Style House December-Keeping It Cozy

Hello there!  I'm so thrilled to be here at City Farmhouse today... I love Jen's home, style and her sweet, welcoming personality.  I'm happy to have her as a blogging friend (smile). 

 

 My name is Andrea and I write the blog Keeping It Cozy.  My husband and I live in a tiny southern town with our two precious girls, ages 4 (and a half, as she so often reminds me) and 1.  I would probably describe my style as simple farmhouse.  My desire is always to have a home that is warm, welcoming and comfortable, yet pretty too.  

 Two years ago my husband and I sold our house in the city and bought an 80 year old farmhouse.  Our home is constantly a work in progress... we never complete a project without having another one started.  But I love our simple little farmhouse and although I enjoy working on it, I do look forward to the day when I can spend more time decorating instead of painting (smile). 

Come on in, I'll give you a little tour!  The photo above is of our front porch, which is one of my favorite things about our home.  It is very large and we spend a lot of time rocking and swinging.

Upon entering through the front door, you'll find yourself in our living room.  Our home is a foursquare design, so four of the rooms on the main level are all the same size and all connect each other. Many of the rooms in our home still contain the original wood bead board.  The bead board here has never been painted and I've really come to appreciate and love the wood in its natural state. 

My Christmas decorating is very simple.  I like to use natural elements and real greenery from our yard and love adding touches of red.

The dining room is my favorite room in our house... there are many original elements I love here, such as the built in cabinet that still has its original hardware and wavy glass.  The bead board ceiling is also original, and my husband and I spent many painful hours removing cardboard ceiling tiles and wallpaper to get it back to this state. 

 On the opposite side of the room we have our piano and on the other side (not pictured) a hutch and cabinet.  As we've remodeled I've tried to bring cohesion with the warm wood and a crisp white. 

 The kitchen is located on the back part of the house, which was originally a porch.  The ceilings in this part of the house are lower but still contain bead board. 

 Although small, I do love our kitchen.  My favorite thing in this room are the butcher block countertops, which my husband and father-in-law made with 100 year old reclaimed barn wood. The sink is original to the house.

 Because we do not have a lot of cabinet space, I have a couple freestanding cupboards.  The white cupboard is our pantry and this wood cupboard gives some additional storage and a place to set some pretty kitchen items.  When I buy furniture for our home, I try to purchase pieces that fit in well with an old country home.  Although I'm not certain, I'm suspicion these cupboards were built around the same time frame as our house. 

 The kitchen leads into the laundry room and then a bathroom. 

 Outside the laundry is our back deck.  Our girls and I spend a lot of time back here, especially during the week! 

Back in the main part of the house, we have two bedrooms.  I really hesitated in showing this picture, because I have never shown a photo of our bedroom on my blog... mainly because we have not done a thing to it!  But I love to use special, meaningful items when decorating, such as the quilt hanging that was made by my mom and artwork done by friends. 

 The last stop downstairs is my youngest daughter's room.  Again, this room is the same size as our living room, so we have room for her crib, furniture, plus a queen sized bed! 

That means we also use this room for guests and we'll let her sleep in our room for a night or two.

 We've just recently finished our upstairs remodel.  I used to refer to this landing as the dark cave... but after painting the walls, ceiling and floor it is so bright and cheerful now.  The landing is very large and we use it for an office/schoolroom. My theme while decorating here was "old schoolhouse"... I wanted a space that was comfortable for our girls and adults.  My husband built a large desk and recessed bookcases up here to maximize the space.

 There are also two bedrooms upstairs.  This room belongs to our oldest daughter.  We refinished the floors and my husband also did some built in work, like the shelves and (not pictured) a corner bench.

 We use the other bedroom upstairs as a playroom and I also have a twin bed in here. 

Thank you so much for visiting my home today and thank you, Jen, for inviting me to share on your lovely blog.  You can find more before and after photos on our remodel projects on my blog.  I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season!