a family room tour

June 19, 2013


family roomfamily roomfamily roomfamily roomfamily roomfamily roomfamily roomfamily roomfamily roomfamily roomI don’t ever really get to share a proper house tour because I feel like we’re always working on something, so nothing ever feels complete enough to share. Downstairs feels mostly done, but one of the rooms still needs proper curtains, the kitchen faucet and sink need to be changed, and we still never brought our fridge back in from the garage from when we changed out our floors a year ago! You see snippets here and there from what I put up, and can probably pretty much gather the feel of the room from that, but here’s an official sharing of what our family space looks like.

It’s actually a pretty big room with the kitchen attached (it’s to the right obviously) and we spend a lot of time in this room! I’m not sure how your style has changed through the years, but I’m a pretty consistent person. I have had those vintage sap buckets up for 6 years (I’m considering a change but I can’t figure out what) and the vintage, French garden table has been set up like that for 7 years! It’s been the same set up with the iron basket and plant on top, along with our hi-fi speaker at our old place! Once I like something, I stick with it. Plus, since I was in college, I have had a specific article saved of what my dream house would look like and I’ve pretty much used that as a guideline and inspiration (this home had sap buckets on the wall and I loved it so much, I collected and collected until I had enough to do it in my own home!).

I don’t really follow any particular rules, but I pretty much just go with what I like. Metal pieces are my favorite and we love things with a lot of patina. I love white as a base, but we also like a whole lot of color. Oh and pink! I’ve realized I have a thing for pink, especially pink chairs. We used to have an old Ikea couch, but chesterfields have always been my fave, so when I finally found one on Craigslist about a year ago, I snatched it up. If I ever found a grey one for a good deal, I’d buy that and sell this one, but other than that, this piece will be with us for awhile. I also love to use outdoor furniture inside, and I have a hard time saying no to a good midcentury modern chair, so those are littered all over the house (too many!).

The light fixtures are vintage pieces we snatched up at an antique shop in Fredericksburg, Texas almost 6 years ago and we finally had them put in last year. We walked in the shop and they were grouped together just like that, and we loved it so much (obviously) that we said we’ll take it! All of them! We had someone install them and attach a dimmer switch, and that makes having that many bulbs easier on the energy and wallet. Mostly everything in the room is vintage, except the white Modernica rocker and the anthropologie rug (scored on super sale on the day after thanksgiving!).

My biggest advice when furniture shopping, especially when you’re just starting off on your own or as newlyweds, don’t rush to buy lots of things just to fill a space right away. Ben and I lived our first year of married life only buying a couch and bed. The rest of the stuff we used were his old bachelor stuff (and some things from my old room at my parents’ house) and it worked for us. It really gave us time to figure out things we liked together (figuring out your style together takes learning!), get to know flea markets and how much we were willing to spend on pieces we loved, and it gave us time to find things that we really loved! The only slight change from our style beginnings is that we really loved color A LOT (oh and the first baby nursery we had was totally shabby chic floraly!), but we have since toned that down a little, but we still love color.

Here’s another one of my personal furniture buying philosophies… if you buy vintage, you can pretty much sell your piece (provided it’s in good condition and you didn’t pay an outrageous price) for what you bought it for, on the other hand, if you buy big store items, you can’t really sell it at the price you paid, so that is another reason I love shopping vintage. At the same time, some people get creeped out about old things and the fact that someone else owned it (and they don’t really enjoy the hunting), so if vintage isn’t for you, it isn’t for you! No harm done and to each their own.

Hope you liked the little tour! What are some of your decorating rules and tips?

see another one of our room tours here

33 comments on “a family room tour”

  • tinajo says:

    I really like it – good mix of things! 🙂

  • Megan Lane says:

    beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!!! I am absolutely in love with that rug. would love hanging out in this room!

  • Elizabeth says:

    Love your style! I have to ask though I too love vintage and old thing’s especially with a lil tough love (rust, a lil chipping of paint, etc.) How to you go about that with small kids around? I just wonder how you keep them from scratching/falling on something?

    • mycakies says:

      Good question! I get it all the time. I know at first glance it all probably looks scary, but we make sure they’re going to safe enough to have in our home with kids. My parents used to make fun of us a lot because to them we were just bringing home junk! They’ve gotten used to it now, but they still joke about making sure you have your tetanus shot at our house.

      The surfaces may look rust, but they’re pretty smooth. I’m thinking it’s that old, where use and time before has kind of smoothed things out. Also, we make sure to lead check everything. We get those small lead checkers from the hardware store and usually carry that with us when we go shopping. We make sure that all the paint is free from lead. Though things look chippy, nothing is really chipping, so a few tiny flakes may come off here and there from something, but nothing major! I’m trying hard to think of anything that might really be chipping and there is one chair upstairs that has bigger flakes come off, but a light sand and a coat of sealer usually does the job. We’ve done that with one piece before and it no longer has any flaking at all.

      It’s also pretty weird because I think maybe since the girls have grown up with all these things around them, they’ve never really destroyed anything except probably my plants! Oh how they love to pull off all the leaves! Or maybe I’m just crazy for having vintage things at eye level with them (and one day they may just throw down my ceramic deer!), but it’s never been an issue either (or at least not yet!).

      • Elizabeth says:

        haha Well that’s awesome I guess from pics it looks a lil more rustic than up close! Thanks for answering that for me! 🙂

        • mycakies says:

          You’re welcome! Yeah, it’s definitely rusty, but not pokey and sharp by all means. Trust me, if I were looking at the pics, I would be thinking the same thing! The rusty look isn’t for everyone and is probably just junky to others, but we love that it shows that it has really been loved (or forgotten in case it was just left outside).

  • Katie says:

    Your home is so light and open. It is lovely!

  • Kelsey says:

    Please give us a tutorial on hanging those plants on the wall! I’ve wanted to do that for such a long time, but with thinner apartment walls, I haven’t been sure how to.

    • mycakies says:

      We have pretty thick walls, so I just put a nail in at an angle and the sap buckets already have a hole on them for hanging, so Ii just hang it up. With thinner walls, I’ve seen my husband use some sort of plastic screw or something like that in and then put in a screw to hang.

  • What a beautiful living room! How do you manage to have so many interesting pieces, yet have a very clean and simple look? My favorite parts of your family room are the mounted plants and that amazing rug.
    That’s great advice for newlyweds not to buy like crazy. I know that I’ll be uncomfortable having empty space when I get my first house, but I know it’ll be worth it to wait and find unique, interesting pieces that really fit the aesthetic of my design ideas.

  • misha lulu says:

    what a gorgeous house!

  • Ashley says:

    I LOVE how it’s so simple with all the little pops of color. My favorite is the plants on the wall – where did you get those?

    • mycakies says:

      The sap buckets are sourced from various antique shops and I even got a couple on ebay!

  • Meghan says:

    You have a really gorgeous family room , love that carpet .

    Meghan Silva’s Blog

  • Brittan says:

    Hi Ruby!

    I love this room your. I’ve admired your decorating style for a while! I would love to know what your initial inspiration was from college! Can you link to that article or point me in the right direction?

    Xx, Brittan

  • Brooke Knipp says:

    Love it!

  • Stunning! So many touches here and there that really make a statement.

  • Paige says:

    I just came across your Instagram. Your space is beautiful. I’d also love to see your inspiration from college. I noticed you are in SoCal. Any places you can suggest in the San Diego area would be great.

  • Jennie says:

    Beautiful! How do you keep the white so white with kids? We have unfinished trim and I’m deciding between stained and white – love the white but hate the thought of battling to keep it clean.

    • mycakies says:

      The pictures don’t show how dirty the walls are! They are very dirty!!! There are grey spot and drawings from the kids all over the place.

  • khanh says:

    ruby, your livingroom is so dreamy. i love love the vintage light fixtures. thanks for sharing. xoxo

  • Jaimie says:

    Obsessssssed doesn’t even begin.. I love your space, especially the plants on the wall.. Did you just screw the tins onto the wall? Do they have drainage holes or are there pots inside them?

    • mycakies says:

      There are already holes in the sap buckets and we put nails in the wall, and voila! The plants are in baskets inside the tins.

  • Val says:

    Can you tell me the name of a plant that you have?? The one that is hanging on the wall in the planters, bottom row, on the right and left side… (So confusing…) it grows straight up and I really like it! 🙂

  • erica says:

    love your living space… especially the round colourful rug!!!!

  • Alex says:

    Where did you get that rug? I LOVE IT!

    • Rubyellen says:

      It’s from Anthroplogie. It’s no longer in this space, but now upstairs. Thinking about selling it, but it’s so pretty.

      • Alex says:

        It’s gorgeous!! I would consider purchasing it if you do end up selling it!!

        • Rubyellen says:

          Are you in SoCal? We get new floors in and I’m not sure it will go in the space, so if I do end up selling, I’ll be sure to let you know.

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