Tuesday, January 12, 2016

State of The Union--Change is Coming!

Tonight President Obama is giving his last State of The Union. Then, for good or for ill, change is coming!! On a much less important note, I wanted to give my own State of the Union, State of 31 Something Lane. We moved here from a Traditional Tudor in 2008. As grand as the old house appeared, it was filled with lots of hand-me downs (which suited the traditional style) and floor-models purchased at deep discounts.


When we moved here we "graduated" and embraced the PrairieMod Style--if you have no idea what that is, read about it here. This was the day we moved in before landscaping (in the Spring I will take some new pictures to show the now-maturing landscaping and porch make-over):

We also got almost all new furniture. I was so, so stinking proud. The day we moved in, the house looked like it was ripped out of the pages of a magazine (or at the very least a Crate and Barrel catalog). I have made small changes here and there, like adding gold accents into our once-brushed-nickel-only decor and moving around art. For the most part, though, our main-floor living space has remained the same for the last 8 years. Times and tastes change. I am ready for a new, softer look. Now, I won't be getting all new furniture and I won't be doing any real remodeling, but I will be shaking it up. Before we progress, though, I want to take a look back at the way the house looked in our first eight years here.


As you walk in the front door, there is a formal dinning room and an open stairwell. Just past that, is our "room." It is one room that serves as our main family living area for, well, everything! Off of that, are our separate "away-rooms" (a study, art-room, the basement seen here, here and here, and of course our laundry and bedrooms). This, however, is where we really live.


I'll focus on the sitting area tomorrow as well as begin to document the away rooms, but for now, let's go towards the kitchen seating! Turning towards the kitchen area you can see our breakfast bar and dinning nook. These chairs and stools were purchased through a designer/friend.


The table has been in all three of our homes, beginning as a dinning room table in our old, old house (which was Mr. 31-derful's mid-century modern bachelor ranch) and eventually settling in as a kitchen table for thousands of meals in the house. It is still sold by Room and Board and I still love the base though the frosted glass top has seen better days. Changing out the top is on the agenda.


You know how the day you go to get a haircut and your hair is awesome???!! That's sort of how I feel about these pictures. I mean, after taking these shots, I sort of fell back in love with these. My goal, however, is to soften up our home (less Crate and Barrel more Restoration Hardware, if you will), so these are on the way out. I really hope they go to a good home where someone will love them as much as we have!

2 comments:

Amy at Ms. Toody Goo Shoes said...

Just beautiful! Love all the clean lines, and the open concept. We've been in our house 13 years, and my taste has changed wildly, but no way we are going to re-do it. I, too, am planning a few tweaks, though to help make my house feel a little lighter.

Our Life at 31-derful! said...

Thanks Amy--can't wait to see what you do!