Home Tour - downstairs

OK, so whilst the boys were out bike riding this morning I took a little time to tidy up (read: hide everyday mess inside cupboards) and took some photos of our forever home to share with you. It is very much a work in progress, as you'll see when you clock the photos of the current kitchen!, but we love it and hope you can see what kind of direction we're going in with the overall look/style.

When you walk into our house, you come into a little room with an open log fire. Right up until moving day we weren't sure which of two rooms to house the TV in (we only have one) and in the end we chose to mount it here on the chimney breast. We don't watch an awful lot of TV in our family so this room is mainly used by the boys after their bathtime and by us in the evenings. It's small and snug and cosy...I love it.

Off the TV room is a sun-room/conservatory add-on room. It is like a SAUNA when the weather is nice and I love to fling those doors open and let the boys wander in/out as they please. The grey chair was a TKMaxx impulse purchase which was originally bought for next to our bed, isn't it funny how adamant you can be about something and then how quickly you can change your mind when it's in place? I think we kept it upstairs for a mere 2 weeks before bringing it down here. We then brought the chrome floor lamp to go with it and we love it. This is the kind of mix we're after, modern meets country cottage. I'm not entirely sure we're going to win any interior design awards!! The unit on the right temporarily houses my printer, the baskets hold our flipflops for running out the door into the garden and the boys' rucksacks. I try not to open the two drawers in the unit for fear of what they boys have dumped in there...one should hold the big blankies for movie nights, the other is probably filled with crap?!

 Turn left from the sun-room and you walk into our dining room. This is where we put our fab new bench, hung the family montage wall of photos and bought a new white ceramic light fitting. My PC is also hiding in the alcove next to the fireplace!

Off the dining room is my favourite room of all, the boys' playroom. This is what we were so desperately missing in the old house, and whilst it is slightly shameful how fast we have filled it, I adore it so much. Everything has a home, everything can be accessed by Toddler independently and it is so easy to tidy up (each bin has a massive photo on to make it super easy) This room was the other option for our TV room, a proper grown-up lounge with fancy wallpaper and beautiful fireplace...?? Maybe in a few years when their belongings have migrated upstairs?

The kitchen is next, and if you read my post yesterday on the vision we have for this space, you will see immediately why this makes me twitch! The broken wall oven, the random layout, the ridiculous electric hob...GAH I can't type any more about it!!!

You've all seen the utility before. Ahh the shelves. In fact, this photo is making me cross. See how fast we've filled the newly empty worktop?? As soon as I've finished typing this I am off to move all that stuff again. FFS...

We have our main bathroom downstairs, which I thought would be weird when we first looked round but was prepared to compromise about. Actually, it works fine! Go figure...

At right at the very back of the house there is another sun-room/conservatory add-on room that we use as office storage and a boot room. Who knew a family of 4 could own quite so many coats?

And that's it. A small insight into my world! I shall attempt to photograph upstairs when it looks tidy enough, but let's face it, I live with 3 boys and a dog... you may be waiting some time!!