The House Becomes a Home

Before I get into the house pictures, I wanted to share some Matthew pictures. Here he is, sitting in the cabinet.

All the pots and pans were in there with him, and he managed to find room to sit down and make himself comfortable.

Love this cute smile.

Here he is with his Disney pals. We were watching some Disney cartoons on DVD, and he was so psyched when we brought these stuffed animals in from the other room.

Yeah, he's on a ladder, but not by himself. I'm holding onto him--you just can't see me. He wanted to help Daddy hang stuff on the walls.

So we've got a western theme going on in our family room, do you remember that? We picked sunset colors and painted a while ago, but we took our time buying things to put on the walls. One, we wanted to make sure we liked what we got and didn't just get carried away with buying things. That's more me than Josh. And two, we wanted to stay in budget and not go into debt over simple wall decorations.

The first thing we ordered was from Amazon, this great clock. We've had this up for a while, even before we painted the walls, I believe. It's got a subtle western feel without being overdone or tacky.

I found an online store that sells western and Texas-themed items, which is where these pieces came from, two horseshoes and a welcome sign. They are made of cast iron and hang over our sliding doors that lead to the deck outside.

Oh, I just remembered. I bought a wall hanging from our grocery store (they sell housewares too), but I forgot to take a pic of it. It has a horseshoe on the bottom of it and had a quote by Louis L'Amour: "The trail is the thing, not the end of it. Travel too fast, and you miss all you are traveling for." Or something like that. I'm going by memory right now.

Along one wall we hung up some family pictures. They aren't really western, but the frames are an antique gold, and they fit with the colors in the room. Matthew loves to look at these pics and find the faces he knows. Which is pretty much everyone.

And finally some of my favorite pieces. A while back I found a wagon wheel at Big Lots and snatched it up. Sure it's not an authentic or Amish-made wagon wheel, but those can be hundreds of dollars on the web, and you can't beat $16--yeah, I think that's what I paid for it. Anyway, it's big and hangs high, so it's definitely the focal point in the room. The oil paintings on either side were done by an awesome friend with amazing talent. I gave her this small vase I had and asked her to paint the scene that was on it. They are hard to see in this pic, I know, but trust me, they are perfect and just what I wanted. Just last night Josh and I went to Hobby Lobby and had them framed and matted with some rustic frames they had.

So finally this room looks like someone lives here and doesn't just boast of bare walls. I love my western theme, though I still have more to get. I ordered a metal cut-out of a praying cowboy, but it was out of stock, so I have to wait on that. It will go by the clock when it comes. And the wall opposite the family pics is still naked. I'd like to find a print by a western artist to get framed, like one big one or two smaller ones. Jack Sorensen has done some nice work, and my mother-in-law told Josh about some guy from Montana, but I can't remember his name. I'm in no rush to get that wall filled though. I'm enjoying what we have up for now, and there's more work to be done and money to be spent on other things.

For instance, we need to buy Matthew a bed soon. And the office that we just painted, well, those walls need some photos up as well. Our college friend took some black and white photos of us back in the day, and I've got them framed, just not up yet. We think it'd be cool to do only B&W pics in the office. And someday we need to buy more furniture, just so we have more seating when people visit. And I'd like some storage ottomans to hide the toys that the kids have/will have. And the list goes on... :)

I definitely love what we've done with the place so far. It's fun to dream up ideas and see them come to fruition. Though I don't think I could be an interior designer. I take too long to make up my mind, and then I may changed my mind 15 times before I settle on something. I would drive clients crazy :)

Alright, enough rambling. I'll let you all get back to whatever it is you were doing before you sat down at your computer to read my amazing and insightful words...yeah, right ;)