Today you all get the treat of peeking in one of my bestest friends Leigh’s place. We have known each other since junior high. She and her hubby were in Germany when we were in Switzerland our first year so we spent many weekends crisscrossing the border thrifting, sipping gluwein and making holidays abroad much more like home! She talked me into one of my most expensive thrift store purchases in Switzerland and I am so glad she did! She currently lives in Waco, Texas with her husband Bo and her sweeties, Katy Jo and Annabelle. When I asked Leigh to share about her home I had so many spaces in mind that I hoped she would share!! And she did!
Here is what Leigh has to say about her home…
Actually my favorite room in the house is not a room it’s just a certain area in my living room (amidst all the craziness of kid toys and scattered laundry). I love my over-sized Ikea chair. It gets the perfect light, its close to the TV, and it has a really comfortable ottoman too. Not to mention, I have two beautiful quilts on it making it even more special. The teal and pink quilt was a wedding gift to my parents (not sure how I got it… shh) and the other quilt was a recent estate sale find. So fun. I love to curl up and read in this chair plus I can occasionally be found sitting here watching my guilty pleasure, Real Housewives of New York City. Its the best spot in the whole house. It feels like home because I’ve decorated around it. The quilts, of course, spruce it up. And right next to it, I have a large side table with a growing collection of photos of family and friends. I even starting stuffing favorite snap shots underneath the glass cover of the table, after my mother’s suggestion. The fun olive green pillow was made by my mother in law.
While my parents were visiting they too added special touches to my home. My mom worked fervently on this beautiful wall display of my antique plates. It really pulls our little eating area together.
Then, in my girls’ room my dad built them the coolest book ledges ever. We have received many compliments on these ledges and Katy Jo enjoys them immensely.
Finally, my bed (our bed)… a great big king size bed with a perfectly simple cream colored bedspread. My dad also hung this old turquoise door for us. I think it adds just the right amount of color to our white bedroom. Even though our master bedroom is quite sparse, I really like it and it feels like home, primarily because I used mismatches pieces I already had or found for cheap at garage sales. I didn’t just go out and buy stuff at Target. I worked hard to use what I already had plus revamping what I could buy for cheap. Bo’s nightstand was a $5 dollar find that I painted and changed out the knobs. My nightstand was a handy me down piece I received from my Aunt Jan (which she got at Pinecrest Camp in Arkansas). And I absolutely love our family photos above the bed!
I really love my home!
I love Leigh’s use of vintage shabby chic stuff! I love that she hunts for her treasures and mixes and matches! Thanks for sharing, friend! And I am for sure itching to hop on a plane!
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When we decided to venture into this foreclosure the drawbacks were the kitchen and the bedroom situation. The kitchen was a traditional gally kitchen with the sink, dishwasher, and oven all on one small wall with very minimal counter space and a door at the end of the “aisle” meaning it was going to be our main little boy traffic zone from the backyard. We originally considered a big renovation, adding another bedroom and bath but decided our money was best spent hiring someone to help us redo the kitchen. And although we are still pining for an extra room we are loving the kitchen and so glad we expanded it!
(on a completely unrelated note, it looks like Seth was thinking about escaping to Spain (based on the book above) while he was doing the house inspection…..geesh that was a stressful time. So glad he didn’t leave us and go to Spain)
So…….I dreamed and pinned and researched and drew. We eventually decided the best plan would be to remove the door and put in a window in it’s place. We knocked out a wall between the dining room and kitchen to open up the space and added a counter top for serving, homework and junk mail important papers, and just extra space in general. We added the window in the place of the door so that I could see the boys in the backyard while washing dishes and working in the kitchen. And to minimize the traffic zone through the kitchen from the back door. The window is one of my favorite things about the kitchen!
For the backsplash I chose a faux metal tile from Lowe’s. My original plan was the paint it and distress it but in the end I have really liked the mix of finishes and I am holding off on changing it up. For the paint we had to go with the same paint as the living room and dining room because the rooms are all connected. We went with Timothy Hay from the Martha Stewart line at Home Depot. We are really pleased with how it turned out and ties the spaces together.
Martha Stewart- Timothy Hay (it looks much more cheery in person. And it is for sure more accurate in the pictures.)
We utilized the original cabinets and had them repainted to match the drawers and additional cabinets that we added. We updated the hardware with brushed oiled bronze hardware from Home Depot to compliment the faucet (Moen also from Home Depot). We added molding above the cabinets to make the cabinets go up to the ceiling and to match the rest of the rooms.
Because of the limited cabinet storage space we also had our contractor build open shelving around the sink. I wanted these shelves to be practical to store things that we use on a regular basis like snacks and fruit but also wanted some pretties. My favorite things on the shelves are the old tins, my special sign made by my friend Jennifer (you will get to hear about her home soon!) and my Green Gate cups…these are mommy only cups! I see lots of Swiss hot chocolate in their future.
None of the appliances worked so we looked around for scratch and dent sales. We decided for resale value to go for the stainless steal which was a huge splurge. I still laugh when I look at our fridge. After our mini fridge in Switzerland it seems comical that we could even manage to even use part of it…but somehow we do. We went with a double oven and I am so glad we did! It comes in handy so often when I am cooking dinner and doing baking projects with the kids. On Saturday we made homemade pizzas with some family and we were able to cook 4 pizzas at once! The oven for me, along with all of the appliances were a pleasant surprise. With all of the decisions to make I left the appliances to Seth. I knew he would stick to our budget and I knew in the end whatever we got would do the job. But what he got exceeded my expectations. I didn’t even review what he ordered I just saw them when I came and they were in. Great job, Seth!
We went with Santa Cecilia granite counter tops. I initially wanted a smaller grain, if that’s what it’s called. So the counter tops didn’t turn out exactly like I wanted but I love that I can set hot things on them, they hide the spots and spills a little better and they are just so durable with kids.
For the floor we chose a tile with a tweed texture look to it. I loved the added texture and wanted to bring out the warmth of the creams and taupe from the counter tops.
So, there you have it! The kitchen. Let me know if I forgot anything!
I mentioned before that the appliances were a pleasant surprise but I really must say that the whole kitchen feels like a big fat gift. Seth has known for a while that I wanted a place of our own and the Foreign Service lifestyle just doesn’t always make that easy. When we bought the house it needed so many repairs and it would have been easy to slap some paint on cabinets and try to make it all work for a while but Seth really let me go with the kitchen and make choices that I really loved. I am sure he thought my mix of aluminum back splash, oiled bronze fixtures, etc were way out there but he just let me enjoy the process….and in the end he liked it all! I spend most of my days in there and I still pinch myself sometimes that it’s ours. Strange I know but true.
Tomorrow you get to tour a bit of my friend Leigh’s humble abode! You are going to love it! At the end of seeing her sweet space you may just want to hop a plane and head down to Texas for some Southern hospitality! Or maybe that’s just what it makes me want to do, but you’ll love the pictures!
PS- this is our 500th post…craziness!! We started in December of 2006 and have now blogged from the US, South America and Europe, through many moves, the addition of 2 babies, ups, downs and in betweens. Thanks for reading!
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