Family Room Inspiration

I love the calming effect of neutrals, but I don't like beige or tan. They make me feel like I am in a dungeon for some reason. For the family room, I have decided that the color scheme will be cream, white, brown and blue. Currently in our family room we have brown leather hand me down couches, coffee table and end table via my parents. We also have a cheapo TV stand, 3 cream picture frames and a blue mirror I painted. We certainly are on a budget, but I have had a fun time on Pintrest coming up with inspiration for the room!

The Space I am Working With

Room Inspiration

Source

Source

Shutters on the windows, but in white.

Source

Source

The color of the walls: Sherwin Williams- Rain.

Source

Love these window treatments

Source

Source

For the TV

Source

I am debating between curtains and shutters. I want white curtains because I love the clean, but carefree feeling white curtains give a room. I am not sure if they would be a disaster with little kid hands. Maybe white shutters would do the trick, however they are more expensive. I love this lady's home. She seems to make white work. What do you think?

Read more about our Home Owner Adventures:

Part 1: Deciding What we Want

Part 2: A Contract on a House

Home Owner Adventures Part 2: A Contract on a House

We finally have a contract on a house and it is exactly what we were looking for! The process was so much more tedious than I anticipated. WE. SAW. A. LOT. OF. HOUSES. I mean, a lot! We visited houses that had floors peeling up, mold in the utility room, 3 bedrooms when the house was advertised at 4 and houses that had backyards that were non existent. Homes around here also were flying off the market! We toured a home that had been on the market for 2 days. As we were leaving the house the listing agent arrived declared that the house had just been sold!

We made an offer on 2 houses.

House #1:

• It was about $8,000 over budget
• 2400 square feet
• 2 story, 4 bedrooms and 2.5 baths with a large playroom (basements don't exist around here)
• Large backyard
• Real wood floors along with some stained carpet
• It also had an air conditioned bonus room attached to the garage 
• It was located right off of a busy road
• Zoned to good schools

House # 2:

• The listed price was the top of our budget (but still within budget)
• 2100 square feet
• 1 story, 4 bedrooms and 2 baths with a decent sized room to use as a playroom
• Nice laminate wood, tile and carpet floors throughout the house
• Acceptable sized backyard, but large grassy space in front of the house and park nearby
• Good neighborhood with kids playing everywhere on the day we went to tour it
• Zoned to good schools
• The seller is an older lady who kept the house in perfect condition (it seriously looks like a model home)

The offer on the first house didn't go through. They wanted more money, which would have made it close to $10,000 over budget. We just couldn't do it, so we didn't. The appraisal on the 2nd house came in $10,000 lower then we offered. I was afraid we were going to lose the house, but the seller agreed to lower the price by $10,000. So now we are $10,000 under our budget! Much nicer payments. If all goes well, it seems we will be closing on house #2 on December 9th! 

Without further ado: 

The Family Room

The Kitchen and Breakfast Area

Formal Living Area (we will turn it into a playroom)

Formal Dining Area (we will turn it into a study)

Master Bedroom

The Backyard Patio

I love the layout, the size and the crown molding. I don't mind the cream colored walls. Cannot stand the counter tops! I am so excited to put our furniture in this house and make it our own. Stay tuned for my decorating inspiration.

Read More Home Owner Adventures: 

Part 1: Deciding What We Want

Blessings While Playing the Waiting Game

A time for change has officially arrived! I graduated, the baby is only 2 months away from making his debut, I found a job and our lease ends soon so we are officially on the house hunt!

I am patiently waiting for the testing company to process my graduation information so I can take my national board exam. In the meantime.. I am studying. ALOT. TOO MUCH.

Right about the time we started looking for a home to purchase, all the houses we were interested in magically went off the market. So we are waiting. Waiting for a house to come up, that we like, in our price range and in the area we want.

Did I mention I am also waiting for this baby!?!?! Not to say that I don't truly adore getting winded when reading bedtime stories. Or when my biggest accomplishment of the day seems to be staying awake for more than 2 hours at a time.

So I don't make myself crazy... I will share the SO MANY good things that have been happening lately!

A few days ago it was our anniversary! We celebrated with a little sparkling grape juice (and wine for him!).

My husband also got me this cute card to keep me motivated.

Did I mention that someone is really pumped up about being a big sister?

Speaking of the baby, we have been so blessed with all that we have been given. A lovely fellow blogger sent us hand-me-down baby boy clothes (That are in awesome shape!). My sister-in-law put together some more hand-me-downs and everyone at my husband's work chipped in to put together some money to give us a mini baby shower. We now are so set for this baby!

My parents let us use their timeshare for a weekend. We were able to spend some much time in the pool and exploring nearby trails.

So many good changes to come (because every sane person graduates, starts a new job, buys a house and has a baby all within the span of 3 months right?!). I thought so!

Keep me from going a little crazy and feel free to share the good things happening in your life!!!