Three of My Favorite Things: Around the House

We are just a few weeks away from our official 1 year anniversary of being in our new house and it’s been a struggle to get everything sorted.  The whole having-a-baby-in-the-middle thing certainly hasn’t helped but I finally feel like we’re actually settled in (aside from the really expensive gaping hole in our backyard that is still not a usable swimming pool)

(and the massive amount of baby clothes that I’m still sorting through as I sort out my feelings about being done with babies)

But really, I’m in love with our new home and we are all a lot happier and get along better in this house than we did in our old one so I thought I’d share a few of my favorite things in our new house.

Three of my favorite things in our new house:

Our “Library”

We aren’t formal people and while we do have a “formal” dining room (AKA the room with the big table that’s always covered with crap), we weren’t sure what to do with the space that is shared with that formal dining room that is also right next to the front door. Being busy people with 4 kids, keeping any space clean is a challenge so I decided to make this space our school room and also put our bookshelves and display cabinet with all of our traveling treasures in there and I actually really love the space (aside from the constant Lego explosion!)

Our “Coffee Bar”

When hubby’s grandparents passed away and his parents sold their house, we inherited this beautiful buffet.  Unfortunately we didn’t have a place for it at our old house but knew instantly where we would put it in this house.  We had a custom glass top made and now use it as our coffee bar (yes, we have three coffee makers…plus a stove top espresso maker and a french press).  I use the cupboards for holding cups and my tea chest and the drawers for all the excess coffee and tea paraphernalia like spoons, coffee pods, tea infusers and milk frothers.

Flying Planes

I, unfortunately, haven’t gotten around to do a lot of decorating though it’s one of my short-term goals for the girls’ rooms but we did get these pictures hung up in Doodle’s room a few months back.  Hubby has a small airplane obsession so we chose that theme for Doodle’s room.  My grandparents were avid world travelers (which is where I probably got the travel bug from!) and these were prints my grandfather earned as a United frequent flyer.  Originally we framed them and had them hanging in the powder room of our first Florida house (where we lived when Honeybun was born, before we moved to Dublin) but I like them so much better “flying” above Doodle’s bed!

It really is the little personal touches that make a house a home and I love looking around and seeing not only our family memories but all the history of our extended families surrounding us, even though many of them are no longer with us.

What makes your favorite things in your home special to you?