August 7, 2018

Summer ’18 Home Tour + Announcement

Hello everyone! I hope you are all having an incredible summer! It’s been a few months since I’ve done a blog post because it has been a crazy busy summer for us. But when isn’t life crazy? I’ll get better at this blogging regularly eventually… 🙂 I’ve been playing catch-up with photo editing lately and I wanted to FINALLY share a mini home tour with you all. Not every room or space in my house is photo-worthy, so I focused on a few of my favorite rooms and spaces in the house. I do have a fun announcement to share, and I will share that at the end of the post. 😉

I’ll start the tour in my favorite room and my most favorite room in the house is by far our living room. Anyone who knows me knows I L-O-V-E the color blue, and you can definitely tell by looking at my house. I just love the cool tones and different shades of blue with a few pops of green that fill this room.

The paint color in this room is a color match to Sherwin Williams Sea Salt.

Decorating a room or house can get expensive, and one way I was able to save money while decorating my house was by painting my own artwork. When I have a general idea in mind of what I’m looking for, I choose the size of the canvas and paint away. I’m not a pro by any means, but I have been able to create some pieces to go along with my theme and decor throughout the rooms in my house. Creating my own art pieces has helped me take on a new appreciation for art and painting and now when I get an idea for a decor piece, I think, “Can I make/paint that? Or is that something I should splurge on?” The answer varies depending on what it is, but I always enjoy creating my own art pieces. On this wall, the square photo of the blue water is a photo I took of Lake Superior near Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. I bumped the colors a bit in Photoshop, cropped it to a square, and had it printed to fit the white frame. The navy and white boat picture is one that I painted specifically for this room. The sunset silhouette photo on the sideboard was a shot I took with the tripod and timer at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore at the Lake Michigan Overlook.

The clock, which I was unable to find online, is from Kirkland’s. The table and aqua candle are from Home Goods. The lamp and candle holder were garage sale finds. The metal sphere and eucalyptus spray is from Hobby Lobby.

Along with the cool tones and shades of blue, some of my favorite things about this room are the high ceilings and the large arch window overlooking the wooded backyard. This room is a calming place to relax and enjoy the view during any season. During the summer, we love to watch the wildlife and we truly enjoy the abundance of green that seems to flow in and complement the room. The window provides an extra large, ever-changing art piece that serves as the focal point of the room. In the fall, those trees turn beautiful bright shades of yellows, oranges, and reds and in the winter, while the trees are all bare, you can see a stunning sunset through the woods. Spring is so refreshing as the birds are very active, the weather warms, and the trees are breathtaking as they bud new growth.

This bookcase was something I dreamed up in my “nesting” stage with baby number three and my wonderful and talented husband made the dream come to life. I specifically requested taller shelves for larger decor and an opening for the TV for a functional yet pretty living space. Originally, we planned to put shiplap or barn wood on the portion of the wall behind the TV and cabinet doors over the middle sections of shelves to break it up a bit, but when we started thinking about moving and putting the house up for sale, we knew our specific style might not appeal to all buyers and we opted to hold off. The beach waves painting above the TV is another piece that I painted for this room.

I love to be surrounded by things that I love and things that make me happy, so my style tends to be a bit eclectic with a lot of coastal/lakehouse vibe, a hint of farm charm, and well… a lot of BLUE! I also love a cozy space, so pillows and throw blankets are a must. The gray medallion pillows came with our sectional, the blue pillow and smaller medallion pillow are old purchases from Walmart, and the basket and blanket were purchased at Meijer.

That saying about needing coffee and Jesus is so accurate in my life, but I’d also like to throw a little bit of traveling into that mix. This shelf decor is a great example of incorporating the things I love into my decor. Some Jesus and a little travel inspiration with the globe.

A mix of coastal and farm charm, this shelf displays some of my favorite photos, colors, and styles. I love framing my favorite photos, especially from our travels and adventures, and using them to decorate our home.

The kayak photo was taken on a small lake in the Upper Peninsula at sunset and is one of my favorite photos to date. The small photo sitting on the shelf was taken of my sister and I on a beach in Cozumel, Mexico.

A recycled glass jar with a cork lid houses some treasures from our most recent family trip to Florida and the photo behind it of the kids was taken on that trip as well.

This is such a great spot to sit and enjoy a cup of coffee. This trellis lamp was a Hobby Lobby clearance item and the curtains are from TJ Maxx.

I purchased the thin corbels in the bottom corners of the top shelf at Kirkland’s on clearance a few months ago and they are unattached just sitting inside the corners of the shelf as decoration. I think they add some nice character and charm to the bookcase. The large basket on the bottom shelf was purchased at Home Goods. The chair I got from a family member and the wreath is one I made with a grapevine wreath and stems from Hobby Lobby.

Here, we have displayed photos of our parents and incorporated a little decorative storage. One thing I’d like to work on in the future is to incorporate frames of the rest of our family, whether nieces and nephews or full family photos. The glass vase pictured here is from Hobby Lobby.

I painted this piece of the barn on the beach in a few hours one day as a way to combine my favorite things and styles. The old camera is for my love of photography. <3 The sorter shelf is from Hobby Lobby.

Unfortunately I didn’t get the chance to update this shelf of the photos of my babies to add our youngest, but this was another favorite part of the room. The shelf is a fireplace mantle that we painted white and mounted to the wall. The frames are all thrifted frames that I painted. The mossy “C” is a Home Goods clearance find and the two piece scripture wall art and basket are from Hobby Lobby.

This “Family Rules” wall art and the gray blanket are from Meijer and the pillow is a really old purchase from Walmart.

Another favorite spot is the entryway. It’s a pretty small entry, but I feel like we made the best use of the space.

Unfortunately I’ve lost the name of the paint color for this space, but I loved the nice dark blue green contrasting with the pops of white. There was a tiny little nook to the left of the coat closet and it seemed like a natural spot for a bench and coat hooks, which made the space feel more homey. The “HOME” wreath sign was a DIY that you can find HERE.

The mirror was a TJ Maxx find and the windmill is from Hobby Lobby.

This beauty, Pearl the cow, is another purchase from Hobby Lobby and the talented artist is Holli Huyser – Hollihocks. The canvas above and below Pearl are thrift store finds.

Right off the entry is the kitchen and dining area. They are small, so photos are limited, but we have enjoyed decorating every little space and making our house a home.

These stackable wire baskets are from Walmart. The white pitcher is from Marshall’s, the “FARMERS MARKET” sign is from Meijer, and the canisters are a thrift find.

Because we had minimal cabinet space, a mug tree was the best solution for all our coffee mugs and since coffee mugs are one of my favorite things to “collect”, I love that I can display them like this. This mug tree holds 15 mugs and is from Hobby Lobby. I just set a small saucer on top and my basil plan to top it off.

The wall art here, continuing my blue theme throughout the house, is all from Hobby Lobby. The striped table runner is from Meijer and the flower centerpiece is from Home Goods.

My girls’ room, although small, was one of my favorite rooms to decorate.

In this room, I wanted to keep the paint color subtle with a light gray and accented with shades of pinks and blues. All the wall art here was thrifted or DIYed with the exception of the light-up arrow, which was a Meijer clearance purchase.

The flower letters were a DIY project that I’ll share in the coming months on the blog.

This lamp was a thrift purchase that I brought home and painted white. I purchased a new lampshade from Home Goods for it. The curtains were from Home Goods as well.

Last but not least is our master bedroom. I love the coziness of this room with the calming neutral colors and bright whites to keep it bright and airy. The color name is another I have lost, but we went with a greige color.

The bedding, lamps, and curtains were from Home Goods, the bedroom furniture set was from family, the end tables were thrift finds that I painted, the sign above the bed was a DIY I made with my husband, and the frame around it was a gift from a family member.

This beautiful painting is a piece by my grandmother and I love it so very much.

This dresser was a yard sale find and the wall art and two tier stand that I use for my jewelry are from TJ Maxx. The bouquet is my wedding bouquet. <3

The gold mirror and frame are lovely thrift finds.

I wanted to decorate each nightstand to fit each of our interests and styles, so for my husband’s nightstand, I kept it a bit more masculine. I started with a classic alarm clock and a bit of green and added an antler, a couple of his books, and one of our wedding photos. I wanted to keep it simple and uncomplicated.

This wreath was another DIY that I will share in the coming months and the jewelry tree was from TJ Maxx.

This gold leaf is from Hobby Lobby and the flowers are from Home Goods.

And there you have it… My mini home tour! I hope you enjoyed and I look forward to more room and home tours in the future.

Now on to the big announcement! Some of you already know this and others might have guessed it, but WE HAVE MOVED! Our home that I just shared the tour of has served us well for almost seven years and we brought home three of our babies there, but we have outgrown it by a few kiddos and it was long past time to move forward to a home that better suits our family. Charming North has moved north from Grand Rapids area to Norther Michigan. We have been here about a month now, and are thoroughly enjoying our new home. As we continue to unpack (because that has taken weeks and weeks), I will begin to share photos and blog posts. For now, here’s a little sneak peek of life up north so far!