New House Tour {Part 1: The Main Floor}

It has now been 3 months since we moved into our new house. I have slowly been decorating and making it feel like OUR home. Decorating on a budget is tricky, but is also very rewarding. While I was recuperating from my two major surgeries 2 years ago, I got really into HGTV. I loved watching home decorating shows. I especially liked "Property Brothers" and "Fixer-Upper" because they really incorporated my style into a lot of their designs.

Then, over the Summer, Mom H. got passes to go to the Parade of Homes. She took Tera and me on three separate occasions to tour some of the most beautiful homes in the valley. We had so much fun, and it really inspired me to learn more about decorating. I still have a LONG way to go, but it is something that I have really enjoyed.

A few months ago, I sat down with Jonathon and we tried to figure out exactly what our style was. We knew some of the things that we liked, but we didn't know what to call it. It was pretty fun to sit down and look at pictures and discuss our likes and dislikes. We decided that we are pretty traditional in our style with touches of cottage style and shabby chic mixed in. If you can't imagine what that combination might look like, it basically means that we like classic lines (interesting curves, but not overly ornate), a mixture of wood and lightly distressed painted wood accents (definitely more chic than shabby!), a neutral color palette with brighter pops of accent colors, a light airy/homey feel with rooms that can actually be lived in, and decor pieces that have a slightly sophisticated/old-world feel without being overly pretentious. For example, some of my favorite things to decorate with are maps and globes, books, photos, plants, and mirrors.

Once I knew what we both liked, I got to work trying to decorate our new house. We didn't have a lot of money to spend on new things, so we mostly reused and repurposed our old stuff. The main floor of our house is feeling pretty complete, but we ran out of money before we could really do anything with the upstairs or upgrade our furniture. No worries though because we have plenty of time. Several people have asked to see pictures of the house, so I am finally getting around to posting them, along with some commentary about what I was trying to achieve with the decorating:)

The Living Room

This is the only "slightly formal" room in our house. It is right off of the front door, so it is the first thing people see. I wanted it to be a place that looked beautiful, would stay clean most of the time in case company came unexpectedly, and would be a quiet place to practice the piano or read a book. I LOVE this room. It is my favorite room in the whole house.

The couches are from our old house. They are pretty boring by themselves, but I really like how they look with the bright pillows in all sorts of interesting textures. We also had the rug already, and it was just the right size for this room.

We bought some pretty basic black bookshelves at Ikea, and then I wallpapered the back in a white and light green patterned paper. I think it gives it a nice pop of color. I wanted the bookshelves to have plenty of room for books (you'd be surprised how many book cases in model homes have very few, if any, actual books!), so the decorations aren't too excessive. I tried to organize the books in interesting ways so that they would be the main focus and still look put together.

 Close up of bookshelves

The other side of the room is where we put the cool floating shelf that Jonathon built a few years ago. I LOVE the old-world style globe on the shelf and the shape of the red flower branch. My other favorite thing in the room is the set of three chess pieces on the piano. I have had my eye on them for a long time at Hobby Lobby, and finally decided to get them. They were a bit expensive, but I saved up my spending money for a couple of months and bought them when they were on a 50% off sale. They make me happy, so I guess they were worth it. Overall, I am really happy with this room. The only thing I would change about this area is a bigger family picture. The scale of our new house is so much bigger than our old one, so I am going to have to order bigger pictures from now on!

Close up of shelf and piano (with poor lighting, unfortunately)

 The Entry Way

The entry way is simple, but it feels really spacious. We originally got the cool wood bench at Ikea and intended to use 2 of them for a coffee table. I didn't love the look of them in the family room though, but when we moved one to the entry way, I immediately loved it. We returned the second one and left this one here. I think is looks so good with my DIY pallet map that is hanging above it. The map is one of my favorite things in our whole house. There is something really endearing about putting time and effort into a piece.

The Family Room

The main living area in our house has huge vaulted ceilings that really make the house feel bigger than it really is. I still want to put a big area rug under the coffee table, but that will have to wait a while. I am finally happy with the tables. I found them on a yard sale site. I got two side tables and a coffee table that all match. They fit my style much better and help to brighten up the room a bit.

The Family Room could still use some more work, but until we have some money for new couches, I don't want to do too much. The color and style of the couches will determine the direction I go. Also... while vaulted ceilings are great, they are really hard to decorate around. The walls are so high that I'm not sure what to do with them. I will figure it out eventually. Until then, the space is still nice, and we like to be in there.

Most of the other rooms in the house are pretty simple, but they definitely feel like home. There are three bedrooms on the main floor. We looked long and hard for a house that was a ranch-style home where everything you needed was on the main floor. This house is perfect because the upstairs provides some extra space, but you could completely live on the main floor. Here are some pictures of the other main floor rooms:

Hyrum's Room

(another boy obsessed with Lightning McQueen)

The Guest Bedroom

(We hope it gets lots of use, so please come visit us :)

The Master Bedroom

(Still a work in progress)

The Master Bath

The Main Bath

One of the small, but really cool things in this house are the mirrors. Every bathroom has a really beautiful mirror that is framed and makes a statement. It was probably a fairly inexpensive upgrade, but it really makes the house feel unique and fancy. I really love all of the pretty mirrors and would highly recommend it if you are looking for something to add some pizazz to your house. The previous owners really did a nice job at that. Another thing that I like is that all of the bathrooms have the same granite as the kitchen. It makes the house really flow together nicely.

The Kitchen

Last, but not least.... is the kitchen.  I admit that I feel completely spoiled to have such a huge kitchen. It really is lovely and has more cupboards than I know what to do with. It has been so fun cooking in it and hosting family get-togethers. I really haven't done too much decorating because there isn't a lot of space that really needs it.

Looking in from the Family Room

So, there is the main floor of the house in pictures. We are loving life here. What a huge blessing it has been for Jonathon to get such a great job and to find this awesome house. We are continually grateful!