Foyer and Family Room

When we first moved in, all of the common areas and family room/foyer were all painted this dark olive green color. It's a pretty color, it's just very dark. These are the photos of the foyer from the listing:

See how much brighter the difference is with the lighter colored light gray paint?























Here is the beginning of my wall display. I'm hoping to add a few white frames at a time.















For the front door, I really felt like the curtains blocked lots of light from coming through and gave the front entrance a dated look.

I found some translucent window clings at Home Depot that are perfect for privacy while also allowing for light to come through.

We also added a peep hole to the door since you can't see through the curtains anymore.

We replaced the light fixture with this brighter, more modern design and added lanterns to the ledge.

Here are the before pictures of the family room from the listing when we bought our house:

The previous homeowners had their focal point for the room as their TV/entertainment center on the wall to the left of the fireplace. Who would've thought that a diagonal fireplace could be such a conundrum for where to focus your furniture placement? We decided to mount our TV above the fireplace and shift the focus of the room to the fireplace/TV.

This is such a giant, tall space that we had to hire professional painters to do the job! Here are some during shots. We also had to hire an electrician to replace that fan:

Here is how our new layout looks:

I feel like it makes the room look much larger with this furniture arrangement, it has more seating, and less wasted space. I also really like these window mirrors on the large wall to reflect the light coming in from the sliding doors.

There you have it. A light, bright family room!

Dining Room

This is a photo of the dining room from the listing when we bought our house (you might actually like this before picture better than the after since it's trendier.)

I actually think this color is pretty and it's unique to have this kind of seating in a dining room. However, we already had dining furniture and this layout wouldn't work for us when we host our whole family for holidays.

I painted a light gray color on top of the chair rail and dark gray on the bottom. The lighter colors make the room look and feel much bigger.
















Here are some pictures of the dining room from various events:

Thanksgiving

Mothers' Day

Easter

I always love fresh flowers on my table!

Paul's 2nd Birthday Basketball Party

When Paul turned 2, he was obsessed with basketball. It was obvious that it needed to be the theme of his party at our church gym. 

 It was easy to draw these basketball tops on the peaches.

 Paul got his first "real" baskeball goal for his birthday present from us.

 

 

 I really think you could have a successful birthday party by only having a room full of balloons.

I dressed as a ref because that was my job as hostess of a 2 year old's birthday. I had a whistle that came in handy to get everyone's attention.