Before and After, Part Two. (...of Two)

I perpetually confuse Family Room with Living Room.  In my head they are the same- so I use them interchangeably.  To me, it only makes sense that the family would live in the living room- but to everyone else it's confusing.  

To keep everything straight I'm calling one The Piano Room, and one The Fireplace Room- at least until I get them straight in my head.  Speaking of fireplaces? My sister and I spent the better part of an hour trying to get ours lit.  When we finally did- we discovered the switch on the wall actually does nothing...  at least until we get it corrected. 

(Sometime before next September?)

(The Before...)

(The After...)

We had the fireplace re-tiled in slate, added new carpet, painted the walls, put in new baseboards, painted the mantelpiece, tiled a landing by the back door (not pictured) added furniture and stirred.   

And once again- I love how it came together.  The pink chairs were thrifted! By my Mother-in-law!  She generously offered them- and I quickly accepted.  I love the curves- and I love how the pink looks with the slate.  

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For our Master Bedroom, we didn't have to do much.  (Praise Be.)  

(The Before...)                                  (The After...)

In our last Louisiana house, the Master Closet doors were a nuisance so I took them off- and used them as headboards.  It was unconventional- but I loved it because it covered up several nail holes in the wall- and added height to the room. 

When we moved in a couple weeks ago, the closet doors in the pirates' room were a nuisance... cue the headboard.  Once again, it's unconventional- but I like it.  And until I can afford a real headboard- they're here to stay.  I am, however, going to paint them a deep shiny, brown and either center one wreath, or hang two of them.  I'm thinking a spring wreath- with small yellow flowers.  Off to the side, I have an ancient dresser (not pictured) that will eventually be painted the same color.  

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As I was moving us in- I realized how almost every piece of furniture has a story.  The desk below the window was Steve's Grandmother's- and I love it. 

The bunk beds in the pirate's room originally belonged to Steve and his brother.  They moved on to a couple of our nephews- and now the pirates are loving them.  Three generations!  

They have a green chair in their room that was fifteen dollars at a thrift store in Boise, ID.  We bought it when we had no furniture (literally) and I needed someplace to feed Enriqueboy.  We crammed it upside down into the front seat of our red Oldsmobile, and I sat in the back wedged between two car seats.  

It had me at hello.

The bench at the bottom of our bed was where I sat at our kitchen table- since age eight.  I went with my mom to purchase it- and I remember wondering why she was so excited over a piece of furniture- and when were we ever going to get home.  I remember coloring with my sisters.  I remember doing homework with my dad.  At seventeen I fell off of it because I was laughing too hard- it was Thanksgiving and my brother and I were being irreverent.  (...something to do with gizzards, I believe...)  I sat there during summers home from school.  

I sat there when I fed Robs her first food. Ever.  It was squash.  

I love that bench.

Seven years, twelve moves and seventeen years one month of renovation later- I finally understand 

that home isn't one location or one place... 

It's something you choose to create.