Summer Home Tour

by ConcordCottage.com with Lisa Walsh Huff Kroll

I had the opportunity to share our Summer Home Tour and be featured at From My Front Porch To Yours. It’s one of my favorite Blogs and Pamela has a beautiful home, blog and so many great decorating ideas. Each Sunday she features a Home Tour so you get the opportunity to see many different decorating styles. Please go on over and check it out and say hello. Here's what I shared.

how i found my decorating style, home decor, shabby chic

We got the keys 2 1/2 years ago and it needed a lot of work, let’s just say. There wasn’t A/C and in Southern California you cannot live without it so that was the first thing we had done. We worked for 3 weeks stripping wall paper, sanding and painting before we moved in. So our home is still a continued labor of love and we continue to work on it as we go.

My Decorating style is Cottage, Shabby Chic & what I call Vintage Glam. It’s really a mix of styles and you’ll see that as you tour our home.

How did I find my style?? I am recently married and came from a home that was my daughter and I so there was lots of pink and roses, more shabby chic and was very very girly.

I wanted to create a home that my hubs would feel comfortable in and didn’t scream pink everywhere (ok it does in the kitchen and one bathroom but his man cave balances that so we’re ok….lol), yet still looks like me. So to be honest, I am still finding my style by making our home “Ours.” We like to go yard saling and thrift shopping together but to be honest he is so ok with pretty much anything I do. When I do ask if it’s ok to change something his answer is usually “fabulous.” Especially when the projects don’t involve him…lol.

I’m Lisa from Concord Cottage and here to share with you “How I found my Style.” Our home is located in Monrovia, Ca, was built in 1922 and is a Cottage Style. 3 Years ago we walked through it on an open house but it was way out of our price range. Our house hunting continued for several months, and we were thrilled when the price dropped and they accepted our offer.

Here’s our Living Room. The front door is in the center of the room so there are two sides of the room which is a little challenging at times. It leads into our Dining Room that leads into our Kitchen and Tv Room aka Man Cave.

We received a small Gallery Style frame set as a wedding gift and I found thrift store mirrors and inspirational words, did some painting and made this large Gallery Wall with our wedding pictures that included our two kids.

Just recently I changed our mantel after finding these old windows at a yard sale. I change it up a lot based on the holiday or season so here are few shots just to give you an idea. I love to decorate for holidays. Our furniture in our Living Room were the few pieces we bought new and went with neutrals because I love to change pillows and throws too.

Here is the before picture when we walked through it before we bought it. (Previous owners goodies) I apologize it was taken on my phone but you have to see it to appreciate. It was all dark wood paneling and lots of wall paper. There was carpeting and we pulled it up and refinished the original wood floors on the first floor.

We did so much sanding, caulking and painting that there were mornings I couldn’t hold my tooth brush because my hands were so sore and stiff. We chose a paint that was a taupe and after painting it looks a lil lavender which I now want to change and plan to do that this summer. I found these grey blue wing bag chairs on Craig’s List last year for $150 and LOVE them. I love to hunt for art work and accessories at Thrift Stores which can be a lot of fun.

This is one of our favorite rooms in our house. This is where we have fun dinners with family on Sundays and get together’s with friends. We love the French doors and the big wide moldings. The Dining Room Set is one of our most treasured finds. I found this on Craig’s List and we picked it up the night before we were moving. That’s a funny story but we were so thrilled to get this. It retailed for over $7000 and we got it for $1000. You can find some wonderful things on Craig’s List if you take time and look as so many times people are moving and just want to get rid of things. This set has the large table with leaves, covers, 8 chairs, the huge hutch and the buffet (you’ll see in the next picture). lots more pics on the blog.

It is very small and narrow and has this darling Kitchen Nook, which we love and looks out to our big Oak Tree. The Chandelier was in my brother and sister in law’s house when they bought it and they hated it. When he asked me if I wanted it I jumped up and down!! YES I DO!! I just love it. Lots more pics and our narrow galley kitchen on the blog.

Here's the before picture.

The Kitchen leads right into our tv room or my hubs Man Cave – Pittsburgh Steelers themed Tv Room.

I hope you’re not in shock by the lovely bright gold color. So if you know my husband you would know that he is a DIE HARD Pittsburgh Steelers Fan. He is from there and is such a big fan. I mean he has that logo tattooed on his arm. So when we first moved we painted this room taupe and just had a lot of his accessories. He is such a trooper and helps me with my ideas and constant fixing or changing things so I thought, let’s just go for it. lots more pictures on the blog.

Next to the Tv Room and Dining room is our Animal Print Bathroom. We had to renovate the upstairs bathroom so for this one all we could do was paint.

We painted the cabinets a chocolate brown to update them. I gave this piano bench a make over and used an animal print skirt to cover the seat.

I found the drapes for $2 and added some more of that animal print from the skirt to the border on the hemline and on the towels. My friend and I had a yard sale and we traded some items so I got these two pretty pictures and she got two of my lamps.

Off the Steelers Room is the Laundry Room. It is a very, very, very small room and I gave it a vintage theme makeover. On the left are cabinets that hang and below is an area that houses dog stuff, leashes, extra laundry soap, extra bags and various other goodies so I made this Ticking Striped Ruffled Drape to hide all that. On the cabinets I added some vintage looking keys and crystal knobs. I found the Vintage Wash Board at a Yard Sale for $1 and made the banner flags with burlap and chalkboard paper that says Wash, Fold & Repeat.

Ok let’s head upstairs. Here is my daughter’s Purple and Black Teen Room.

She wanted purple and we let her pick the color. We found fun black and purple bedding and pillows. Her room has loads of windows and a big bench seat too. I want to make a cushion for that too. The wall sconces were already here and I added the shades and covered them with black fabric and beads.

We found this black n white Zebra Futon at Living Spaces and it is great when she has sleep overs or we have extra company.

There are a lot more pictures of our Pink Powder Room and the Master Bedroom too but there's no more room on this post so please come on over to read more about our 93 year old home and How I found my Style.

I think a few tips for creating a beautiful home are surround yourself with things you love and be authentic and stay true to your own style. I love Pink Roses and Chandeliers but that may not be yours or everyone else’s taste or what they’re showing in all the magazines and that’s ok. It’s me. Sometimes I put pressure on myself or feel bugged that my home is not all done, all painted and beautifully decorated with the finest…….. and then I remember, ” oh yeah it’s like life, a journey” and it might be messy, and sloppy and ugly at times and neat and tidy at other times ……but that’s kinda how life is too right?. When I walk around my home I love looking at something and remembering “Oh I bought this on that trip, or I made this and sweated that day for 3 hours or 3 days, or I received that from that special friend.” All of that can’t happen in a day or a weekend, right? If you are handy and can make things or even replicate pieces you love for less that’s a wonderful thing. If you can get out on the weekends and hit some yard sales or thrift stores it is amazing what you can find for dollars. Craig’s list is also a great resource for finding things for less and you can negotiate through email too. We have had so many wonderful experiences and most people are nice and even give you extra goodies too, like our rug above. My husband and I make it work for us and try to balance home projects and relaxing. Some times we’ll take a drive, plan a new restaurant or dive he wants to try, hit a couple thrift stores, maybe a yard sale or two and just make a day of it. It get’s us out of our home, we get see another city and enjoy each other’s company and the day. I think one of the biggest things I’ve learned or noticed is the projects I was most hesitant to try, or make because I was afraid it would turn out bad, or mess it up, are usually the projects I Love and feel the best about. Don’t get me wrong there have been some craft fails along the way, and we laugh about it, or recipe fails (ask my family) but we’ll never know unless we try right? Style onaBudget. Have a great day and thanks for stopping by, Lisa