Guest Post - Stephenie from Decorating Addiction

I want to welcome Stephenie from Decorating Addiction as a guest blogger today.  I've known Stephenie for over a year now and in that time she's hatched a baby and done lots of decorating.   You will definitely want to check out her blog after you see read about the transformation she and her husband have done on their home.  And if you want to read a wonderful heart-warming stories you should read this post on Stephenie's blog about the benefit concert that her ten year old daughter organized and performed in.  It will bring tears to your eyes.  Thanks Stephenie!

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I am honored to be among the many talented and creative bloggers who are guest posting for Grace while she is away. It's a real privilege to be able to share with you a bit about my home.

My husband Jason and I bought our house about five years ago. It was our first home.  When we first walked in, Jason wanted to exit immediately, but I had vision and saw past the rainbow colored walls.  The previous owners had literally painted every single wall a different primary color.  Don't believe me?

Take a look (and please forgive the poor photo quality . . . I didn't have a digital camera at the time because it was packed in a box somewhere).

My poor husband didn't even own a power tool, but I somehow convinced him that we could fix up this little Cape Cod and make it our home.

Thankfully, he listened because here we are five years later and my house is totally transformed. 

That same room above now looks like this:

This is our sitting room and it is my favorite room in my house.   You can see our dog Maggie loves this room too! She likes to sit up on the couch and take long afternoon naps or watch anxiously for Jason to come home.

I love this room because it is peaceful and serene. There are no electronics in this room so it's a place where I can sit and read a book or knit.  I love the light colors and the antiques we've collected along the way to decorate.  

I also love the picture frame that hangs above our couch in that room.  When we first bought the house, Jason wanted to throw out the old windows and I insisted we keep them because I wanted to turn them into picture frames.  We compromised and some were kept while others were thrown away.  Jason  surprised me one Valentine's day by painting this window and putting a bunch of our black and white wedding photos in to create a picture frame.

Another thing I love about this room is that Jason took the nasty staircase and turned it into exactly what I wanted.  He cut the wall and put in spindles to create a more open look.



Yes, the man who never owned a power tool learned how to install boxed mouldings, crown moulding, tiled floor, wood floor and a whole host of other things he never dreamed he'd be able to do.

When we first bought our house it was in such disarray, we all lived in one bedroom until Jason was able to get our bedrooms in livable condition.  We didn't even let our parents into our house to see it . . . it was THAT disgusting.  You can read all about the transformation here if you're interested.

The house was actually an estate so not only did we purchase the home with all of its bizarre colors and smelly carpets, but we also got a whole life's worth of belongings to boot.  The woman who had owned the house was not wealthy and didn't have much worth anything, but it made me really sad that her children had gone through and taken what they wanted before we bought the house and had left so many sentimental items.  It was disheartening to me to see boxes of letters, journals and poetry left behind.

We didn't know what to do with all of the furniture and knick knacks so we hauled the futons, cigar boxes and other items out onto the lawn and had a big ol' lawn sale the first weekend we moved in.  We made over $1200 in one day. 

We did keep plenty of stuff, including this fireman certificate, which is probably the oldest thing we have in our house. It's dated 1890. 

It was hanging in our spare bedroom, but since we recently turned that into our baby's room, we haven't found a new home for it yet.

I love that bit of history tucked inside this house.

Finally, my two favorite projects that I've done without my husband's help would have to be two things I've made for my children.  The first would be Imani's quilt. I love it because I am NOT a seamstress and had no idea what I was doing.  I gave it to her for Christmas and she was thrilled.  I love that I made something I didn't think I could and that she will have it forever as a good memory.

The second thing I love that I've made is the chandelier that hangs above my new baby Noah's changing table.  It was inspired by a Pottery Barn nursery chandelier and with the help of Imani, we made our own version for Noah's room.

I love the design, but what I REALLY love about this chandelier is how much Noah loves it.  Take a look:

Thanks for coming along on a little journey through my house. I'd love to have you stop on over and find out more about me, my family and our addiction to our home! Visit us at Decorating Addiction.