Sharing my home office on Monday made me stop to reflect on how far we've come with the decor in our home in other rooms as well in the past 4 years. We moved into our home in July 2010 and through my blog archives, I found a post I wrote on July 15, 2010 that showed all the rooms in our house as we were just about to move in. I specifically remember how excited I was to be moving our family from a dark, small townhouse to a bright, spacious home. Our son was just 4 months old and it was a dreamy time.
We started pretty much from scratch with everything in this house as far as furniture and decor goes and I have learned so much over the years about my style and what I like. I guess it's taken me time to figure this out. I credit home blogs, HGTV, decor magazines, interior design books, and designers like Nate Berkus for inspiring me along the way. Home bloggers are my favorite though. It takes a lot of courage to open up your home for people to see (and judge) online. I appreciate that they do it though, because I love visiting and getting to peek inside!
We'll be celebrating our 4 year anniversary in our home next month and I love it even more now than ever. When I come home, I feel welcomed by this familiar place. I hope your home does that for you too. Here is a peek inside our home and a reflection of the decor changes that have taken place in the last 4 years.
living room
In our living room, the sectional was the first major purchase for the house. I remember stressing over the purchase and the dimensions, but, thankfully, the couch fit the room perfectly! I wrote a review about the Pottery Barn Pearce Chaise Sectional (and I like it very much), but you can see how the back cushions have lost their shape. The worst one isn't viewable in the bottom photo.
Since 2010, we have updated the coffee table to the Renate Coffee Table Ottoman, side tables and lamps (a few times) as well as the pillows. The large urns have been replaced by toy boxes (Wal-Mart) so that our son can play with his toys downstairs and we can all be together in one room. The day the curtains went up (on my son's first birthday) made the biggest difference in pulling the room together. That means we had no drapes until we were in this house 8 months.
Festive Home Decor pillows
Painting the back of the media center and styling it made the room look more layered and complete too. At first it was painted a light blue, but then I changed it to Sherwin Williams Urbane Bronze. I get a lot of questions about this unit- it was built by the builders before we moved in. We have toys, games, art supplies, video games and DVDs in the cabinets below the television and bookshelves.
stairway
The stairway is a great focal point in our home, but I struggled for a long time with how to decorate the curve of the staircase. I painted the half-bath door Black Fox and then added the wide horizontal stripes, which continue on the adjacent wall leading to our front entry.
Since this photo was taken, I moved the Ikea Docksta table back up to my office and I'm looking for a new table for this area.
mudroom
Having a mudroom adjoin my garage and kitchen has been a very wise choice. This space has always been practical, but not always very pretty. I made a bench seat with plywood, foam, and fabric and painted stripes on the back wall. Then, I added more hooks and created labels so we would know there was a specific place for everything. Our shoes go in the baskets below and keys hang just outside the door. No more lost keys! This space is functioning very well these days (and will be featured in an organizing book later this year!).
Our Current Mudroom
breakfast room
The breakfast room is one of my favorite decorated spaces in our home. I think the patterned rug (Joss & Main) and drapes go so well together and I often switch up the chairs and benches around the Pottery Barn Benchwright table. Again, hanging drapes made a world of difference and I love that Z Gallerie Portico mirror. You can sometimes find a similar one at HomeGoods.
Adding the Dalton Mirrored Console Table to the wall under the window is a great spot for corralling mail, keys, change and other things that come in the door with us to help keep the kitchen counters clear.
Breakfast Room Post
kitchen
The biggest change to the kitchen would be the wall of our cabinets that I painted Urbane Bronze and then styled with white ceramic dishes. I keep meaning to make roman shades for the windows (I even chose and bought fabric) I just haven't gotten to it yet.
dining room
Formal dining rooms are often being turned into home offices or playrooms these days, but since we already have those spaces, we do use our dining room when we have people over and always on holidays. Every so often, I'll eat there (especially breakfast) because I love the bright view and want to enjoy all the rooms in our house. It's nice to use the good china and not keep it stuffed away in the cabinet. :) I don't have a very good shot of the entire room, but we did end up switching out the chandelier also. The drapes were made with fabric from High Fashion Home. Our console table is the World Market Everett Foyer Table.
master bedroom
Our master bedroom is truly a retreat and I love getting in a good nap on a weekend afternoon or staying in bed too late with a few magazines and a cup of coffee! We have also added a leaning mirror and two x-benches to the end of the bed (that I still need to photograph). I'm very happy with the Aisling Fabric King Platform Bed and the Pottery Barn Park Mirrored 2-Drawer side tables. The art is from etsy shop T30 Gallery.
sitting room
In the sitting room, we finally moved the leather chair and ottoman to the living room and the kid version to the playroom. I found the pair of Biltmore Wind Lindy chairs at Overstock. (If they are out of stock, provide your email and you'll get a notice when they are restocked. That's what I did.) I still need footstools or a coffee table or something maybe for us to put our feet on. That starburst mirror was a score at Home Depot. If you happen to follow me on Instagram, you've seen 4 framed family photos sitting on the floor in my bedroom for awhile now- I'm planning to put them here in the sitting room and move the existing photos to somewhere else.
master bath
In the master bath, the only change is the window shutters were installed and some minimal decor. We also changed the towel hooks for a towel bar to help our towels dry better and prevent them from getting musty.
closet
Looking back at this closet I designed finally come to fruition makes me giddy. Turns out I have more space than I need, but I'm not complaining! I definitely wanted space for organizing everything, so I'm happy with the design. Since 2010, I have painted the island, shoe shelves and built-in dressy a high gloss pink. It's much easier to keep clean now.
son's room
As I mentioned above, our son was just a baby when we moved in and it's here that we finally got to set up his crib and a give him a room of his own. Like any new mom, I have the fondest memories of rocking my baby to sleep, signing to him, and watching him begin crawling in this room. His room was assembled with love and we still have that crib (although he chewed a pretty good bit out of the top rail). Maybe we'll get to put it back together again soon;) The crib and changing table are from Babies-R-Us.
Our son is now at home in his "big boy" room and he digs it! We climb in his bed at night for prayers and bedtime stories and "pillow talk" (my favorite). I made his drapes with shower curtains from West Elm (I just had to add the length) and love that we use my husband's old wagon for book storage. It's sentimental to have something from his childhood in our son's room now. The bed is the Pottery Barn Kids Fillmore with rails from Amazon.
office
Y'all may have seen my 'new' office earlier this week, but for comparison here ya go again. As you can see, it went from yellow and grey to black and white with pops of bright color. I wish I'd brought that plant in years ago!
Looking back on these old posts shows not only the evolution of our decor, but my improvements in photography and styling! I'm sure my style will continue to evolve as and I get older and experience more and my photography will (hopefully) get better too.
As a blogger, I sometimes feel pressure (probably put on myself) to produce fresh new blog content daily (and I love to do that) but I'm like any other person/mom who sometimes just wants to slow down and enjoy her family. There's not always a big project (or any project for that matter) going on. We're just hanging out or spending time with our extended family. Today was fun to just celebrate the progress and journey over the last 4 years. I'm so thankful for my sweet readers who have followed along on the way!
I added product links (some affiliate) where I could still find the products in case you are interested. If you have any questions about anything, leave me a comment so I can answer you back. :)
____________
The WINNER of the $50 gift card to KIRKLAND'S is Natalie Simpson! Congratulations! Kirkland's will contact you via email to get your mailing address. Thank you to everyone who entered!