our family room

So many bloggers put up pictures of their immaculate houses. Everything is perfect, clean, and accessorized. And that is fabulous, and one day, our dream house will be too. But, I want to share with you that it isn’t all about the house you live in! You can make a home out of anyplace without feeling like it’s not Pinterest worthy.

You see, so many of you have asked for a home tour, and I’ve put it off forever because our house is nothing special. Well, that’s not true – the house itself is not special, but the home we have created it to be is special. It is special because it’s the home we brought our daughter home to. It’s been our safe-haven when we really didn’t know where else to go after the accident. My aunt and uncle rent it to us, and for that we are eternally grateful since we still have our house in Connecticut as well.

This has made a great home for us. I’m not going to lie, I complain about it a LOT. Which then makes me feel guilty because I know there are lots of people out there who have NO place to call home.

For now, the 980 square foot home works. There are lots of little quirks that I’d like to fix, and a lot of redecorating I would like to do, but those things haven’t fit in with our “paying off ALL of our debt” lifestyle. Plus, we both realize it’s just a temporary home.

Living in only 980 square feet, you have to get creative, and you have to be very intentional with what you have in your home.

This room was built on in the 80s sometime, so it’s a step down from our dining room. Before moving in, we painted everything. The back wall (to the left of the fireplace) use to have a huge mural of a lake. I’m not kidding. And green carpet. The ceilings are pretty low throughout our whole house (like maybe 8’). There are still things I would love to do in here. We really need to raise the curtain rod, and I would love new curtains, new rug, and new accessories. I’m over the red BIG TIME. Andrew had the rug and couch when he was on Active Duty, and we’ve just kept it and brought in things that matched. But I’m over it. Our carpet also needs to be restretched – Andrew says I vacuum too much (sometimes twice a day), but I think it was just a poor installation job. Those lines drive me BONKERS.

(And don’t mind the pretty pink potty – we’re in the throws of potty training)

This fireplace is electric and I LOVE it. We bought it for our home in CT and just love it. It makes the home feel so much cozier.

Andrew plays the piano, which I love. He plays late at night when Elizabeth is in bed, and I just love hearing it through the house.

You can see our gallery wall in more detail here. I like things simple and clean, so I don’t like all kinds of knicknacks and clutter all around. On top of the piano is a basket for storing remotes, a Scentsy warmer that I adore, and our daily devotionals.

Love having the basket there. We (almost) always know where the remote is this way, and it hides the extra XBox controllers. Little to no effort is involved with tidying up, or putting your game stuff away like this.

I love how this Scentsy warmer reflects hearts onto the wall at night. We don’t have lamps for the room (they’re on the list too), but this puts off the perfect cozy glow. I had never bought Scentsy before, but it made the holidays smell like home, and now I’m loving the clean springy scent of coconut lime! I tried to cheat and buy a different scent pack at walmart – FAIL! The smell only lasted 1 day, and who knows what’s in theirs. I cut mine on at night as a nightlight and don’t need to use it during the day. You know I hate plug-ins and aerosol sprays and how toxic they are for your babies air. Scentsy claims to not use phthalates.

We honestly do not watch much tv. We do not have cable or satellite or anything like that. Just a few local channels. We do have Netflix that we occasionally will watch at night. Andrew use to play XBox a lot, but we have both become more conscious of where we spend our time and mind.

We store his games in this basket so that they’re all out of site. I store a couple of Elizabeth’s movies and my workout dvds in the center. She became obsessed with Rio after seeing it at her cousins. She loves Veggie Tales and Mickey Mouse, too. Those and Nemo in the truck, are about the only things she’s ever really seen or knows of. She has no clue who Dora, Spongebob, or those other mind pollutants are.

My hand weights stay beside the tv, because that’s where I work out in the morning. I like these because they stack.

Elizabeth’s art easel is in here too, because she uses it ALL the time. And her basket of puzzles and small toys are between the couch and piano too.

So there you go. Our uncluttered, simple family room. Tell me, what is your design style?!