My Space: Unedited

Warning! What you are about to see is plain. It is blah. It DOES have potential. It is quite dusty. And yes, we are watching Bolt.

This is my family room. For my mom, since she keeps bugging me about my recent purchases and black paint craziness. And, for Layla, because I am dying to see if she can do something to help me cozy up my home.

And, yes, these are totally unedited (so no comments about the photo quality, okay?).

First of all, this is the space. The photos are of the room on the left. We have wood floors that run from the front door straight back to the slanted wall where the sliding glass door is, which effectively cuts the space and makes my "Great" room not so great. I'm not complaining, 'cause the floor is super pretty, but the family room is kinda small.


This is what you see as you walk into the house from the front door (down the hallway toward the back). The blue wall seemed like a good idea at the time. We have recently taken down our red curtains, so that is why we don't have any curtains on the windows. I'm thinking that we are going to move the rods up so they are 108" up. (Of course, my windows are a BIG problem for me!)

This is from the dining room. Yes, that is my little digital work-space on the right. Layla, I design digital scrapbooking stuff, and I would like to do this with my family around me rather than holed up in the office. We don't have any concrete plans to buy a laptop right now, plus I LOVE my huge screen. Love it. I'm totally flexible, but that desk is fairly new, so I wouldn't mind keeping it.


From the kitchen area, directly across from the family room. High ceiling. Blech. Next time, I'm not doing a vault!! What to do with that huge space??!?!


Directly across from the windows. The huge ficus is yucky, but we were just testing it out in the space.

Uh, the couch is HUGE. Totally overscale, and I know this. Same with the chair. We just haven't had the money to replace them, but I've been saving up and would like to have at least a plan to replace them!
And the windows. Notice that the window runs into the mantle. Argh. So I am clueless. I don't want to cover the window too much. After all, we paid for that woodwork! I want to tie the 3 windows together (rods at the same height, same type of treatment), except that you can see the huge expanse of wall above the sliding class door. The window in the dining room has the same problem as this window. It runs into the wall. AND, there are wonderful top-down-bottom-up honeycomb blinds on all of the back windows that are a total necessity in the summer, so we would like to keep those. (Plus, they were pretty spendy.)

Mom, look on the mantle. See the new big glass thingies? Cute? And, my new nesting tables. I love that. The little basket under the little chair is new, as is the chair itself (which totally can be moved to a different room, Layla!). And again with the overscale furniture!!


An aerial view!

Check out the painted coffee table, Mom! $20 garage sale find. Oh, and the "entertainment stand" is such a pretty table that I bought at my new favorite store, Serendipity. The screen underneath is just to break it up a little, but I thought it added a little something. Potential for cuteness? The green fabric was $3 and is glue-gunned on. I think I'm going to replace it with my burlap. (Since I have enough of it after my math fauxpas while buying yardage for my bulletin boards.)

And, that is my current decorating dilemma. Boring. Blah. Not at all cozy.

So, Layla, I'm a fan of bright colors (although you really can't tell by looking at this room, huh?), and YOUR style. BIG fan. I'm looking to replace the upholstered furniture and need some direction there. More seating, if possible, would be good. Window help would be nice, too. ANYTHING is better than this!!

(I just have to throw this out there. I KNOW that this room isn't really that bad, it is just not decorated and I want my home to be cozy. That is why I am dissatisfied with the room. Not because it is ugly, but because I want it to reflect my family and not feel so sterile. I have been living in this house for almost 5 years, and I feel like we just moved in. So, please, my wonderful readers, don't judge me as being greedy and weird. I just want my home to be a welcoming space!)