Our Living Areas: Then and Now

 I am again participating in the 4 Moms, 35 Kids Link up.  Be sure to hop on over and take a look at everybody's!


Oh, how I love this living room! My decorating philosophy is along the lines of, "Is it on sale".  So I don't even pretend to know what I am doing.  And with 4 LARGE reptile enclosures and a giant rat and bird care decorating can be difficult in the least. (I'll cover the pets, with close-ups in another post, promise!)
So y'all come on in and take a look around, then we'll go over the good, the bad and the ugly (our old living room).

If I did have an inspiration piece it would be this:

I LOVE THIS PAINTING!  It just speaks to me about trusting God and his plans for us, it tells us that to set ourselves apart from the world is not a bad thing.  It was given to me after a woman I worked with at a school took up a collection while I was pregnant with Jacob. 


The floor is something my husband just started putting in.  When we moved here we discovered the previous renters had dogs. A lot of dogs.  And these dogs obviously didn't want to go outside to go potty. Yuck.
The new floor is easy to keep and was pretty easy for my husband to install, however, it doesn't just "snap together" like the ads say....trust me. 

All of our furniture is second hand, it came from various consignment, thrift and overall junk stores.  I made the decision before my oldest reached toddler hood that this is the way to go.  

My dad built the entertainment center and I love the rusitc feel of it.  I chose the fabric, which I love, and behind it are really handy drawers filled with vhs, dvd and video games.   
The corner shelf holds our Bible and whatever we are working on with family worship.  For example right now we are reading "What is Reformed Theology" by R.C. Sproul and the 1689 London Baptist Confessional.  It also keeps my camera and phone in a safe place from sticky hands and a supply of diapers and wipes.  Our wedding, family and baby albums are on the bottom.  The large antique water can holds change.  

Note: we do not have t.v. service.  We only watch movies or play games on this TV, and we like it that way. 

This is Jacob's area.  The table has storage where his puzzles, colors, people box and other such things are. This table is junk more or less and is the only piece of furniture that Jacob can "fix" with his plastic hammer and saw.  Note the marks on the edge there.

That is my piano from when I was Jacob's age!

This is Michael's area and that is my garage-sale-find basket where I keep my books, crosswords, suduko's, lotion etc etc. 

Phew! This is hard work!

I could lie and say the kids book case doesn't always look like this, but for honesty sake I'll tell you that this is it 99% of the time.  Hey, at least he got them back on the shelves right? The basket holds the flashlight (you have to have a good flashlight when living in the country!), incoming mail and what have you. The top of the lit display cabinet showcases my wedding bouquet (it was fake), cake topper, Jason's corsage and pictures etc. 

Our pets (more on the in another post) and a lovely clock Jason found in Midland, where we used to live, when he worked for the landfill.  He used to find the coolest stuff out there.  And yes, I cleaned it. ; ) Behind that curtain are more toys, educational things and cobwebs so we won't be peaking under there right now. 

Okay, so you have something to compare to, this is our old living room:

3/4 of the living room at Christmas, I was like 15 months pregnant. ; )

 

 

Later, Jacob rode his Christmas present through the other 1/4 of our living room.  

Impressive? Thought not. What was really cool was when you got 1/2 way across the floor you could slide to the front door because the floor dipped so badly. It was even more fun in socks. ; )


Hope y'all enjoyed, see you next time and don't forget to visit the other moms!