. . . Family Room Tour . . .

I don't think I've ever done a room tour on my blog but our family room is my favorite room in the house so I thought I'd share!  I wanted it to be very colorful because I knew it would be where we spent most of our time and when I think of color I think of fun!  We never use our living room so this is the central gathering spot where we all spend our time.  The walls haven't changed color in a long time but we've recently updated the carpet and furniture and some of the decor.  I'm always changing something or I get bored.

I love that this room is so open and bright with the morning light coming in the windows!  

 

The artwork on the walls is one of my favorite things and came from Target years ago.

 This bowling pin was a thrift store find that I'm obsessed with.  I passed it up a couple times thinking it was probably a silly purchase but couldn't get it out of my head.  I went back to the shop a third time and it was still there so I figured it must be a sign that it was meant to be mine!  My dad saw it and just loved it so I got one for him for Father's Day and he couldn't be happier!

When we moved into our house this 2 story family room really intimidated me because I had no idea how to fill the wall space without spending a fortune on huge artwork.  That was before Pinterest became popular so it was a challenge I had to work on without the help of my favorite addiction.  How did we survive without Pinterest?  I found a couple cool plates and picked them up and then when we finished painting the idea came to me and I started hitting the clearance sales, garage sales and even gathering a few from my grandmother's basement.  I had these shelves from when I was a kid and just painted them to coordinate with the room and then my mom and I spent hours laying out the design and hanging the plates.  It was a great way to decorate this big wall on a budget but still bring in a lot of color.  These plates have received many compliments over the years and still remain something I love about this room.

 

There is something I just love about blue and yellow so it only seems right that I would pick out blue furniture.  This is from La-Z-Boy and we have been very pleased with it and how well it cleans up.  The colorful throw pillows were made by my mom and the quilt was made by my grandmother.

 This chest needs painted again but this was a curbside find which my son and husband are appalled by but we sure have gotten serious use out of it.  Inside we keep tons of video games and game accessories so it isn't right out in the open.  The pepsi crate I picked up at a flea market after begging the man to sell it to me.  He was using it as a display but I loved it and wasn't taking no for an answer so finally I wore him down.  I have made it into a charging station of sorts because of the open slats at the bottom.  I just run our cords up through the slats and plug in our devices.  It also serves as storage for my son's stuff.

This little table was another thrift store find.  I think I'm going to paint it but I haven't decided on what color so for now it is staying white.  

 

The window treatments were made by my grandmother and I.  I can't get enough of circles so when I saw that fabric I knew it would be perfect for this colorful room.

Don't mind the outlet in this photo other than to know it's a USB outlet we recently put in several of the rooms of our house and we are completely obsessed with them!  Easy to do and they work great for just plugging in your devices and still have 2 outlets free.

To add some more pops of color I painted blocks of color on two of the walls as you can see here.  Clearly I should have straightened up those candles that are in the stars.  Just pretend you didn't notice how crooked they are.

 

My husband works in aviation so when my mom found these airplane book ends she immediately bought them for him.  They don't have any books in them now but they go well with the transportation artwork above the fireplace.

This is my favorite little corner.  I curl up in the corner of the loveseat and watch tv or read and everyone knows that is mom's spot.  Maggie thought she needed in the picture too and who am I to say no to her?

These lamps were a recent find at Target.  I had been wanting to brighten up the lamps in this room but just hadn't found the right look so when I was cruising Target I found these and knew they were perfect.  It took 4 Target stores to finally get both of them but it was worth the running around trying to find them.

This small wall is at the bottom of our steps and divides up the kitchen and dining room from the family room.  I picked up the plates at Target, the Love artwork from Christmas Tree Shop and the Flower artwork from Hobby Lobby.

 

This ottoman opens up for storage and we keep extra pillows and blankets in it for sleepovers my son has.  It also serves as Charley's favorite spot to hang out when we are in here.

These lanterns are from a local gift shop and have my favorite flameless candle in them...Luminara.  They look so incredibly real!  If you haven't seen them or tried them you should.

 

The wooden crate in the corner is from La-Z-Boy and stores blankets in it.  The candle holders are from a flea market and I painted them white to make them pop.

Thanks for stopping by!  Now I'm off to curl up in my favorite spot to read a book on this rainy day.

Picture Perfect School Year Teacher Gift

Another school year is done and I feel like we just got started.  We have had another great year with great teachers but I am ready for a break from homework and projects and early mornings.  

Every time I need a teacher gift I try to come up with something new and unique but that isn't always easy to do.  This year was our first year in middle school and we had a great experience considering the massive amounts of anxiety that the school year was started with.  That being said this tag really sums up how we feel about both the school year and the wonderful group of teachers we had--it truly was a "Picture Perfect" year!

Everyone loves a movie night and if they don't then someone they know will so this is a gift that will no doubt get used and it is very easy to put together!

 I gathered up some Movie Theater candy in the dollar section and of course a movie night wouldn't be complete without some popcorn.  I had planned on using popcorn buckets but since my son is way too cool to have mom walk in with him to help carry everything I decided to just bag everything up.  We have 7 teachers so there was no way he would carry a big box filled with teacher gifts.  He is at the age where he doesn't want any attention drawn to him.  As it turns out it worked out really well just bagging the treats in a clear cello bag.

 I created a simple tag and printed those out and used my corner rounder to round the corners and then punched a hole in each corner so they could be tied to the bag.

  Since we have 7 teachers I decided to just do 1 movie code for each teacher.  When you go to www.redbox.com/gifts you can purchase a group of codes and give them to one person or divide them up.  I chose to divide them up.  I saved the image of the gift card on the Redbox website and printed that on the front of a card and then printed the movie code on the inside of the folded card so they will be able to hang onto it easily.

**That is not a valid code in the photo above.

 As you can see I just folded the card so they only see the Redbox image through the bag but then when they open it they will have the code and it's a business card size so it can be put in their wallet until they are ready to use it and hopefully it won't get lost.  These movie codes can be redeemed at a kiosk or online and they don't expire.

 Bag everything up and tie up the bag with a little ribbon or twine and attach your tag.  

 Movie Night in a bag!  A great gift for the whole family.