family room reveal

When we first bought our house, we didn't fall in love with it for the way it was. In fact, we really had to use our imagination before we even stepped foot in the front door. What we fell in love with were certain elements of the house and from there we began working on turning it into our dream home. A little vision goes along way! Plus... you know... some blood, sweat & tears help too.
The room we really loved when we purchased our 1950s ranch was the family room. It is a large, bright room with original built-ins flanking a stone fireplace that had never been burned in! We were ecstatic over the possibilities this room held.

A little over 2 years later and that ruby red "before" room now looks like this:

... breakdown of what we've done ...
:: tore out the carpet (4 hours after getting the keys) and refinished the oak floors (with the help of our parents) before moving in a month after settling :: gave everything a fresh coat of paint (walls, trim, built-ins & mantle) :: added a pop of grey to the back of the built-ins to give them some life :: re-tiled the flat hearth in front of the fireplace :: hung curtains :: built a sofa table to run under the extremely large picture windows :: wall mounted the tv & built a custom entertainment center :: saved up our money to buy a new couch! :: made new pillows for the couch (using this process) :: added some character to our sofa table with our cactus house :: added some "air plant art" above the fireplace mantle :: had gas logs installed in the fireplace :: defined the whole room with Flor tiles to make everything feel cozy :: added new knobs to the built ins to add a little more of our eclectic personalities to the space :: built tree stump side tables :: hung some fun art  :: brought in some "no maintenance" plants in the form of paper flowers, knit cacti & pom pom flowers.

My advice to anyone designing a space - take your time, only add in things that you absolutely LOVE and you will have a space in the end that you can't help but be proud of.

[p.s. this post may be linked to any number of these blogs]

knit cactus

Before I get into this post... I have a confession... I kill plants. I know...sad.

I really don't know what's wrong with me. I love plants. I water them. I enjoy them in my house. I give them sunlight...DEAD.  I can't explain it.

I couldn't take it anymore so I found a way not to kill them:

a cactus house

I’ve been wanting a terrarium for a really long time and I just couldn’t find the right vessel for it. I wanted something unique and unusual but nothing I saw was really cutting it. I’m very lucky that my husband has a creative mind and can see the potential in different objects. This isn't so much of a "how-to" as a post that will hopefully inspire you to make your own unique terrarium. Here is where our terrarium story began...

This past Christmas, there was an oddly shaped present under our Christmas tree. I wasn't allowed to look at it, touch it, shake it, move it or think about it - I just had to sit and rip the paper off of it when I was told to do so. To my surprise, it ended up being this – a beautiful vintage glass light (minus all the inside pieces and parts that a light usually has).

Although, it wasn't so pretty when Adam bought it at Resource York and few weeks prior. From what I was told, it was a little dirty and it was brass (totally outdated).