Lifestyle and Home Decor
home tour
Dining Room
The dining room was the first shiplap wall I created in our home and we enjoyed the simplicity of this space for a couple of years before Anewall reached out to do a collaboration. I was in love with their amazing murals and so I decided to take a leap and switch things up a little in here - this room had the perfect stretch of blank wall to feature a mural. And I love how it turned out. The update feels a bit more modern while still holding onto that vintage-y farmhouse vibe. The bentwood chairs were $25 on Facebook Marketplace and the DIY Anthro inspired pendant light can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBp_UmDGisY&t=20s.
Meet Laura
Hi! I'm Laura - pastor's wife, homeschooling mom of five and avid DIY-er. Simple Farmhouse style, to me, is a handmade home that works on a budget. It's having a table that can handle lots of 'love' from five kids without any stress about keeping things perfect. It's finding simple and creative approaches to functionality and design. And it's incorporating pieces with a past in order to remind us of why the present is so precious. It's all about family. After all, the most important things in life happen at home.
Kitchen
Our kitchen is a work in progress but over the last few years I have incorporated several small projects that are starting to make this space work for us. I first took down the uppers and installed 2 shiplap walls which was a $100 project. A year later I installed the DIY range hood and a few months after that I put up these open shelves which was another project that was just over $100.
The work horse side of the kitchen was updated just this fall with our homeschool table now functioning as a baking table with a new lower shelf for our snack basket storage. This set of glass cabinets I found on Facebook Marketplace really brought it all together and increased that European/traditional vibe. So after adding this piece in, I removed the stained wood trim from the range hood for a more timeless look across the kitchen.
Next on the list is replacing the builder grade cabinets and counters.
Homeschool Room
The homeschool room is just off of our kitchen. It gets a ton of light so I felt confident painting it a cozy shade of grey and warming it up with some twinkle lights for a little whimsy. And this version of the room has since made it's way around Pinterest. We used Ana White plans to build an extra long table that worked hard as a desk (now it's working as the baking table). The DIY map frame and chalk board were budget friendly ways to make the space more functional for us.
It wasn't until this year that I felt the need to update it to suit our growing kids. We weren't all sitting around a table anymore. Our youngest children are all in middle school and and our oldest children are graduated or in high school now so this set up needed to function differently for us. Below is a glimpse of that makeover in progress. This side of the room functions as a library and reading/discussion zone with supply storage in the vintage dresser. The other side of the room is still being finished up and includes a smaller table for two and chalkboard.
AFTER
Entryway
Our home doesn't have a proper entryway or mudroom so I have gotten creative on this wall that faces our dining room. A budget friendly board and batten wall with a few hooks gives our guests somewhere to hang their coats while our personal coats and bags are hung on an identical row of hooks by the back door. Because there are seven of us, that area gets far more cluttered and so this entryway is more welcoming and accessible to guests. I have recently painted the board and batten here a darker shade and will share that soon!
Master Bedroom
Our master is the room we have been working on recently. For a few years, this $100 DIY headboard made our room feel more finished, until this spring when I created a DIY four poster bed and added some additional pieces to the space. You can find these projects as well as the shiplap ceiling under "DIY" in the "Simple Farmhouse" tab.
AFTER
Laptop Station
The DIY laptop station has also received some Pinterest attention during this season of so many families doing school at home. We claimed an empty wall in our living room, made a simple desk, then made over an old cabinet for storing tech items and keeping cozy throws in reach. It has brought so much more functionality to our home. You can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adzgSAqP9kw
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