Clean Slate

I have a confession to make.  I enjoy putting away the Christmas decor even more than I enjoy putting it up.  It has taken me a long time to realize this!  Before decorating for Christmas each year, I pack away much of our regular decor clutter because I know if I don't, Christmas stuff will overwhelm us quickly.  So when we finally pack away all of our Christmas things into our seemingly endless assortment of red and green bins and haul them all into our attic (while my kids complain the entire time about this task), I look around our empty house and take a breath.  A deep breath.  I enjoy the emptiness for a day.  And then I get to start fresh with a clean slate to turn our house back into a home.

This corner of our living room used to have a console table repurposed as a  desk.  I decided to re-repurpose it back to a console table.  Which is what I love about re-purposing furniture in the first place.  You can always change it back when you feel like a change.  I have been loving this chair that we bought this past fall at Ikea in this corner.  It is so comfortable and my favorite reading spot.

The console table is back behind the sofa.

In an effort to keep things real in 2015 (one of my main goals for the blog this year), this is what is happening on the other side of the sofa.  

This sofa is incredibly comfortable.  But it also looks terribly sloppy most of the time.  When I photograph this room, I spend at least 10 minutes fixing the cushions so it looks presentable.  I didn't want to wake Keeper (our dogs are crazy spoiled), so I thought it was a good opportunity to show you what it would look like if you, say,  stopped by for a cup of coffee.  Also, that pouf from Target last year has somehow lost all of its "pouf"-ness.  It probably has something to do with my 3 boys.  So I need to brave the frigid temperatures one day soon to get some more bean bag filling for it.  

Billy gave me an iron dinner bell for Christmas, which was pretty much my favorite gift this year.  He  learned long ago that I wasn't a typical jewelry type of girl.  Things for our house are what really make me happy.  He found the pig dinner bell at Pottery Barn.  And now I can just ring the bell to call all of my guys to dinner, instead of yelling repeatedly.  Perfect!

My mom gave me a new salt box from Williams Sonoma.  She had given me one a couple of years ago and I adored it.  Sadly, it broke during our range hood mantel project and I just couldn't bring myself to spend the money to replace it.  So she surprised me by replacing it for me this year (and she also gave me a new professional blow dryer which has been awesome).  The salt box is currently up on the mantel, but it is meant to be hung on a wall near the stove.  I haven't figured out where I want to hang it yet, but I am also considering leaving it up there where it is safe. 

I still have lots to do in the rest of the house, but I am happily enjoying our "newly" decorated kitchen/living room.