I finally have a home with white floorboards – YAY! Can you believe that was on my MUST-HAVE list – that was the ONLY thing. It just makes the house feel CLEAN!
As you may know, we recently moved to Alabama, as Coy earned a promotion that came with a transfer (been here 2 weeks, today!) Well, we’re settling in nicely. I had to get back to work ASAP, so I had to get the house together ASAP, so I could actually concentrate on work and not my disorganized home!
So here is the house tour – all spic ‘n span! I have a lot of my custom works sprinkled throughout the house – so at the end of the tour, you can “shop my home!”
1. Foyer/Entry
This is one of my favorite parts of the house – the Entry. It gets great light and the front door (not pictured) is basically a huge window!
We are greeted by my great aunt Max with her famous pies, my Aunt and Uncle, Linda and Dave, as well as my Great Uncle, Bill; they are enjoying a cold one in the hot Kansas sun back in Clifton.
Feng Shui Obsessed: This is the “Water” section of the home, so I’ve used dark blues, blacks, greys, and metalics (metal “holds” water) for colors, as well as brought in a round mirror to enhance the water element.
2. Guest Room/Office
Coy really wanted me to have a room dedicated to my work (isn’t he thoughtful!), but I had to have a room that was multifunctional. We moved from a 3 bedroom/loft to a two bedroom, so where were we going to put guests, in the garage? I, of course, was able to sway him to my way of thinking – multi-purpose!
The bed doesn’t take up that much room, and I still had enough space to store my work items with room to spare. As this is a south facing room, I am blessed with full sun all day, which is great since I’m a sun-soaker! You can see that I have blank frames up – just waiting on artwork – might use some of my prints, might purchase from this artist…
Feng Shui Obsessed: This is an “Earth” area, so I’ve used cool greens and blues as my palette. I’m waiting on these watercolors for above the desk to help tie in the colors. I had to throw some pink (yang color) in there, to add some sparkle and to balance out the cool yin colors.
3. Hall Bathroom
This is my most favorite room in the house – weird, I know, but I went with a color I’ve never used before, bright yellow, and I LOVE IT! It all began with the relief map of New Jersey, my childhood home. I’ve had this map since I was born – on the backside is a chalkboard my bother and I used to play “school.” So the map guided the color palette of beach blue and bright yellow.
I continued the east coast theme with the NYC relief map, and the beach wood block. Perhaps this is my favorite room because it reminds me most of my childhood – Jersey, the shore and NYC trips. Did I mention that Alabama geography is EXACTLY like north Jersey, full of windy roads, hills and lakes? I love it here!
Feng Shui Obsessed: This room is still within the “Earth” area, so I varied the color palette slightly from that used in the Guest Room, adding the more “earth” color of bright yellow.
4. Kitchen/Dining
I never thought I would love white cabinets as much as I do – makes for a VERY bright kitchen! The only thing I would change in here (if I could) would be the appliances – they are quite dated. Here is where we display our beloved polish pottery, and the awesome “Clubhouse” sign we commissioned from our brother-in-law – it keeps us young! Say hi to Baker, one of our kitties – I let her stay there for the pic, then quickly shooed her off the counter!
The dining room is nicely situated right off the kitchen but before the living, making one large Great Room. We have display cabinets to hold all our precious gifts, like Japanese tea glasses from my father, copper Japanese tumblers from my mother, crystal dishes from Coy’s grandmother, and original ceramics from my aunt Marearl, which holds the last of the wheat crop from my cousin’s farm before he passed several years ago…
Feng Shui Obsessed: The Kitchen is a “Metal” area and the Dining is an “Earth” and a “Metal” area – this is good as Earth nurtures Metal in FS. As the dining area is the Center/Heart of the home, I used typical earth tones to enhance the space. On the opposite wall, we have a picture frame display of all our nieces and nephews and other loved ones we keep in our hearts (not pictured).
5. The Great Room
We call this the Great Room because it’s about twice as big as our previous living room – but don’t worry, we figured out how to fill it up! Speaking of filling up – check out our collection of growlers (beer jugs) which we’ve alreay found a few spots around Alabama that we will put to good use.
This is my second favorite space, because it reminds me of our wedding, which was nautical themed. We also have a lot of Frank Lloyd Wright in the room (Sprite statue, Flag painting, Rocking Chair fabric, Coffee table books, etc.) so we feel quite at home here. It’s hard to see but the rocking chair fabric is in Teco green, which, if you’ve been following me, you know I’m obsessed!
Feng Shui Obsessed: This area is all “Fire” element (with a little earth too). So of course, it is perfect the the fireplace was already here. We’ve used a lot of red and triangle shapes, as well as plants – which fuel fire.
________________________________________________________________________
Well, I hope you enjoyed the house tour… Wait – where do we sleep? Well, I’m holding off on sharing the master as it is a work in progress. It’s a nice BIG room with a BIG bathroom (two sinks!) and walk-in closet. Perhaps, I will save that for another post. Also not pictured are the garage and laundry – boring! But here is a quick shot of the backyard and Coy…
SHOP MY HOME:
As seen in the Guest Room
As seen in the Hall Bath
As seen in the Hall Bath
As seen in the Guest Room
As seen in the Guest Room
As seen in the Great Room
In the Guest Room (not pictured)
As seen in the foyer (not pictured)
As seen in the Foyer
laurenmary 