Show us where you live Friday - living room edition

Kelly's Korner has started a fun virtual homes tour on Fridays. I'm joining in the fun a week late (last week they shared their kitchens), so maybe I'll add my kitchen another time. This week, Kelly and hundreds of other bloggers, will be showcasing their living rooms. I will not be linking to her blog, as I prefer to keep a lower blog profile and not have thousands of people checking us out every week. But you, my friends, are cordially invited to check out our home.

I am a midwestern girl; however, I did live in Orlando from age 21-27. I loved the beach, warm weather and my friends, but I missed a midwestern style home, changing seasons and lush landscaping. Enough with palm trees and sand already! So, when Bryan and I were engaged and house shopping, I was really ready to put down roots and settle into life in the midwest and the kind of home I had longed for.

Welcome... This is a home where shoes are worn on the carpet, food is sometimes eaten in the living room and no one has ever even heard of an indoor voice, let alone uses one. Make yourself at home... earplugs can be found in the garage.

We bought this bench at a quaint shop in St. Louis shortly after moving in. Little did we know that it would make excellent toy storage! These are the only toys left on the main floor of the house - YEAH!

Our house is 20 years old. We have updated with a lot of paint, new carpet, tile floors in the bathrooms, a new tile backsplash and sliding glass door in the kitchen, tons of landscaping, a playroom addition upstairs, and most recently a new roof. We'd like to remove the popcorn ceilings, but that seems like a huge and messy undertaking! The tile in the entryway could stand to be replaced too. And I want to do something with the bathrooms, but don't know where to begin. We would also like to update the kitchen cabinets. We're thinking about antiquing them, but are a little hesitant to take paint to oak. If someone had painted them before us (like our bathroom cabinets) we would not hesitate!

It is not a huge house, but it is perfectly suited for our family.

This is the view from near the dining room.

View from near the kitchen.

View from the couch... The fireplace was all white for the first six years we lived here. Just last year we decided to paint the dining room this brown color (below the chair rail - the color that you see on the fireplace) and paint the living room turquoise (under the chair rail). As we were painting, Bryan wondered aloud what the fireplace would look like painted brown. We figured we'd give it a shot and are very happy we did. Before, the fireplace was virtually unnoticeable.

People always ask about the trio of paintings above the fireplace. I painted them (costing less than $5). I am no artist, but I am thrifty. The sconces on the wall also cost $5 - a fun garage sale find.

The dining room (left) and kitchen (right) can be seen from the living room.

This is another shot from the dining room.

Here is where we compute.

Bryan gave these to me as a gift when we were house hunting. They have been on display ever since. I still love them.

I found this at a garage sale today for $4. I don't have anywhere to display it in the living or dining room, so I might put it up in our bedroom.

Thanks for stopping by. I would love to see your home too, so please let me know if you decide to get in on the fun.... you don't have to link to Kelly's Korner.