Home Tour Challenge- The Den

This is the room in the house we actually "live" in the most. When we first moved into this house, we came from a small apartment where there was one open-plan room including the dining, living, and kitchen. Somehow we brought that feeling into our den and still don't branch out much lol.

Here it is when we bought it:


And here it is now split into what we call the kids side:

and the adult side:



What I love: The comfort. I'm not afraid of anything being ruined with a spill. I don't get angry if the kids put their feet on the arm rests. Things are casual in here, and since it is the furthest room from the front door, and guests can't see it unless invited back, I am really lax in it's appearance. I don't mind if blocks are piled in towers and left for awhile, or if paper art projects lay in piles on the floor. In here, I just don't sweat it. I also love my daughters minpin Wednesday who is always a staple in this room and usually in my lap as shown. :)



What I hate: It's thrown together appearance. The paint job is lame. I could do so much more with that window nook. The furniture is all hand me downs from the rest of the house. But I know if it were more put together I wouldn't enjoy it as much right now when the kids are small. Someday I will have it nice, but for now I just let it be. If I had to pick one thing to hate though, it would be that the floor slopes pretty drastically. It was a garage at one point, long before we bought it and the flooring was carpeted right on top of the concrete. Every time I move the couch to sweep, there are about 10 bouncy balls/marbles/etc.. collected under that window lol

What I want: Sometimes I visualize a bench seat in the window area. Maybe a bar replacing the kids area. A pretty sectional with a chaise of course and since the room is long and narrow, the walls would be perfect for displaying a gallery of art work. That is far in the future though. I have been thinking of painting the walls in a high energy color like orange but I probably won't do it.

What I need: A new tv stand. The TV is actually on an old dresser (plastic and particle board) we got for free from a friend of my MIL's and the bottom drawer always sticks. It is holding more toys than you can imagine and the bottom is falling out. I want something more simple and sleek, but really I love the drawers. It looks like it is 3 small drawers across, but really it is one short and one longer side that is perfect for wrapping paper, but it's just slowly falling apart.


Something old: I'm going to say this Jack in the Box type toy is the oldest thing in the room. It's circa 1980 or so and I found it at a garage sale in perfect condition. I thought it was adorable and Cutecumber loves it. (As do the other two, but they probably wouldn't fess up to it lol)



Something new: The recliner is new to the room although it is a hand-me-down from my FIL. Don't tell the Honey, but it is sort of eerie looking over and seeing him falling asleep in it just like I've seen his dad do a million times. I start realizing that we do become our parents and I wonder if my mom and his dad would have made a good couple. lol (Mom, don't even think about it! That would make Honey and I siblings. I know we live in the south but remember your roots in California! lol)

Good bargain: What's not? Almost all the furniture was free. I'd say that is a pretty good deal.

Most expensive: TV hands down. The Honey had a lot of influence on that purchase. I can't say I regret it though. We all enjoy watching movies together as a family. It paid for itself the first time Honey made popcorn, Ms Thang made up fake movie tickets that we had to use to get in at the door (she rips them in half too!) The scientist leading us to our seats as the lights are slowly turned down by my daughter (we have a dimmer so it works out great) and not a single person complains if we paused a minute to put the baby down in the crib.



Unexpected: Hmm, I guess having the entertainment center adorned with toys on each pull is not that typical. I think it was actually The Scientists idea and when I noticed it encouraged Cutecumber to crawl and pull up, I like it. Another unexpected thing is probably the way we display cards on the mini blinds. In the photo you can see two b-day cards for the girls. I put holiday cards up this way as well.

Most meaningful: My kids art work. I think my Honey and I are creative and it's an outlet we both enjoy and use in our every day lives. I love to see that in the kids. (the baby in the lower left is actually a picture that came inside a frame. My oldest gave it a Captain Jack Sparrow make-over including the random beaded hair and eye liner lol)



We also have easels that my oldest has really had fun with ,painting the few pieces you see on canvas. Another reason this room is so great, the flooring in here is left over industrial tile that my Honey had put in his work space. They may be a little unsightly, but paint comes right off :)

Where is the bird? I have a couple in here. One is paper mache that you can see hanging just below the kids art board. The other, I actually hand painted on the wall as a beginning to a mural that I never finished. Story of my life lol. Here it is and beneath it is the concept I was going for. Kind of one animal or nature scene flowing to the next. Of course I started with a bird, but lost interest.



Worth mentioning: I have family photos hanging on the wall above my larger sofa and would like to put more in here since it really is the "family" room. I don't have many because although I take quite a few with my digital camera, I am horrible about going and getting professional pics done, and even worse about having my pictures printed. I need to work on that. I actually have three multi-photo frames (one for each kiddo) that I have been meaning to fill and hang in the hallway. Maybe I'll make that a goal and post a hallway tour challenge next time.

Thanks for checking out my den!