Rose ~ Chic ~ Friends: My blog is all about you; friends and sharing lifes journey...My love for all things Chic; repurposed, crafted, painted in many venues... and My LOVE for all things Roses! which show up in my home and created projects.

Monday, February 4, 2013

Rooms We Live In

Hi Everyone!
Over this past weekend my hubby and I finally put
away the last of Christmas.  Now before you go
rolling your eyes on me and stating
why so late, I must share I have a hubby who LUVS
Christmas.  He loves the lighted tree and homey
Christmas decor.  So our family
tradition has been to keep it up till the end of January.
I was MORE than ready to get on with the cleaning,
vacuuming, dusting rearranging and tweaking of
our Family and Kitchen/Dining areas.
Most of you y'all know that I create in pinks,
creamy whites, aquas, lavenders etc....
but
I LOVE color and I guess the many rooms in
my home reflect this.  I choose to keep these two
most lived in areas in softer creams, reds, golds
with touches of blues.  Red has become a much
needed *pick-me-up* color.  I tend to get down and
slightly depressed during the longer, colder weather.
Red helps keep me *Up* and brighten my spirits.
I went around and took pictures from the 4 corners so you
can get a better idea of the room(s) I am working with.
Our family room is quite long, more of a good
rectangle.  Very little wall space to work with.

In December, we had ALL the windows in the entire home
replaced.  HUGE undertaking before the holidays...ugh!
Anyway, I am slowly getting rid of older mini blinds
and redoing some of the window treatments.
As you can see, I am having issues with getting a true
color values because of light coming
in from the large set of 4 windows in this room.
That is even with the blinds on for room darkening.
I am hoping to get rid of these blinds. 
The actually cover up beautiful trimming that
is around all the windows in our home.
Also, you can see the deep red curtain I put up,
I am trying to get a better idea of how these will look.
We got new hardware, and the deep red curtains are
room darkening, so I am pretty sure I will be taking
the blinds out and then just opening/closing the curtains.

Furniture placement in the room is always tricky.
Since we made the large TV beast our focal point
I always try to make sure all seats have a decent view.

My hubs, is one of those guys who says...
if it ain't broke you don't fix it.  The *beast*
will probably be here till it croaks.  Could be soon,
since the sound is already gone, or another few years
lol!
Once it dies, we will probably get a TV for over
the fireplace.  Then that will create a whole
other set of problems,
I also am showing you that at least in my home,
rooms seem to always be in
a state of flux.  I know most peeps don't show rooms
like I have, but I wanted to be honest and show you
that we still have to live in rooms that are in progress.
I did splurge these past few days and found some GREAT finds
and Hobby Lobby.  Those Vases/Urns were $7
on clearance!!!

Do you see the gold frame on the right?
A great Pinterest idea of using a frame
around those ugly thermostats!

Okay, so moving on through the room into my
Combined eating/kitchen area.

The french doors were installed in 2011 and
I am SOOOO happy we paid the extra money for them.
They add so much character to my builder
grade ugly kitchen that I am working with.
We are planning soon to replace the counters with
granite.  I am trying to convince hubs that I either need
to darken or light the cabinets as oak is just
no longer the look.  A total gut, is not in
our future budget, so I am trying to be creative.
I would SO love input after you see what I am
working with.

I have decent kitchen space, but believe it or not, horrible
storage space.  I have a pantry, it is not  a walking or deep
so I have had to improvise a lot.

We actually are thinking of extending out the island
and making it larger so we could use it to
eat on if we wish.  We may also do away with the
eating area and add lower cabinets under to
cutout.  You would be able to still put a smaller
bistro table here, but we think we'd like to
open the space up a bit more.

One of the biggest changes in windows, we made was to
the kitchen window over the sink area.  Because of my
horrid light, you cannot see that the wood is new and
not painted yet.  I did take the blinds out of here and
will be doing some type of roman shade here.

Below picture is our large desk area. 
I love this area and use it all the time, it's my
command center and houses extra glassware.
As you can notice, we have door walls everywhere in this
room.  The doorwall by the desk goes to the powder room,
butlers pantry and into the formal dining area.
I have a friend who thinks I need to take down the cut out
wall completely.  I am not so sure.
We have lived in our home almost 20 years.  Like most
people, when you live in a home, it is not always set up
to how you live. 

I am so thankful to have my home.  I feel blessed beyond
measure.  Yet, the creative, artistic gal in me wants
to improve upon and change things up.  It doesn't
happen fast with an engineering hubby, who is very
money conscience and prefers not to be handy,
if ya know what I mean. 
I must admit you gals who have handy hubs
are what I envy most.

Yet my sweet hubbys ways got us through some
very lean times in recent years.  For that I a truly thankful.
We are back on track now and he is
on board and realizes we have do some improvements.
You can be sure I have my list and
he knows about it too...lol

Thanks so much for stopping by.
I look forward to hearing what you may think
of our home Living areas.





6 comments:

Marilyn said...

Everything looks just like "home", welcoming and comfortable. If you do decide to paint your kitchen cabinets, you must seal them or the tanin in the oak will bleed through the paint making it look streaky. I used Zinser shellac on part of my cupboards and the white paint is WHITE. I love that set. I most likely will need to re-do the other set (that I did not seal, 'cuz I didn't know better) next summer. I just don't like the streaky look they have. Everyone said that Annie Sloan chalk paint did not need any prior treatment, but I disagree. The pure white just should have had sealer first. The shellac dried so quickly and the cabinets looked very nice after I put it on, but I still painted! Please realize that is my experience in painting my oak cupboards white. Other colors may not have the same issue I had/have.

Good luck with any changes you may make.♥♫

GARAGE SALE GAL said...

I have a similar living room! Large with lots of openings!
I love LIGHT, so my window treatments are sheers!
Love the idea of a larger island top so that you can eat at it.
You will make it all work and it will be awesome!
Warmly,
deb

Celestina Marie said...

Dear Lorena,
I always enjoy to see your gorgeous home and all that you are up too. Love your living room and kitchen. What inviting and cozy spaces you have created. Your colors for the season are soft and comfortable. You truly have made your home an inspiration and I do understand too well the thoughts about improvements. After living in a home for some time we all find the need to make changes.

Thank you for the well wishes while I had the flu. I am a bit better but very weak and now have pleurisy. It is just going to take time and rest. I am not very good at the rest part. LOL

Wishing you a great week filled with blessings.
Love to you, Celestina Marie

Rebecca Nelson said...

HOME SWEET HOME! I could move right in and enjoy every second. You are so dear my friend...and talented. You bless so many of us in blogland and I'm honored to call you friend.

Our Christmas down 12/26 because I had surgery on 12/28. Couldn't imagine keeping it up while I was trying to get well. :( It all seemed rushed now that I think about it. Next year will be bettah!!!!

xoRebecca

Debbie-Dabble Blog and A Debbie-Dabble Christmas said...

Lorena,
What a beautiful, welcoming and cozy home!!

I hope you will stop by and enter my 3rd Blog Anniversary Giveaway.....

Hugs,
Debbie

Verena said...

This is cool!