Decorating the Nest..

Lately I have been following a ton of decorating blogs.. I have this itch to redecorate our great room. The dining room is already in progress.  I have finished the master bedroom, guest room, kitchen, and upstairs baths.. but the living room is just bland to me. I started thinking about it and alot of our decor I either inherited (can be good or bad) or we had and I tried to make it work. Nate's favorite color is red and his office is painted red currently so when I started thinking of re-doing the living room all I could think of was well red had to be incorporated. I just wanted a room that could be neutral but have pops of color. The bones of our great room are great..tan walls with a chocolate couch. I already decided that the verticals are changing to bamboo roman shades and I am adding burlap curtains- they will be neutral. I am than going to change the rug to a jute or segrass rug. All the things added to the room will be neutral or easy to change later such as pillows with pops of color. Here are a few of the items that have inspired me..

 These rooms are from Pottery Barn and I love them because basically they have neutral bones it is the accessories that make the room Americana or Nautical.

 This is from Nester's Blog and I just love love her room.. I wish I could pull off the all whites in my house! But I think I have to live with the chocolate leather couch for a bit..

 I wanted to add a touch of old charm and nautical to the room. I think these bouys will look great on the bay window.

 I would love the white one to act as a side table..

 I am going to get two of these stools to place as extra seating under the console table in the living room.. I also want to add a chalk board similar to the nesters above the console table to have like a family meeting spot. Also a PB wire basket to dump our mail ;).

 I love love this rug from PB and I think I want to place it in the dining room to add some color. It is still neutral yet vibrant..

 This is the rug I want to place in the living room and it will match the burlap curtains. I think the neutral tans will place off the cocoa colored couch and blend with the walls.

 These awesome jugs remind me of my grandma and her old milk jugs I want to get some white ones to put on one side of the fireplace..

 I also adore these old Coke crates I want to place one under the coffee table to store magazines and clutter and add a pop of color.

 SO there you have all my crazy ideas jumbled in pics.. but I can envision the room.. as soon as it is finished I will be posting pics. As it comes along I will post pics.

I know what you are thinking..isn't she on a budget and how can she afford it?? It is called thirfy.. as Nate says I will online and in store shop for WEEKS before purchasing things. I get obsessed with finding what I want at a good price. I am also following the nesters advice of taking out all the items that don't work in the room any longer. Things that can be worked else where I will keep other wise they will be sold on craigslist.  Hoping to make the $200 bucks for the makeup.. stay tuned..

Dining Room

Currently our dining room is bearable.. but it is the most neglected room of the house..On top of that the dining room table is small, made of MDF so its totally not practical..it chips and is not that sturdy..plus  we never even use it. So I have been hunting ..and when I say hunting spending hours online and in stores for a table that isn't a thousand bucks but fits my criteria of 82' rustic finish, rectangle and dark finish.. Now you ask why the rustic finish. Well it all started when my mom purchased this beautiful table that has boards groved down it- looks like a barn door kinda and it is been groved with nails and chains to make that rustic Napa California look I love. Not only do I love the look but I love the practicality of it. When we have kids they can do homework here, play games, eat with friends and I don't have to stress about not spilling, chipping, staining  my gorgeous table.. they can bang it and it will be fine.  Growing up my mom had a ton of antiques..still does and we never used the dining room because it was Great Grandmother's table and we might hurt it. As much as I love that beautiful table my house will be beautiful, but practical!! My kids shall be allowed in every room!! But here is the catch to the table search I lusted after Mom's too long..my mom purchased her lovely table for 599 two to three years ago..and I can't find it anymore :(. So my most favorite store is Pottery Barn. I started my search here.. they have a table like mom's in 72 inches but wait it is veneer and hard wood.. nope not gonna make the cut of Nate's condition..all wood.  So the one that is rustic and all hardwood at PB is gasp 2,000.  Umm not really in the budget for two teachers.. so than I looked at Pier 1, Star Furniture, JcPenny, RoomstoGo, HomeGoods..etc. All had lovely tables just not one that fit my requirements.. than the decorating gods rang down..

I found my dining room table at World Market. It is a beautiful Indian ALL WOOD table that is 82' and rustic. It is so beautiful, it has a chiseled top look with turn table legs. Can you tell I am in love?? Only catch my husband is making me wait to purchase because my birthday and xmas are around the corner and he thinks our family will contribute $$$ or gift cards towards our lovely table.  SO if they don't you can beat that table will be in my room by Jan 1.  Especially since this year I have 3 weeks off at xmas to knock out my decorating projects!!

Currently we own two of these Banana Leaf chairs above.. my hubby bought them for me when we were dating as an anniversary gift I think our third year?! I adore them.. they remind me of the beach, yet at the same time I think of Napa..they fit our decor so well too. So I want to add 2 more banana leaf chairs to it to make a total of 4 chairs. Come on people I can't have regular dining chairs for my dining room..lol. I than am lusting after this beautiful zebra brown and white  bench that I must have!! My absolute fav colors are brown, white and turqouise. Our upstais is brown and blues.. down is brown, white and reds.. so I am thinking this zebra bench will be great added seating and match the decor. Plus benches have so many purposes..extra seating, coffee table..etc. I am than going to add a jute seagrass rug to neautralize our wood floor contrast to the dark wood table and a floor to ceiling mirror that leans against the wall from Ikea.

So there you have it.. I found my dining room table after much searching and I have so planned the room out. I shall have my beautiful table by Jan and I will update pics than.  Until than I am contemplating removing the vertical blinds in our great room but there are 4 windows measuring 72' and I want to add bamboo roman shades which run about 89 bucks..ehh.  On top of those 4 large windows  I have a bay window with wierd measurements of 16' for two windows and 46' for one.. which adds more to the budget for blinds.  So I am saving  for blinds now too. I want the pottery barn look with bamboo blinds and white curtains.. I think it will pop in with our tan walls and white wood work. I than want to add those beautiful poppy pillows from PB to add to the Napa feel. In our upstairs bedroom I added the bamboo blinds which let light in during the day, but I added energy efficent black out curtains in white..they help with keeping our room cold and less noise also.. so that is the plan for downstairs too now.
If you have been to our house you know Nate adores red.. so the downstairs is very Napa feeling in warm browns, tans and reds.. where as the upstairs every room is a shade of blue. Beach=tricia's true love so my bedrooms reflect my love for it as well as our baths.  But currently in our formal living room, off the living room in our great room is a pool table.. because well we are young, no kids and have a pool and do lots of entertaining.. so you need a pool table...right..

Well the talk in our house has been babies lately.. yes babies.. We have a plan.. I am not preggo now.. but let you know when it happens ( hint  after I finish my masters). So I told Nate since we will only have one guest room and we might need more room for kids we might want to sell or move the pool table to the garage. Than make the formal living room a play room.  Now I say play room  but it would have a sleeper sofa from Pottery Barn and a seagrass trunk as a coffee table to hide toys as well as shelfs with seagrass basket to hide toys. So it would be a neat playroom doubles as our second guest room if needed.. Nate said well practical but kids will ruin all the fun.. no vegas, no pool table, no sleep.. Aww my husband's realness is so good sometimes!

Now that I have told you all about my home decorating tasks for the next couple of months/ years for the play room.. you can call me crazy.. but  I love decorating and I am nesting right now..I'll keep yall updated as I go..