Summer and Fall and a lot of that company was people who had never seen our house before. That made me push myself just a little harder with each visit to get another aspect of the room finished. Let's revisit the before photos.

I want to say there are aspects of this room that could have been our style, but mostly I wanted to change everything. Then we hit our official starting point after our furniture got moved in.

Then there is where we left off.

I really thought that I there wasn't much left to do but Christmas kind of changed this because we gave each other some gifts that really changed the feel of the room- for the better I think. This is how our living room looks now.

 (yes the slipcover is MIA in this picture due to a "speriment"(unauthorized experiment) gone wrong that caused an immediate need for washing)

(Can I tell you how much I love those pillows??)

I have realized we are in a season where we have to have kid friendly shelves. These may not be styled as pretty as I would like them to be but the kids use them to play all. the. time. I do get to have some fun things on top of the shelves.

We also had that crazy corner stacked with stuff. It is now filled with the piece of furniture that started in the foyer and holds our new record player.

 

And of course our desk area after...

 

Excuse the extra radiator please.. it's COLD!

Since we moved in I was challenged by the mantle. It's huge and the ceilings are so high. You need something substantial up there. I had found the mirror in this picture at the thrift store.

 While the size was right the shape just didn't feel right and it made the room feel darker with the dark frame. Then I saw Kelly's mirror at Eclectically Vintage. (You have to check out Kelly's blog. Her house is beautiful and she features some amazing homes!)

Talk about love at first sight! I even asked her if she would sell it to me. She said no. But I knew that was the kind of shape I wanted. The hunt was on- and it lasted for months! I will admit to picking my own Christmas present- but it was perfect!

Yes, it was a craigslist find but I searched everywhere looking for something similar with no luck. This is actually an old church window that someone converted into a mirror. It's not exactly like Kelly's but it has it's own charm. The woman I bought it from didn't want to let it go but I promised her it was going to a good home- and we love it!

The other Christmas present that changed things around in was this one:

Sweet Hubby had expressed his opinion that while my french style chairs were pretty they weren't very comfortable. I have said from the beginning that I want this house to be somewhere where we are all comfortable so I knew I had to fix it... on a budget if possible. Have you priced leather chairs recently? Oh my goodness. It's insane. Even on CL they are usually a couple hundred dollars. However I lucked out and found this one for $50 and it is SOOO comfy! The ottoman came from my MIL. She was awesome and shipped it a looong way so that it could have a place in our house. It helps makes this chair super comfy.

There are some things to be tweaked in here. I still have to finish hemming the curtains, painting the strip over the doorway, and hanging things on the wall but I really think that we could call this room pretty much done- for now. I did sell my grainsack table and we moved a stool in next to chair to serve as a side table. It's just the right size for a book or a cup of coffee and that is really all we need it for.  I am really happy with this room as a comfortable space that we all can relax in.

So a quick before and after....

What do you think? Did we reach our goal? Do you have a goal that you reached last in the year? I guess I had better come up with my goal for this year!

Long time, no blog post!

Whoops. Over a month? I am going to have to blame this one on holiday craziness! Guess we have some catching up to do!

 We had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving. I got to host and cook which wasn't the original plan but Sweet Hubby's sister and her husband drove to spend the weekend with us and we had a great time. We even got to go thrifting since they were looking for ugly Christmas sweaters and I am pretty sure a marvelous time was had by all. Since I was busying cooking for nine people my Mom was smart enough to grab this quick picture of our table setting.

 

I just tried to keep it simple with burlap runners and white dishes. The centerpiece is cranberries in water with a floating candle and a bundle of greenery I picked up at the grocery store for six dollars. I stood in the floral section of the grocery store debating (slightly dead) centerpieces that started at $25 and instead spent eight dollars and used a lantern and candle I already owned and loved it so much more! I also folded the napkins so it held the silverware and we felt a little fancy. I have been making some changes in the dining room that hopefully I will get to post about soon!

Did having a weeks less between Thanksgiving and Christmas throw anyone else off this year? I was so behind that I didn't order my Christmas cards until December 18th and I didn't get our outside lights up until the 22nd. Speaking of Christmas cards....

I totally see the kids personalities in this picture. I love it. Not too surprising since they are my kids.

Since I posted last we hit the two year mark in this house. The project list is still miles long but we have decided to try and tackle some outside projects this year. We have some cedar shakes that are rotting and falling off the house that we have ignored for two years. It' not something we can put off any longer and shouldn't be a super expensive project but is one that is greatly needed. This will probably lead to some painting of other outside areas of the house and the landscaping -or lack thereof unless you like overgrown bushes- needs some serious attention. Even just removing the half dead trees and bushes would be a huge improvement. Of course I will be tackling inside stuff as well and I already have some things I would love to share. I am going to try and post weekly. (We will see how it goes.) I look forward to sharing this year with all of you!