If you ever stop by our house, no matter the occasion, my husband will most likely give you a big hug, drag the puppies to the backyard so they don’t trample you, fix you a drink and then do his favorite thing – take you on a tour. It’s so sweet to hear him explain all the details of what I’ve done and fun to hear the pride beaming in his voice as he says, “we found this at an antique store.” – Oh ya, best husband ever. He loves the great finds almost as much as I do! – So, I’ve taken a cue from my hubby the past couple weeks and have been leading my Instagram family on a tour of my home (sorry, no drinks!). This was never meant to be a blog post but as I took these pictures day after day and told the stories of whats created this house I realized there was so much more to share than what I was able to post in fleeting Instagram moments. So, here are my favorite Instagram moments including all the details. Hope you enjoy this house we have made into our home – we sure do!

First, some details. I love Texas, LOVE Texas…but a lot of the houses in the burbs are very cookie cutter. That’s exactly what we were trying to get away from in moving out of our previous home. And when we walked into this house our jaws dropped…it was gorgeous and without a trace of replicated floor plans or finishes. You could tell the previous owner’s style was nothing like ours but the potential was incredible and the neighborhood was perfect. So, we moved in July of 2013 (literally right after we got back from our honeymoon…because we are crazy) and I got to work. If you follow me on Instagram you know I love to mix old and new, cool tones, shabby chic with a touch of modern & generally there are dogs (or dog hair) not far away. And if you don’t follow me on Instagram…get on it! 😉

The entryway

You see most of our house as soon as you walk in the door so it was important to me to keep the entryway clean and simple. The table is an antique console passed down from my mother and has a beautiful white wash with gold details and a couple small drawers. If you have dogs, you may have caught on that it’s really convenient to have a table with drawers in your entryway. Nothing like a jumping dog at your heels when you have to trek all the way back to the laundry room to get the leash. Then, because the table is already antique, I chose to stop there and go with new items to finish it off. The pineapple lamp (love!) is from Pier1 & mid-century modern mirror (always love having a mirror in the entryway) is from Wayfair.

the chandelier

Right? I mean…right? Could it be any more perfect and beautiful? I had been eyeing this, had it Pinned and almost purchased at least twice before finally pulling the trigger. This is our entryway chandelier – hung high enough that it doesn’t interfere with the view straight through to the backyard. I’m SO HAPPY with this purchase  from Lamps Plus and think it totally sets the tone – a modern shabby chic. And a note, as many lights as you can have on a dimmer the better but chandeliers are a must! They are made to sparkle and showcase differently at every setting.

the coffee table

Ok so I’m cheating a little bit here. No, my coffee table doesn’t always look like this. I styled it especially for #projectvignette but it’s a great picture of our coffee table so I’m using it – sue me. Our coffee table was also handed down from my parents and was a great find from Canton here in Texas. It’s made out of salvaged wood from an old church. I actually grew up with this table which I love and I adore that you can see all the age in it. I had a blast styling  it for this project because it gave me a chance to shop around my house and find different uses for things. That little grey trivet is actually one of three from a set of wall decor pieces I bought at HomeGoods forever ago. The little gold vase is an old candle from Target! I loved it so much that I just scraped out the remaining wax & use it as a small vase with flower foam now and then. You can see a video tutorial on how to use flower foam here.

THE sofa TABLE

I searched high and low for a sofa table that would be long and narrow enough to fit behind couch. This is a main walkway so it was kind of an important area and it had to be perfect. My husband and I spotted this beauty at a local flea market, I did my best haggling and we brought her home. I quickly found these short, neutral lamps at Tuesday Morning and was able to hide the plug with this awesome faux Burberry chest I’ve had for ages. The little marble owl by Jonathan Adler adds a modern touch to the “moment.”

THE piano

I grew up playing piano and have always wanted to have one in the house for my kiddos. We had this little corner in the main living area that just screamed for one so we found an old one I liked from a reseller and I topped it with wedding pictures from each immediate family member (including our siblings). This little lady loves banging away as I play and I just love that she’s growing up in a house with a piano. Let’s hope she enjoys playing it when she’s a bit older too.

THE sitting area

The sunroom is somewhat awkward in that it used to be part of the deck. The original owners decided they wanted to expand the indoor living space (they must have misjudged how brutal those Texas summers can get) and closed in a large portion at the back of the house. I’ve done so many different things in this area trying to figure out the best configuration and did not have the slightest urge to put a large cabinet piece in here but we came across this turquoise armoire at an antique store and fell in love – especially when we found out it was from Austria (my father-in-law is from there). We had to have it and by golly, it really worked in this space! I defined the area with a Home Depot rug – nothing too expensive since this is baby girl’s play area…and as you can see, it’s covered in dog hair most of the time. I’m also really happy with the little table we ended up getting from Amazon – it adds a little modern touch to the room. I finally feel at ease having coffee and watching baby girl play in here.

THE breakfast nook

Here’s what sits on the opposite side of the sunroom. Beautiful bay windows in an area not quite large enough for a full size dinner table but perfect for a little four top. We snagged this table and chairs with the pineapple lamp from Pier1 and the fun rug is from Overstock. By far our favorite place to play cards and have dinner with our little family of three. I need to get on making some seat cushions for these chairs!

THE kitchen decor

Ah yes, another one of my late night light bulb moments. We are now in the kitchen eating area where there is a massive wall that is also a walkway. What to do, what to do? Look up kitchen wall art and you will be bombarded with fun little prints of puns on kitchen utensils or pictures of fruit. No offense if you have these – it just wasn’t what I was going for. Somehow, in my search for food art that wasn’t a banana I stumbled upon this Morton’s Salt advertisement from 1930. If you didn’t know this already, my background is in advertising. So, I immediately fell in love and went on a hunt for other 1930’s/40’s advertisements that had food and little kids in them. Once I had them in my hands, I hit up Michaels for some frames and a matte that would coordinate with all of them. And boom, a one-of-a-kind art piece.

THE picturewall

Well I had to take another stop by my favorite wall 🙂 So fun to take friends and family down this hallway and I already have so many more pictures to add! If you didn’t already see my post on creating the perfect picture wall you can check it out here.

THE nursery

All I can do is swoon and then run and check on baby girl sleeping again. I love how the sunlight streams into her room and that gorgeous graphic wall behind her dainty crib. For more on this gender-neutral nursery click here.

THE bedroom

And last for now, the bedroom. I did not realize the beauty and amazing functionality of plantation shutters until this room. We have the most breathtaking sunlit view from these bay windows but dang – some times you just need to shut the light out. Plantation shutters are your answer my friend. I didn’t want to cover them up but this nook was screaming for some fabric. I found these gorgeous tan, silk panels at Bed, Bath & Beyond on a big time sale so I snatched them up. I then was trying to figure out how the hell I was going to hang them. They make custom rods but I didn’t want a rod exposed all the way across. So, I did what I do…wondered around Home Depot until something magical happened. No home improvement show host came and found me like in my dreams so I went with figuring out a solution on my own. And that was curtain rod brackets, pvc pipe & hot glue 🙂 Worked like a charm and gave me just the elegance I was looking for.

Welp, that’s all for now folks. Thanks for stopping by and I’m sure another house tour will be coming in the not so distant future. So many rooms left to do…and re-do…shhhh don’t tell my husband.