The Landing Strip
A landing strip, a command center, the drop spot. No matter what you call it, every house should have one. It’s a place for all the family “stuff”.
I call it a landing strip. In this house we actually have it split up a little, but it’s whatever works for you! When you come in our backdoor, we have hooks for each family member. Bag and coat go there. There’s a little hook station for car keys. And we have a small rack holding bug spray, sunscreen, sunglasses, wireless speaker, etc. But there’s still other “stuff” that accumulates. What do you do with it?! Enter our landing strip.
He we have a stash spot for everything else so that we stay organized and don’t lose important things! We use the chalk board for calendar notes and grocery lists. And each of the boys and mom and dad have a basket. We put bills in ours. The boys put homework and such in theirs. I keep a pen jar on the shelf. Here is stash stamps, a candle lighter, a marker, and pens. If you need more than that they you have to go upstairs to the office. 😆
The antique mirror got a metal insert painted with chalk paint. The little chalk marker tray below it is an antique door stop out of an old barn. The baskets are from Hobby Lobby. The shelf is a custom design I requested from Jason. He added and welded the flourish at the top of the brackets.
Here’s my tid bit of advice. Have a place for the “stuff”, whatever you may call it. I truly believe in “a place for everything and everything in its place.” Even if you don’t organize that far, at least set up a zone with a calendar and pens and notepad. Have a spot where you put mail and homework. Always put your keys in the same location. I promise you that these tricks will prevent you from losing important things or searching frantically for the lost items!
And just for fun, here’s a shot of what it looks like more often than not. 😉
Anything else you would add?
XX,
Jess
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Quick Paint Job
Winter is always my dreary time. Usually I don’t seem to get much done. But lately, I have been on a roll of projects! Last week I whipped out a tiny and speedy paint project. I used the same charcoal chalk paint from the small wall in the kitchen and painted the opposite facing wall in the dining room. I didn’t like the green, but love this dark, fresh color now! Here is the (messy) before:
Check out the after (forgive the Christmas decor that wouldn’t normally be there :)) :
And I just adore the new canvas of B! I’m even thinking about painting the small chunk of wall going up the stairs behind this wall. I think that will balance everything out well. Small bits at a time. After all, I have to paint after little man goes to bed 🙂 What do you think?!
Dining Room Chair Love
I adore big wing back chairs used at dining room tables! And I love the mix of modern chairs, traditional wingbacks, and the rustic wood table. Great combo!
The Perfect Mix
I have been keeping a notebook of ideas for each room in the house. Lately, Pinterest has made list making for these ideas so much easier! Here are some rooms that are, to me, the perfect mix!
Here is a gorgeous dining room. I love the cow hide rug layered over a larger, more simple one. I also love that striped settee!
http://blog.hgtv.com/design/2011/03/28/secrets-from-a-stylist-southern-romance-meets-scottish-charm/
I loved this office. I have been known to fall for over the top glam one minute and then over the top rustic the next, but this is the perfect mix. Perfect.
Another dining room with the perfect mix of an awesome rustic table and beautiful pink wallpaper.
Here is a great living room with an amazing sofa!
I am smitten with this window seat. I could nap there.
Hope these rooms bring you some inspiration too!
The Rug Hunt
Remember seeing the antique rug in the dining room?
Well, we thought this rug was a bit too bright and attention grabbing for this area. Plus, it was really taking a beating being in the center of our home. We were on the hunt for a rug. A very specific rug. Most importantly, we had to be able to afford it on our teeny tiny budget. We also wanted it to be big. It had to be at least 3 feet wide and at least 12 feet long. Wider and longer would be even better. This was the hardest part. Almost all runners were only about 2 feet wide. Not going to cut it with a large room and two dogs creating a lot of traffic. We were also hoping for either a print we could agree on, or something fairly neutral, but also not too light so that it would get dirty fast. Gravel roads and a farmer living in the house, oh and those two dogs again, means dust, dirt, and crud on a frequent basis. Do we sounds picky yet?
We hunted and hunted. Then we debated and debated. We found the one. Or at least what will be the one for a while! It was a “dark natural” colored banded jute rug. This one was 3 feet by 12 feet and was from the Home Decorator’s Collection, bought from Amazon.
We really like how the rug choice turned out. Its nothing fancy, but the neutral-ness of it allows for us to paint and change the room when we get the chance. This rug seems strong and durable, but is also soft and welcoming. Actually those bands you can see in the close up picture are super comfy on your feet, almost massaging! It does slip some, and in the future we may get a no-skid rug pad, but for now it has been perfect!
We couldn’t leave the dirty old door mat there with the pretty new runner! Here’s the old grungy mat:
It just so happened that I fell upon an awesome, and very inexpensive door mat right after getting the runner. You will never guess where I found the new mat! Dollar General! $12! And so adorable! It is also jute and looks so great with the runner!
So, what did we do with the antique rug? We put it upstairs in the hallway. We had some traffic issues with the light colored carpet in the hall, but not enough to continue to wear this rug out super fast, so we are trying it out up there. So far I think it is growing on me!
I think this little rug rearranging is going to work out just fine! 🙂
House Tour Continued: The Rest of the Downstairs
Finally here to finish the (inside) house tour! Coming from the living room tour, next you would walk into the “office” room. This room was already red, and I owned a lot of red furniture. It is wild in there. But, soon to look a bit different. This room is so handy. We have room to do computer work, crafts, store paperwork, and lounge. There is also a closet and plenty of floor space for kids and toys. Since it is connected openly to the living room it would be easy to keep an eye on little ones playing.Â
This is the one room that we have a box left to unpack. You know, that one pesky little box that has nowhere to go?
And next, the dining room! You can see there is that shelf in the way still…
The table and chairs we bought from the seller.
The window is a view into the sun porch we saw before. The stained glass door on the other side is the same as the sun porch door, but leads to a storage closet, which has proven to be super handy!
This is the door we use most frequently, but it is actually a side door. The little screened in porch is out that door and there is a big circle driveway there.Â
Directly the oposite direction of this picture is the kitchen…
Isn’t the arched doorway adorable? There will eventually be a small table under the window.
Yes, the curtains are currently mismatched. Soon to be fixed, when I can make up my mind!
I also love the rustic cabinets! The little silverware drwaers are like cigar boxes!
The ceilings are low, but its cozy. Out the door by the window is a stairway to the basement and a storage woom we lovingly call the “dog room.” Unfinished and super ugly, but this area is a life saver!
Now to backtrack into the dining room. The door next to the dining room entry is to a 1/2 bath and a laundry room. Oh, how a mainfloor bathroom is wonderful!
Not fancy, but perfect to us!
Well, what do you think? That is pretty much the whole house, flaws and all! I can’t wait to start making chnages and show you all!
Dining Chair Love
I love the rings on the backs of these chairs! I love the leather! I love the studs! I love the chandelier and the wall color and…
Beautiful, no? 🙂
Sneak Peak of the New House
We are completely moved into the farm now, and even had our housewarming party. And, we are loving it! There are color and arrangement changes we’d like to make in the near future, but for right now we are settled! Soon I will have a full tour of the place for you all, but for now here are a few tid-bits to get the feel for the antique unique-ness of our new home.
Here is a shot of my closet. Yes, I said MY. And, yes, this whooole space is the closet! Wow is right. Its like my own personal dressing room. Oh, and I might be nice and share one or two shelves. 🙂
This is a peak into our bedroom. The bedroom is sunken behind the closet. The beams on the ceiling you see here are barn boards from our barn. And isn’t that little stained glass window adorable?
This little shelf is in our bedroom. We made it ourselves (whereas the other elements were added or refurbished by previous owners) and it was made out of a board we found in the barn. The curves in the front of the board were carved out by cows rubbing on it. Oh, and don’t worry, the mustard color will soon go.
This is a peak at the top landing of our stairs. This little gate was made from an old antique door. So cute. It latches with an old barn style latch. It already proves handy for keeping the dogs corralled, but will also be handy with kids someday!
Here’s a little magazine rack that is built into the stairway. These little touches are what makes this house so sweet and unique.
This is a shot of the banister that has been antiqued. This is right off the dining room and basically the view you get as you walk in our main door.
Across the other side of the dining room are two antique doors with stained glass windows. One leads to a sun room and one to a storage room. Gorgeous touches!
In the dining room and to the right is the kitchen. The kitchen was added on later and has a drop woods ceiling. The master sunken bedroom is above the kitchen. The kitchen has warm hardwood floors just like the dining room and living room. There is an super cute little arched doorway leading to the kitchen. And notice the antique wood wainscoting? Each room also has original crown moldings.
Here’s a peak at the antique kitchen cabinets. Some of them! Need I say more?
And one last shot I have for you is the living room. The couple who refinished a lot of the house before us built a TV cabinet out of antique doors that were found in the barn. It is large and we are not sure we will keep it here, but it is so neat and such a conversation starter!
Well, what do you think? Are you ready to see how we decorate and accent all of these crazy details?!
Our New Buffet
Our new buffet is actually what was once a very old and icky buffet. I saw it at a garage sale for a few dollars and couldn’t resist. I thought it would be fun to see if I could bring life back to this old gem. It was a lot of hard work getting the old veneer top all off and fixing some chunks that were missing from the detailing on the front. Then I sanded, filled, sanded some more and painted with a glossy black paint. It still has some areas that have small flaws, but I am probably the only one who notices now. But, it is sturdy and I have plans for this to one day become a baby changing table once I inherit a piece for the dining room from my grandmother. Here it was before:
And after:
No too bad, eh?
Chic Dining Room Inspiration
I immediately fell in love with this gorgeous room! You all know I can’t resist dark, dramatic walls. And when paired with another glamorous rustic chandelier? Well, lets just say I was in heaven!
I can only hope to pull together such a chic room someday! Swoon.
Make Mine Eclectic 