Just a Peek at The Result (thus far..)

As previously stated, I am uncomfortable putting pictures of my home on the Internet... but here are just a few of my most favorite projects..

FYI- Not a decorator blogger. Not sure how they take such awesome pictures..

Our Intention was to blend both of our styles.  We also wanted to do most all of the 'decorating' work ourselves.  Which meant a LOT of sanding, painting, sanding, building, painting (my hand was a claw). We wanted to home to feel brighter, yet cozy.  Each piece needed to feel like it had a story, which weaved its way into our lives.

 

1. My new Metal Message Board. Created from a large piece of sheet metal and pallet wood.  I LOVE this.  It's pretty insignificant, in the grand scheme, but it makes me happy.

 

2. Ok.. ok... now the big stuff.
Below is our main entrance.  Otherwise known as The Red Room. (Do not ask me why... but we name the rooms in our house.  It's my fault. I'm odd-ish.)
This was the Red Room before:

And this is our main entrance, after:

3. The small TV space.  Now referred to as The Nook.
Our main goal, Cozy.  The Nook before:

 And again, The Nook Before:
(Please pay special attention to how this extends all the way back to that large window...)

And The Nook After:
You'll see that a wall has been built.  Enclosing The Nook.  That door, now leads into our 'Master' Bedroom.

 The Nook now has some of my favorite new pieces.  New comfy couches (of course) but more importantly... The old items, I have gathered at sales/shops. 
The old wooden drawers (purchased for free in Warhol's shed) were painted/aged by me and then hung on the wall to become our end tables.
The old 'ruler' was found at a sale and attached to barn wood.
MY MOST FAV!! Our entertainment stand.  Was an old work bench I found at an Estate Sale of an old family friend.  I stained, aged, sanded, sprayed the heck out of it and I LOVE IT!!

Below: was once the entrance to the furnace room.  We moved the door around to the hall and created a flat wall.  We got the old Ball/Strike/Out from the high school's old scoreboard and attached the signs to barn wood. (Coach loves this.)
(Again, thanks to Warhol for the shed shopping)

 (Ignore that the trim is not done...)

4. The 'Master' Bedroom.  I continue to put 'Master' in quotes because this space was designed with the plan to one day become a den.  When our 42 children move away, we will return to an actual bedroom.  The Kid is currently living in the old Master Bedroom and he refers to it as his dorm room.
In the Before picture below, I would have been standing on the spot which our bed now sits.  This was obviously our most ambitious project to date.  We enclosed walls, took down the bricks and created a pretty sweet little space.
Before:

When you first walk thru the door on the Nook wall, you will see our bed. (the space is much larger than it looks in the below pictures... but we gotta keep part of our bedroom for ourselves!)
After:

Our headboard is an old wooden door I spotted lying in a burn pile.  It is covering that large picture window, I told you to notice a few pictures back.
Our sconces are actually outside lights and our nod for our love of New Orleans.
The end tables were snatched up at the local resale shop.

And there you have it.
There are SOOOOO many more little projects and changes that I didn't photograph but I hope you can at least get a sense of what we are trying to accomplish.  We have really put our heart back into our home.  I hope that our guests can feel that.