Home Sweet Home.

When we first purchased our house, I was more concerned with filling up the empty spaces with anything I could find rather than taking time to find items that reflected us and that had meaning and purpose. Recently I have been removing items that either have no meaning or that do not reflect both KJ and I. Though this I know have a rather large pile of items to get rid of!

My husband is simple and has tends to have a more rustic sense of style. I also value simplicity with little clutter. To me, it is more important to have the feeling of home and relaxation verses the trendy and modern style. Many items in our home are from our wedding and it truly reminds me of that special day and adds a touch of us to every room.

One of the main rooms that got a redecorating was the formal living room. This room does not get much use but it is visible from the kitchen and other areas that we spend a lot of time in. The formal living room screamed clutter and disorganization, but I wanted to be able to spend time reading or relaxing in that room but I could not get past the over stimulation of the clutter. So, this is where I started, and the result was a room that I love and that I go to for relaxation and inspiration.

This was the only before photo that I could find, and I know that it had changed since this was taken, but regardless the room to me felt dark, cluttered and uninviting. It was just wasted square footage that was never used so, I took everything out and started from scratch, the only thing that did not move was the photo above the mantel.

These huge built ins got the best of me because of how tall and deep they are! I found myself cramming whatever I could in there just to fill the void. For almost 3 years these things have won, but now I can say they are a good balance between full but not too full. 

My goal was to make this room a place that I would want to come and sit and not leave as fast as possible. I must say I achieved this goal a little better than I planned to. I will walk past on my way to another part of the house and I will end up sitting down and taking time to recharge and think. There are times I will hear KJ hollar from another room asking where I went because I sat down and never came back.

Here is the after, it may not be something that you would see on the front cover of a magazine, but to me it is paradise. In the few weeks that this room has been updated it has become my place to go and think, read or become inspired. It is truly amazing what a change of decor can do for a room.

I love having all the old books in the built ins, mainly because most of them belonged to my parents.

The two candles up top and the one on the left in the middle shelf are all from our wedding. The two were in memory of the family members who has passed on and that could not be at the wedding. The one big one was our unity candle, it has three wicks on top that we lit along with our parents. 

This is one of my favorite engagement pictures, I think I had about 5 printed. This bouquet is also the toss bouquet from our wedding that never got tossed!

I hope that y'all enjoyed getting to see my space that I feel at home and rejuvenated! Do you have a space that makes you feel at home and helps you recharge?