Home Tour Tuesday - The Mudroom/Laundry Room Edition

Hey there!

As usual, I've taken a long hiatus from the blog so I could fully enjoy spending summer with the family.  It was a busy one, for sure!  We were out of town the majority of our summer break, so I just didn't feel like updating here.  Not that anyone is reading anyway, hahaha.  Now we're two weeks into the school year and our day-to-day routine is back in full swing, so I figured I'd pop back in and start blogging again.  We'll see how long I can keep up!  So let's dive right back into the swing of things with a little Home Tour Tuesday, shall we?!  You'll have to ignore the shoddy quality of these pics.  My CF card was damaged back at the beginning of the summer and I just haven't been motivated to replace it, so these crummy iPhone pics will have to do :)  

I've been dying to redo our laundry room since we moved in four years ago.  The space is SOOOO very tiny and narrow.  And it's pretty much the space where everyone enters the house. It was full of huge built in cabinets above the washing machine/dryer as well as cabinets and a countertop space to the side of the washing machine and dryer.  It really made the entire space feel so closed in.  I wish I had "before" pics to show you!  

My brother is AMAZINGLY gifted when it comes to building and carpentry, so I commissioned him to give the laundry room a makeover.  We left for our annual two week trip to Indiana & Michigan, so he moved in while we were away to house-sit and build the laundry room of my dreams.  He got to the house and texted me asking me what I wanted the built-ins to look like and I sent him a few pictures to try and explain my vision..."I like these lockers", "These are the hooks I have in mind", "Love the backing on this unit", "These cubbies are perfect", etc.  After a few back and forth texts, he sketched out my vision, sent it to me for approval, and got to work.  Here's what he came up with...

YES!!!!!  EXACTLY WHAT I HAD IN MIND!!!!!  And all designed through a series of texts, lol.

It helps that I really trust his vision and know he does amazing work, so I knew whatever he did would be perfect.  And I was right.  His craftsmanship opened up that room so much and makes the space feel so much bigger than it actually is.  See...it's pretty narrow....

While I know the most logical thing to do with all the cubbies above the lockers would be to fill them with laundry room type stuff, I opted to decorate them instead since this is such a high traffic area.  I wanted to cozy it up just a bit even though it technically doesn't make a lot of sense.  I could careless about all that.  I keep all of my laundry detergents, dryer sheets, etc. in the drawers beneath my washer and dryer as well as in a box inside the bottom cubby.  Works perfectly.

My brother decided to break up the continuity of the cubbies on top by adding a shelf to make it a little more visually appealing.  LOVED that idea and it's even better seeing it in person.  I'm pretty sure his vision was better than mine.

Since we enter the house through the laundry room, I asked for a little shelf where I could safely store all of our junk...a little basket for our sunglasses and keys works great and nothing gets lost anymore.  Can I get an AMEN?!

The little turquoise can holds the dog food. We'd keep it outside, but the possums and racoons always flip off the lid and leave a giant mess on our back porch.  GROSS.

We're going to add a trim piece to the bottom of the cubbies to polish it all off and I plan on buying some wire & burlap lined baskets to replace the gray & white.  Those are temporary until I can find something I really love.  The last cubby closest to the wall is currently holding shoes.  It looks super sloppy with them all thrown in the way they are right now, so I'm anxious to find baskets really SOON!! Ha!

The metal buckets are from Wal Mart and I keep those inside each locker to collect backpack "junk".  As you can see, only two weeks into the school year and the boys were loading up their backpacks with things they didn't need.  I remind them to check their backpacks in the morning and take out anything they don't need.  They place all of the "junk" inside the buckets and then empty the buckets in their rooms when they get home in the afternoons.

The other thing I really wanted for each locker were these hooks.  Mr. Spouse and I both agreed we wanted more than one per section, so we decided on three and we're so glad we did!  By the end of the day, each hook is full.  Backpacks, lunch kits, and hoodies (it gets cold in their classrooms).

I absolutely LOVE that everything finally has it's own space in that little room.

It's cleaner and (shockingly) bigger and I couldn't be happier!!!  Now I don't dread hearing the back door open when people come over to visit.  It's an inviting little room that I absolutely adore and am SO happy my brother was able to make my mudroom/laundry room dreams a reality!

If you want to take a little tour through some other rooms in the house, you can check out these posts from the past year.  After looking through them, I think they need updated.  SO much has changed in this short little year!!!

The Mystery Room

The Not-So-Formal Dining Room

The Kitchen

The Living Room

Halloween Home Tour

Home Tour Tuesday - The Halloween Edition

If you've been reading this little blog for any length of time, you know that Halloween is my absolute favorite time of the year.  It's such a fun and playful holiday.  Lends itself to so much creativity and imagination...and it brings back such great memories of my childhood.

We don't get into the "evil" of Halloween.  I personally don't think there's any evil to it, but that's just me talking crazy I guess.  I see Halloween as a time for costumes, candy, hayrides, trick-or-treating, and FUN.  (Did I mention candy??!?!?)   And that's just how we celebrate it in our little family.  Holidays...like anything else...are what you make of it :)  And we love to have fun with this one.

Being that I love Halloween as much as I do, it only stands to reason that the house is decorated and ready for all of the October festivities...and it has been since mid-September.  I decorate way too early, but no...it doesn't take the "special" out of the holiday.  It just lets us enjoy it a little longer :) While I do love Fall decor, I love Halloween decor thismuchmore.  And knowing how much my boys love it makes me that much more excited to decorate!

So welcome to Home Tour Tuesday...the Halloween Edition!

Let's step in and take a peek at how we decorated for Halloween this year.

First up let's talk about how my house smells this time of the year.  You can guarantee that one of these two candles will be burning when you walk in the house.  The Circle E Apple Strudel candle is one of my favorite scents by that company and those candles smell the entire house.  You can pretty much guarantee that my Candleberry Hot Maple Toddy will be burning ALL year long.  It's a warm scent though and perfect for this time of the year.  Hands down, BEST candle there is.  I get more compliments on that candle than anything else!  The entire house is filled with it's fragrance when it burns.  DELICIOUS!

While we're talking all about Halloween decor, I'm celebrating National Coffee Day today with my daily cup of Sonic's Red Button Roast.  Best coffee there is.  And it's best when served black.  Nothing extra needed.  Trust me. I can't drink coffee any other way anymore!

(In other news, I'm almost finished with my She Reads Truth study of Galatians.  Such a powerful study and beautiful reminder of God's promises to us!!  I highly recommend this one!!!)

Speaking of coffee, here's my (Halloween-ish) coffee bar set-up.

I switched out my other mugs for this collection and so far I've been able to find the BOO, TRICK,& TREAT mugs for October. I found them at Home Goods/Marshall's 

(the brand is Magenta).

Right next to the coffee bar is my little skull on a platter with a little chalk art I did on a mini-board from Michaels.  We set our keys on the platter when we walk in and "Skully" reminds us to pick them up before we head out the door every morning ; )

I added a simple little door hanger to the pantry door.  I found it at At Home for $8!  Sold!!

While we're in the kitchen, we'll take a peek in the breakfast room since it's attached.  Here's what's to the right of our breakfast table...

I took out all of my cups and creamers in this little display case and switched them out for these ridiculous skulls.  The boys got the biggest kick out of this when they first saw it!

The skulls are from Wal-Mart and they make for some really fun and playful pops of decor :) The Happy Halloween wooden sign was a find from Home Goods last year.  I think.  The skull pinwheel was .75 cents at Target in the party section a few years ago after season.  I'm glad I finally have somewhere to put it!

Here's the table set-up right below the display case.  It's a hodge-podge of randomness, but perfect for the space.  I'm sure you can guess what my boys love best here :)  #candycornforthewin

I found the countdown blocks at Marshall's (this year) and picked up the skeleton hands at the Dollar Tree.  I think they're actually serving tongs, lol!

I need to add some ribbon and a label to the candy corn jar.

Moving on...

On the wall to the left of the breakfast table is a buffet and shelves.  I usually take down all the decor on the shelves and put up all things Halloween.  This year I decided to keep it simple and save me a little bit of work.  I kept up most of what is usually displayed on the shelves and then added to it with pumpkins and other fun pieces. 

I found the "Eat, Drink, & Be Scary" sign at Marshall's this year and our scary little pumpkin boy had to make another appearance.  I love walking into the kitchen and seeing him turned backwards.  Mr. Spouse HATES that thing!  He turns him around every time he walks by it.  Makes me laugh.

This year our Martha Stewart bats moved from the dining room to the breakfast/living room(s).  They wanted a change of scenery, I guess :)  I know I could've cut my own, but I'm too lazy for that.  These have lasted me 4 good years and they're in great condition still!!

  #worththe5dollars

I switched out the decor on the table behind the sofa in the living room.  SUPER simple  Just added some spiders, webbing, and a table runner to the set-up.  Since the table runner is black I layered it on top of a lighter runner I already had to make it pop.  I got the black runner from Dillard's about 5 years ago.  The pumpkin is from Pier 1 (10ish years ago) is sitting in a little bed of Spanish Moss which I think jazzes it up thismuch ;)

While we're in the living room, let's peek at the built-ins.

I removed the decor from the two bottom shelves and just added a couple of simple things to the two shelves on top.  The Trick or Treat sign is from Marshall's (this year) and the two black pumpkins flanking either side were a steal at Kirkland's about 5 years ago.  They have a glow-in-the-dark picture on one side of either pumpkin, but I didn't like it so I turned them around and put them on a bed of Spanish Moss in little planters.  

I placed little orange berry stems in the wire jars on one of the top two shelves.  The very bottom shelf holds flameless candles sitting on top of Spanish Moss and those darling pumpkin/cat statues (Marshall's, this year).  I think the pumpkin was missing his head piece when I bought him, so I filled the cavity with Halloween straws :)  

The BOO sign was from Wal Mart last year and the Trick or Treat black cat sign was a fun find last year from Marshall's.  Overall, the built-ins were kept really simple this year. 

I changed out the mantle...again...this year and I know I say this every year, but I think this is my favorite!  I brought back all my "31's" to display together and then added some fun jars and pumpkins to decorate around them.  I love adding the cheesecloth to finish it all off and give it another texture/dimension.

I found the white pumpkins at Wal Mart (this year) and the labeled jars are either from Ross or Marshall's.  I would just snag them when I found them.  The black and white 31 sign was a fun find at Marshall's last year and I made the other two.  I also made the music sheet wreath.  You can see how I did that HERE.  The banner is a Martha Stewart special I found at Michaels several years ago and it was worth the $8 I spent on it. It still looks brand new!!!

I love adding books to any kind of vignette because I love how they add height and more dimension.  I typically turn the spines to the back for a more uniform look .  All of my books have the most randomly colored covers.

Here's what sits on our little hearth.  A lantern filled with random pumpkins and a basket filled with a blanket, pillow, and birch logs.

Our coffee table sits right between the couch and the fireplace and here's how I decorated it this year.

I decorated the tray as an ode to Edgar Alan Poe's "The Raven".  It's my NEVERMORE tray :)  

I absolutely love that skull/raven combo. The skull has an imprint of a map imbedded onto it so I used globes to decorate around it to play off that little motif.  I switched out the greenery in my jug for some bare branches and added another raven to the display to finish it all off.

Since the coffee table is pretty long, I decorated with this little set-up next to the tray.  I found the pumpkins at Target a few weeks ago (a tube of 8 for $6).  The bowl is from Tuesday Morning.  

Right behind the couch is our little sofa table and I really changed it up this year.  I haven't liked it a whole lot the last couple of years and knew I wanted it to look completely different this year. I found that table runner at Marshall's (this year).  I made the chalkboard and between that and the runner I had my inspiration for this year's set-up.  I like it SO much more than what I've done the last couple of years!

This is my black and white display :)  I just took my skulls and crows and arranged them as best I could, lol!  My boys requested the spider webs and I thought that was the perfect suggestion for this space!  I really do love it!  

The "mystery room" sits right next to this sofa table and here's what I did to it.  Not much :)  

SUPER simple!! 

I removed most of the decor from the shelves and replaced it with different Halloween signs, statues, and pumpkins.  I found the white pumpkins at Wal Mart and the rest is just a hodge podge of stuff I've collected over the years.  The pumpkin banner is from Wal Mart ( a few weeks ago) and I covered the boxwoods with more spider webs and added some little glittery spiders for a fun touch.  Simple and easy!

The dining room table looks a lot different than it has in years past, too.  I kept out the vase and candleholders like I normally do throughout the year, but I switched out the greenery for bare branches, added some black rock and baby skulls for filler in the vases, and then removed the candles and added white pumpkins to the candleholders.  Then I draped cheesecloth through my chandelier. I also switched out my table runner for this darling one I found at Marshall's last month. 

I need to move the wall of plates, frames, and my buffet all to the right (eventually).  Nothing in this room is centered and it drives me batty.

I didn't do much to my buffet, but I did take away some of my decor that usually sits there and added my mercury glass poison bottles and a few skulls instead.  To add more texture I set the bottles on top of a wood slice (found at Ross for $10).  I collected the bottles from a few different trips to Ross & Marshall's and I think displaying them together makes more of an impact.  I really love this little vignette!!

This little table sits in my dining room as well and it's simply decorated, too.  I love collecting globes and found this one a few months back at Ross for $10.  Sold.  The cloche and skull/raven are both from Marshall's.  I found that fabulous Trick or Treat serving tray at Home Goods a few weeks ago!!! 

 

The hallway table is super simple this year, too.  It's really not big enough for much more anyway.   I took my hydrangeas out of the planter box and filled it with pumpkins instead.  I found the planter and boxwoods at Ross this past spring.

Last but not least is our little powder bath in the hallway.  I covered the window with spider webs and added some glittery spiders for fun.  I filled the shelves with our leftover decor and a picture of my boys from about 4 years ago at the Dallas Arboretum in October.  I LOVE that picture of them and it fits in perfectly with the decor :)

Whew!  I think that about covers it!  I still need to add our silhouette mice to the stairs going to the media room.  The boys have a few little Halloween cutouts in their room, but nothing to write home about.  I usually don't decorate our room for Halloween, but you can bet I will for Christmas this year.  I'm getting ahead of myself ;)  

I'll post some pictures of the porch next week...it's almost there!!!

If you wanna take a peek at how our Halloween decor has evolved over the years, you can check out those posts below.  That's actually scarier than Halloween itself, lol!

Halloween 2014

Halloween 2013

Halloween 2011

Home Tour Tuesday - The Living Room

Now that life is getting back to normal here around the house and our furniture and floors aren't covered in dust and mortar, I figured today would be a great day to start back with Home Tour Tuesday.

Today's little tour takes us to the living room.  

Here we are walking in from the breakfast nook off the kitchen.  I love the vaulted ceiling in this little space and the floor to ceiling fireplace.  The bookshelves were an added bonus for sure.  That wall right ahead is what sold us on the house.  Of course, we loved the potential of everything else, but that wall was what did it for us.

We plan on adding exposed beams to the ceiling, but with all the work that's been done here the last 4 months, we're in NO rush to add that detail anytime soon. Here's to big dreams ;)

Of course, the fireplace is the focal point in this room and it's decorated quite simply as you can see.  Because the fireplace goes up to the ceiling, I needed something "big" to put on the mantle.  This window was the perfect find and I absolutely love it here.  The shutters just kind of finished it all off and I think I'm pretty happy with it..for now, anyway ;)

Mirror:  Kirkland's - Distressed Sadie Arch Mirror

Shutters:  Craigslist

Basket, blanket, & pillow - Home Goods

Lantern & battery operated candles - Kirkland's clearance! Found it for $20!!!!

Candlesticks - Home Goods

Boxwood balls - Ross

Copper plated jug - Home Goods

Copper bucket & topiary -Michaels

We absolutely LOVED the bookshelves that flank either side of the fireplace when we first looked at the house.  They are...in my opinion...just beautiful.  And they've been the bane of my existence to decorate.  As much as I love them, I often wish the bookshelves were divided right down the middle to make decorating easier....that's just how my little mind visually sees things...in boxes.  My bookshelves look a lot different now that they're decorated for Halloween, but here's what they look like when they aren't seasonally decked out.  I *think* I like the arrangements, but I'm sure they'll change for the umpteenth time when Christmas comes down.

While I don't really have any red decor in the house, I used to and that chair in the left corner pays homage to my old style.  I found it on the side of the road and it was FREE!!!!!  With a little TLC, we cleaned her up and had her reupholstered and that might be my most favorite chair in the house.  I plan on reupholstering it with a more neutral fabric, but she'll stay like that until I can find something I can't live without.  

Most of my decor comes from Ross and Home Goods/Marshall's.  There are a few Hobby Lobby finds in there, too.    I have random collections as you can see.  Globes...white pitchers...jars...etc.  I like to put my collections together because I think it makes more of a statement.  No rhyme or reason, really.  And as you can see, I'm a big fan of boxwoods :)

Moving back to the center of the room, here's another look at the bookshelves.  This is what I see when I sit on the couch.  My brother built me that coffee table and I am in LOVE.  It's one of my favorite pieces!!!!  Again, simply decorated...just a tray full of what Mr. Spouse calls "fluff".  But I love that fluff ;)

Tray, wire basket, floral, and jute balls:  Home Goods

Candle & vase:  Ross

Vase Filler:  Target

Coasters - Altar'd State (they were a gift)

Antlers:  Flea Market

See that coffee table?!  Seriously though!!!  I LOVE IT!!!!  Didn't he do a great job?!  I keep baskets of blankets underneath the table.  My boys like to sleep on the couch over the weekends and we happily oblige.  They use the blankets to "make their beds".  I also have a little basket with our remotes and whatnot, too.

I love our sectional.  It's big and fills the space just perfectly.  What I don't love is the pillows.  They're all down pillows and they constantly shed like nobody's business.  Feathers everywhere!!!  I'm also NOT a fan of the fabric.   The gold(ish) pillows don't bother me so much, but the rest have to go.  I'm in the process of finding fabric to have them all recovered, but I'm SO indecisive!!!

Sectional:  Rooms to Go - 3 years ago

Coffee table:  handmade by my brother

Rug:  Lowe's

Here's the little set-up right behind the couch and straight across from the fireplace.  Just a little gallery wall of randomness above an old entertainment center of ours.  I think I'm going to eventually paint the entertainment center, but it'll stay like this until I'm motivated enough to give it a facelift ;)  I don't like the way it's decorated here and I like it much better when it's seasonally decked out.  I never know what to do here and these fantastic horse head bookends eventually earned their home here.  I don't know why I love them, but I do :)

Picture frames:  Michaels

Framed tin plaques and art:  Hobby Lobby

Bookends:  Home Goods (on clearance for $4 each!)

Topiary & vase:  Marshall's

Lantern:  Tuesday Morning

Lamps:  Kirkland's

Just to the right of that little set-up is an open hallway which I also consider part of the living room.  Here's what it looks like from that viewpoint.

As you can see, right behind the other side of the sectional is a little sofa table.  This used to be my mom's and I've always loved it.  It also used to be dark wood, but I lightened it up with some chalk paint because it was a little too dark for the space.  I decorated it with some wire baskets and neutral decor.  

Wire baskets, galvanized tin can, & lavender plant:  Ross

Apothecary jars, white vase & boxwood topiary, cloche, & nests:  Home Goods

Vintage scale:  eBay

The hallway ends at my bedroom and the powder bath on either side of this set-up.  This is my favorite little vignette in the house.  I absolutely LOVE the barnwood sign above the little table, but I love the company even more.  I got this from 25:40 LOVE and each month they feature a charity to give back to, so a portion of your purchase goes to the charity of the month.  I LOVE that.  And seriously, I swoon each time I walk into my room or the powder bath.  It's really stunning and that's one of my favorite bible verses...such a sweet reminder.

Scripture barnwood sign:  24:50 Love

Barnwood table:  Hobby Lobby

Moss balls & stands:  Hobby Lobby

Globe:  Home Goods

Frames:  I made them.  I took two 11x14 canvases and covered them with fabric.  Then I velcroed the 8x10 frames on top (so they'd be easy to change out).  SO very simple!!!!  

So that's it in a nutshell.  My cozy little living room.  Nothing fancy, but it's finally clean.  Halleluia.  Amen.  Praise the Lord.  

We'll take a look at the boy's room next week :)

In the meantime, here's a peek at a few of the other rooms in case you're interested :)

The Kitchen

The Dining Room

The Mystery Room