Summer Showcase of Homes - My House Tour

There have been some beautiful home tours this week on the 2013 Summer Showcase of Homes!  Have you seen them yet?  If not, I put together a full list of all the home tours through yesterday HERE.  Today is the last day of the tours and I'm happy to be included among such talented women.

Many of you that have followed along for the last few months, know that we just recently sold our home (closing was just last week).  When we purchased the house in August 2011 as a builder's spec house, I knew that I wanted to add some individual touches to make it feel like home, but I never guessed we'd have such a short time to live there before a job change to a new city forced us to sell. 

One of the first things that drew me to the house was the hand-scraped, dark hardwood flooring and large foyer with what I call "Christmas Stairs" because I love to deck out foyer staircases for Christmas.  

One of the first things I did upon moving in was take down as many builder-grade light fixtures I could...many of them with vintage chandeliers that I've come across over the last several years.  Ironically, we turned around and took them down and replaced them back with the builder-grade ones when we went to list the house because they were too taste-specific.  You'll probably see them pop up here and there in future homes!

One of my favorite rooms in the house was the dining room. I would say 95% of all the furniture in my house was second-hand (thrifted, Craig's List, antique) that I purchased all on a super-tight budget, but I splurged in my dining room with a trestle dining table and upholstered seating.  It was comfortable, but felt elegant at the same time.  

Just through the dining room was a spacious, gourmet kitchen that I'm pretty sure that I'll be sorely missing in the future!  I had plans to add under-cabinetry lighting and was on the hunt for the perfect light fixture for over the island for a long time, but now I'm glad that I never found it...because then I'd have had to leave it or take it down again :)

Flowing from the kitchen was the great room, which I also had more "plans" for...

I tend to paint walls in neutral colors and use more accessories in decorating, but the builder neutral color used was so pale, that it felt cold.  Since I wasn't about to paint this two-story room myself, I was eventually going to hire a painter to darken it just slightly to offset the trim a bit as well as add softening curtain panels on the window wall...

Finishing off the downstairs was a powder room...

...and my favorite room in the house...my craft room!

Besides sleeping in the bedroom, I would say that I spent the most time in this room...creating and painting away...

All the bedrooms in the house were upstairs, which worked out well with a baby when we moved in. Now that the kids are getting a bit bigger, I think it will be nice to have a main floor master in the future.  I did enjoy our master bedroom as it truly felt like a retreat away from the hustle and bustle of the rest of the house...

The above photo is with the spring/summer bedding and addition of the ceiling fan for resale purposes. Living in NC, I'm thinking these ceiling fans are almost a must, but I do love a pretty chandelier in my room...

I'm going to miss the chalkboard faux fireplace too...  The buyers of the house initially didn't want it, then changed their minds and wanted to keep it, and then changed their minds again so I ended up painting over it at the last minute before closing...uggh!

Kids' rooms are my absolute favorite to decorate!  I had so much fun putting my girls' rooms together...

My middle daughter, Lily, is my little gardener (funny how kids live up to their names), so she got a cheerful and happy bedroom that is just like her personality.

My youngest daughter's room was inspired from the ornate antique bed that I bought a while back and her grandpa fixed up...

I added lots of frenchy touches, including this made-over thrift store settee...

The laundry room was also upstairs in the house, which was nice and convenient...except on move-in day when just my husband and I hauled the front-load washer up the stairs ourselves...whew!  Thanks goodness the movers moved them down!

I'm happy that we had the short time we did to enjoy our home. It's hard to know what the future holds and as much as we'll miss our home and community, I have to keep my head up and hope everything in the new city works out.  Next week, we'll pack up our suitcases here at my mom's house and head over the Greensboro area to move into a rental home that I've never even seen!  My husband has gone through the house (which is 1,300 sq ft. smaller).  Yes, this all sounds crazy, but if you knew how fast rental homes go in that area, you'd understand. It came to the point that we just needed a roof over our heads, so you can count on some more adventures to come!

Make sure you stop and enjoy the other beautiful home tours that are posted today:

Our Southern Home

StoneGable

The Everyday Home

Recreate and Decorate

Vignette Design

Kristen