Thanksgiving Home Tour / Part 2

Happy Friday and Happy Veterans Day! Thank you to all of the brave veterans past and present that have risked their lives and sacrificed for the safety of our country and home. Your service and bravery are so little spoke of, but so appreciated in the times we live in.

Welcome back to Part 2 of our Thanksgiving Home Tour!~
Today I am going to take you through our living room where we recently made a big change! Can you spot what it is?









Any guesses? We painted that cabinet to the left of the fireplace white!
I follow this amazing blogger named Brooke (no, not me) at Nesting With Grace and she recently offered to people who signed up to get emails from her to receive free advice on one design question. I follow her anyway because she is amazing, so when she offered this I was super excited to see what she would say. I have been struggling with what to do with this old nook in our living room for awhile now, so I asked her what she would suggest. She gave me a couple of great ideas. One which was awesome, but just not in our budget right now, was to build it up into one tall cabinet and paint it white to match the fireplace. It would close off the space and get rid of that awkward emptiness. I definitely loved the idea of more storage. Another idea was to paint it white, again to match the fireplace and the other shelves in the room and put a tall mirror on the top of the cabinet and switch out the mirror on the fireplace with some art. This would bring out the depth of the space a bit and make it not so dark. I couldn't bear to part with the mirror that is on top of our mantle; I am so in love with it. But I went ahead and painted the cabinet white and then I am going to look for some tall vintage window or architectural piece to put in there. Just painting it white made such a huge difference and the cabinet no longer sticks out from the rest of the room. If you don't follow Brooke already, I recommend it. She has such a unique style and I am always getting inspiration from her. She also lives in a TINY home with 3 children and she somehow makes it feel roomy and welcoming.



Don't mind the kittens playing in the background. They are always curious to know what I am up to.
And they are so cute, I really don't mind them being in the shot.





I switched out the hardware on the cabinet as well and it looks so much nicer and updated. I don't know if you can tell, but the two top pulls are just taped on for the pictures. My husband was out of town and I definitely don't trust myself with the power tools, (what is the name for that thing? A screw gun?) so rather than mess up the drawer with a bunch of holes, I decided to just wait for him to get home to do it.



For our mantle I just lined up a few of my white pumpkins and then added in some fresh eucalyptus. My house is smelling amazing right now because it is all over the place. Then I just placed some decorative corn (easily found at the grocery store) in the farmhouse pitcher for a bit of Fall color.



I made the banner a few years ago and it is really easy to do if you want to make one. Just cut out flag shaped pieces of burlap, then paint the letters on using a stencil or free hand, then either sew or use fabric glue to attach to the ribbon. I have a few clear command hooks that I keep on the top of the mantle (for stockings at Christmas mostly) that hold the banner up. And any pieces that don't line up I just use scotch tape. Good old scotch tape. That is, if I can find any. My daughters are always using up our tape for their various projects and I am always like, "What happened to all the tape?"





I love the texture and look of cotton stem. It is so pretty and so versatile! It can pretty much work throughout the seasons. And it't neutral, so you know I love it.









I also changed up the shelves around our TV. I was feeling a little bored with them and wanted to give them a cleaner look. I figured it would be good to give them a fresh start before Christmas comes with all its "things".



That painting on the right is one of my very favorite antique store finds. It doesn't really fit in the shelf, so I kind of squeezed it in there.





Here are some before and after photos of the cabinet so you can really see the difference it made.
BEFORE:



AFTER:



BEFORE:



AFTER:



BEFORE:



AFTER:



I am so happy with the cabinet and so grateful to Brooke for the idea. It's amazing how little changes here and there can really have such an impact. I sometimes get frustrated with how our house isn't "finished" and I think about all the things we still have to do to make it "complete". But really, decorating your home is a gradual thing and it's always evolving. It takes time. Not everyone has the money or time to make it all perfect all at once. Things change, tastes change, ideas change and I guess I've realized that making a home is in the process. There is always going to be something new to do, some new project to complete. But the journey of creating your home is so rewarding.

Anyway, done with that little tangent. Hope you enjoyed our Thanksgiving Home Tour and that it inspired you on your journey of creating your home. I hope you come back again soon. As always, I am happy to answer any questions you might have. Just leave me a comment below and I will get back to you. Have a wonderful weekend!