Family Room Tour

Our family room has been a work in progress ever since we moved into our house four(!) years ago. It's hard to believe we've had our house that long.  :)  In the beginning, we rarely used it at all except for storage. It was not a very comfortable room. Then last year Mark and I got the attic of that room insulated, and it is a lot more comfortable! (In fact, when our air conditioning went out in May, it was the coolest room in the house!)

Earlier this week I did some rearranging (and purging - mostly books...). I was able to store our old kitchen table in the shed which freed up a lot more space and just made the room LOOK bigger! :)

Here's the before (old picture... I wish I would have taken one Monday before I started...)

Sorry it's so dark.

and here it is now...

So much more room. Although it still looks full because of what I've added since the first picture was taken - my "coffee table" and the desk and chair...

We met up with Mark's Aunt and Uncle while we were in Tennessee and they gave me this wonderful little desk. It was original to their local school and probably was made in the 1920's! I love it!! :)

See the ink well??

Here's a couple more areas of the room, that I don't think I've shared before:
This ice chest is to the right when you walk in. I'm "storing it" for my dad! (Maybe he'll forget where he put it....) :) I use it to store our board games and puzzles! Dad also gave me the Coca-Cola dart board, and the tennis rackets are my parents' old ones as well. (I have a couple more hanging elsewhere...)

I also have collected some of the red and white enamelware you see on the bottom - the coffee pot was my mom's parents that they used when they went camping! :) I didn't crop the picture, because I'm rather proud of those two boxes in the background. They are full (or almost full) of books I'm getting rid of! I am really trying to purge some things around here. and now that I WORK at a library, I don't feel that I have to have a big library at home... :)

I love this area as well. It's between the futon and the recliner (on the left wall)

It's my "yarny" display! :) The spools I have picked up at various sales etc. as well as the carder. (To see what carders are and how to use them, click here) The buttons in the jar belonged to my dad's mother. And the biggest treasure here, the trunk, belonged to my Great-Great- Grandmother! I am so honored to have it! :)

I hope you have enjoyed this little tour. This has been a fun room to decorate, and of course I still have ideas of things I would like to do....  :)