Living On Park Place: Some Updates

Sheesh...it's been awhile since I've updated this sucker. A long while. Well, let's see what's been going on on Park Place since our last post:

Our house had its first semi-long term house guests. And they were absolutely adorable. We fostered kittens for 2 weeks for our local animal shelter, and having absolutely no furniture in our formal living room made it especially easy--we just blocked off that room and let 'em loose! I think I'm discovering that my "maternal instincts" are much stronger for animals than they are for humans. Kittens = gotta have em; Babies = not so much.
We got a dining room table! We're so stoked about it. We think it has the perfect balance between masculine and feminine, and it is real wood. None of that particle board junk. Also, we hit a grand opening sale and scored 20% off, and you know how we love a good deal. If you're looking for wood furniture in Hampton Roads, go to GoodWood! Seriously, it rocks.

Then the search was on for a rug. After scouring the internet, Target, all our favorite discount stores, MANY furniture stores, etc. we ended up settling on one from Lowes. It had a great bang for buck and just perfectly fit in our dining room. (Most of the ones online and at furniture stores were around $400-$500, and this one was under $300). Now we're looking to paint the walls...maybe something like this? We're also considering adding wainscoating like this or this. I definitely want to add floor length cream-colored curtains like these, and I'd also like to work on a buffet unit with shelving for wine glasses like this. Oh, and, the chandelier will likely come down and be replaced by something more modern.
While we were at GoodWood, we also bought a coffee bar! It's unstained, so we need to work on it a bit. I have a great vision for this area of our kitchen. I'm thinking something like this or this. For now, it looks like this, and I've already loved using it daily as well as having a convenient place for friends to make coffee while they're over. More on this project later.

We FINALLY finished our half bathroom downstairs. At least for now. We think it turned out pretty great, especially for first-time DIY'ers. Our light fixtures and faucet came from Lowes, our towel rod and TP holder came from Costco, the shelf we had from our apartment, and the mirror came from Ross (only $39!). Eventually, I'm thinking of decorating in here with a mixture of silver, black, and gold, since the ceiling is painted gold. Maybe with accents like these?

We bought a TV table (also from GoodWood) for our upstairs bonus room so that my grandfather's coffee table can actually start being a coffee table, and stop doubling as an entertainment center. I also added fun curtains from HomeGoods to my teal-colored sheers.We decided to move the TV from the living room to this room, and so far, we are loving it. Among other things, it gives us a reason to actually use this room!

I (finally) have a vision of where I'd like to go with our family room. Given its slightly awkward, narrow layout, it's been a challenge to think through how furniture would best fit in here. I'm pretty settled on getting a new loveseat and two fabric chairs and arranging them something like this, this, or this. I'd also like to get a fun area rug to unify the pieces. I ~~styled~~ attempted to style our shelves in our built-ins, but they still need work. There are too many colors and not enough unifying pieces. It's a work in progress. We also need a great piece of art for the mantle, now that we've decided not to mount our TV there.
We hung our diplomas and some art in our office. I think the skyline is the perfect mix of rustic and masculine for this room. Eventually, that incredibly comfortable recliner will likely be replaced with something more stylish, but for now, I love its snuggliness. Yes, snuggliness.