Making My House Work for Me

Since we’ve moved into our house almost two years ago, our living room has been empty, been a living room, been empty again, and is now working for me…..as a dining room.

 

This is the room when we looked at the house.

I hated our living room when we first moved in. Nothing about it made me like it. Nothing about it made me want to fill it up with furniture. Then, my handyman husband painted it the week before a baby shower {for us}. I picked out Benjamin Moore Palladian Blue and instantly fell in love with it. Looking back now, I wish I would have had them reduce it with more white, but I do still enjoy going in that room.

If you dread walking in a room, do something about it. Quit walking past it and trying to ignore it. Just changing the paint color encouraged me enough to figure out what I wanted this room to do for me.

In came the couches, end tables, and lamps! Loved the room! But we didn’t use it! We used it one time during the baby shower. The room was not working for me. It was pretty, and I liked it. It needed a rug and some finishing touches, but it was a nice room to go in. What was the purpose of having just a “pretty” room in the house if we never used it?

I started brainstorming again. I thought I might put French doors by the entrance and make it a study/office/comfy hanging out room.

Then I thought some more. Maybe it would be a better fit for a dining room since our dining room was so squished up. I didn’t like where our dining room was. I didn’t like being cramped in a tiny room during holiday celebrations. So, what was stopping me from moving the dining room to a more spacious room that just made more sense? Not a thing in the world.

I tell you this now. Just because the blueprints in your house label the rooms does not mean you must use it for that purpose. It’s your house! Not the previous owners. Yours! Use it the way you want! Make it work for you! That’s one of the main things I got out of that book I told you about yesterday.

So, here it is. I purchased a rug from Overstock {currently out of stock, but usually is restocked} and had the boys move the furniture right on in.

Then, Colby changed out the light fixtures for me {more on that in an upcoming post}. This is how it looks today. Is it finished? Certainly not, but it’s on its way.

Comment and let me know what you think you might change up in your home. It’s summer, which to me is project season!