Hi All,

Many people have asked me why we built a home that had a living, dining, *&* family room…”why did we need that much space”? Well, first off, we have had the dining room furniture for a couple of decades and I wasn’t willing to part with that, not to mention the fact that I totally fell in love with these rooms.  They are bright and airy and flow beautifully from one to the other. I wouldn’t say that I’ve created a strong “country” style in these rooms, it is more of a subtle touch of country here and there.   The staircase that you’ve seen in the pictures of our family room separates the front and the back of our house.  The living and dining rooms sit on the front of the house and the picture below shows you the view as you walk into the front door, dining room to the left, living room to the right, and the family room, straight through the foyer separated by a little hallway:

And if you look straight up, you can see the landing up on the 2nd level:

Here is the foyer looking through the family room straight through to the front door:

As I explained in my Mud Room, Powder Room, Kitchen Eating Area, & Family Room post, we purchased these rugs from a local carpet store. We chose a nice piece of carpeting and had rugs cut to our measurements and had them bind the edges.  This soft gray color with a touch of a khaki & cream is what we chose for these two rooms.  We also chose a cream colored piece of carpet for the foyer rugs.

Both the living and dining rooms are pretty much the same size the only difference being that the dining room has a tray ceiling and the living room has a large bay window at one end. The dining room furniture is every bit of 25 years old and because it wasn’t used too much in our other home, it is still in great shape.  We did purchase all new furniture for the living room before we moved into this house and when we did that, I ordered a bolt of the same material that the couch was made from so that we could reupholster the dining room chairs to match.

Here is the dining room, the hutch and the sideboard were mine, but the little hutch on the left was my Grandmother’s:

 

This lamp is another keepsake that was passed down to me from my Grandmother, it sits atop my sideboard.  I sat it on a tray and decorated around it, this is the arrangement that I created for Fall.

Here is the living room:

I especially love it at Christmastime, last year I purchased a white Christmas tree and placed it in the bay window…Trust me, it *will* go back there again this year. 🙂

This was my Grandmother’s Secretary, she would always keep it closed and I used to love to play in it when I was a little girl, but one day I had a little epiphany and decided to open the big front door and do a bit of decorating inside of the Secretary. I’ve really enjoyed creating new groupings on top of that opened door.

These are the most comfy chairs and they recline! I chose a soft green color to be used as an accent in these rooms, that color runs through the paisley in these chairs. They set the tone for both rooms decor.

I chose very basic curtains for these rooms; they are drapery panels sheered on with square oil rubbed bronze grommets; we chose oil rubbed bronze curtain rods and tie back hooks as well.  I purchased them from Bed, Bath, & Beyond, unfortunately, I am not able to find them and provide you with a link. My apologies!

**Side note:  All of the light fixtures, faucets, and door hardware on this level are in oil-rubbed bronze.**

Here is a shot of the foyer rugs and the three pups posing so prettily:

I couldn’t be happier with how these rooms have turned out, I’ll go into the living room to sit in one of those comfy chairs to read, talk on the phone, work on my blogs, or just relax; the ‘feel’ in there is soft and calming.  I’m a pretty high-strung lady at times and these rooms help me to find my “off switch”. 🙂

Until next time, y’all take good care! ❤

**In crafting there are no mistakes just unique creations**