OUR HOME :: living room + kitchen

Hello and happy Tuesday!

I hope you had a great weekend!  Last week Matt and I had a fun interview.  The interviewer asked if I had photos of our home on the blog.....oops.....I realized I don't have many photos of our home!  Soooo, I thought I would post a few over the next couple of weeks.  It's a great incentive for me to tidy up and finish a few projects!

We renovated our home almost 9 years ago. but I will share those photos and details on another post.

Today, I thought I would share our living room and kitchen.

We have a long hallway/entryway.  When you 'round the corner', the space opens up to our living room and kitchen.

My oh-so-talented hubby built the cabinets.  They have held up really well to all of the abuse I give them.  But, we do plan on repainting them this winter...

When we remodeled this home, we were young newlyweds with a small budget.

I would have done things a little differently if our budget had allowed.  Our one splurge in the kitchen, was the 36" dual-fuel WOLF oven.  I use that baby everyday and I am so glad we scraped our pennies for her!

I LOVE my island!  Matt milled down quarter-sawn white oak to make a countertop that can comfortably seat six.

This is a hard working island!

If I am not using it for cooking, we are eating at it, doing crafts on it, or some other ridiculously, crazy project.

You can see the microwave is tucked into the island.  I love that it is out of eye sight, but still easy to use.

When we repaint the cabinetry this winter, I am thinking of painting the island a lighter color.  What do you think?  Stay dark, or lighten it up a bit?

The kitchen opens right up to the living room.  This space truly is the heart of our home!

I am always changing out the pillows.  I have a ridiculous stash!

I usually sew my own pillow covers.  It's less expensive than always buying new, and I can pick the perfect fabric for the look I want.  I found these pillows at Pier 1 and I had to snag them!  Sometimes a girl just wants to buy a pillow and not have to sew:-)

Love fresh flowers in the house, especially sunflowers!

I am always changing out the decorations on the mantel.  As soon as Autumn arrives, I will change everything up again!

This window seat is Addilyn's favorite area.

We keep toys and books in the open cubbies.  Kids can easily get to the toys, and I can easily throw them back in the baskets at the end of the day.

It's a great little 'kids' corner that is tucked to the side of the living room.  It can get messy, but it's out of the main walking path, so it's not a big deal to have books and toys scattered about.

The living room leads to our new covered deck.  I love that the covered deck almost doubled our living space!

And, just in case you thought I was neglecting my sweet-peas during my little photo session, they were right there in the middle of it ;-)

We love us some Sesame Street at our house.  Addilyn gets to watch TV for an hour, and I get some work done...it's a win-win for both of us!

Thanks for taking a peek into our little home.  Come back next week for more photos!  Until then, have a lovely day!

~Darci

TV CABINET :: to build or not to build

Matt has designed and built numerous TV cabinets for different clients.  As you all know, custom built-ins can make such a difference in a living space!  When we remodeled our home, we talked about doing an entire wall of cabinetry in the living room.  But, life happens and living room cabinetry falls to the bottom of the priority list. So, we use this cabinet.

It has served it's purpose well.  It's nothing fancy or custom.

It holds cozy blankets, electronics, bibles and books that we are currently reading.

Matt modified the door {with wire mesh} so that the remote can still register with the electronics.

It works just great.

I vote that we save our money, time and energy for a summer vacation.

But talk to me this winter and my answer may be different {wink}!