I've joined the madness . . .

If you somehow have not stumbled upon or read Kelly's Korner, then your head must be under a blogging rock! Just kidding! Now, all of you regular readers (whoever you may be . . .) already know that I am a fan of Kelly and sweet baby Harper, so I'm joining the bandwagon and joining the living room tour this week. I did the nursery tour back in the fall.

Take a peek at our living room . . .

This is the view to your left if you were to walk in the front door. The recliner was added last fall (and my husband was very excited!) This view looks a little unbalanced with the hutch on the left, but if you are in the room, there are three "anchors" (big pieces) in a "triangle"that seem to balance it out. Promise. I think.

My father-in-law found this hutch on the side of the road YEARS ago (I think) and refinished it and had it in his office at his school. When Chad and I got married, he was retiring from being a principal and let us have it. I LOVE it!

Here's the view of our front door. I thought about closing the entertainment center doors to take the picture, but that wouldn't be very realistic because they are ALWAYS open! :) I snagged this chair at a local furniture consignment store. I really think it was brand new. It was exactly what I was looking for (but I wasn't looking when I went to the store. . .) So great when things like that happen.

My father-in-law bought this old sewing machine at an estate sale and refinished it for me and gave it to me as a "love" present. I DO LOVE it! I like to sew and at the Children's Museum that I grew up going to, I have vivid memories of playing with a machine just like this one. At our old house, I had the sewing machine up with picture frames on the table part, but it just doesn't fit in this house opened.

This is actually a printer's tray that my father-in-law rescued from a garage sale and gave to me. Have I mentioned that I have a GREAT father-in-law?? I'm lucky! Anyways, this is meaningful because my grandfather worked at a printing company from the time he started working until he retired. My father sold printing at the same printing company for twenty years, right before I was born until I was in college. I remember visiting them at work and getting to go back into the plant to see my grandfather. The smell of ink when I opened the door to the company and then that same smell of ink when my grandfather would open the basement door and come in from a long day of work is forever imprinted in my memory. Fond memories. These print type letters are actually from that company. My grandfather probably worked with these very letters! I made some meaningful groupings - but as my dad has pointed out - they're not correct. (They would be correct if they were mirror images. . .) (Oh, our last name starts with H)

When you come in our front door, you see this wall. I loathe our couch and love seat, but with two young children, I see no need to replace them any time soon. They are well loved!!

This shelf might be one of my favorite things in the whole house. I bought it at the flea market with birthday money two years ago. LOVE IT.

Here's a view of it at Christmas. . .
. . . and a side view so you can get a real "feel" for it! :)

And that's it! Our living room in a nutshell! :) Now go tour some living rooms!