Dining Room turned Media/Reading Room

I can hardly believe it's been almost a year since I last blogged. But it's a busy life, and a good one at that.... so I have no regrets about being away.

About our home-making progress, for most of the fall/winter, I was burnt out on projects, so it wasn't until this Spring that I started getting into home-decor mode. What probably has given me a little push is that I am pregnant with our fourth child, yay! I'm in my 23-24 week and feeling fab. Tons of energy to "Nest" this place into shape. Lately, my theme for our home has been "Less is More". Trying my best to focus on what really matters for our family, getting organized, and only organizing that which we love or need.... nothing more, nothing less.

Other rooms are in progress upstairs, but for now, I will share what I have done with our front room. It was originally designed to be a dining room, but for the first year living here, it never was in use but maybe twice per year. Truly for our family it became a waste of space. I decided to make it our media room after my husband and I bought our first flat screen tv during Black Friday sales last year. We could have mounted it in our family great room, but the only place to put it was above our fireplace on the mantle, and that's not my cup of tea...

This is what our "Dining room" looked like for the first year or so...

Before photos

Here are the photos of the current media/reading room. Ideally, I would like to have a vintage piece of furniture as our media cabinet underneath the television, but I haven't found something that I like, that's affordable, and the right height. We do love the room though, it has turned out cozy. After the kids have been tucked into bed, this is where we spend our evenings: reading, looking at HGTV magazines,  watching rugby, a movie, or enjoying our favorite show, House Hunters International.


After photos

All the paint choices have come from Lowe's.

Downstairs ceiling, *Hot Stone.

Media room walls, White-no color added.

window pop-out wall, *Green Goddess.

The art around the tv is something I came up with in honor of my husband's profession. He's an Orthopedic Surgeon, and in the past he mentioned having x-rays as art incorporated into our home. I remembered his request and made them myself.... not something you see on average, and if I did, I'm sure it's price tag wouldn't fit my "Love of the Thrift" mind-set. I think it cost around $30-40 to make all of the x-ray art.

Most people think that this "Art" is strange, especially women, but that's ok, my hubby loves them, and that's all that matters :)

Thanks for checking out our room.... Have a fabulous weekend!