Generation Renovation - Dining Room & Library Reveal!

Generation Renovation

~ Dining Room ~
~ BEFORE ~


We decided to turn the previous owner's kitchen into our dining room (since we were moving the kitchen back to be closer to the family room). In this picture, we were in the midst of removing the cabinets:

~ DURING ~
Then we really opened up both rooms by tearing out the dividing wall:

~AFTER~
This is now what you see when standing in the dining room, looking where that wall and the furnace, used to be:



We kept the bay window, added hardwood (laminate) flooring where they had had carpet and voila:

~ Library ~
~ BEFORE ~
The above picture was taken while standing in the library. The library was the former owner's dining room:

Note the walls the color of aluminum foil:



~ DURING ~


~ After ~
This room is going to serve as mainly Austin's office/work space (I have my own office upstairs), and we have not finished configuring the furniture exactly how we are going to have it, but this is the stage we're at now:



This next picture was taken standing in the window bay looking towards the dining room. As you can see we kept the built-in shelving on both sides (I'm not sure why the walls look so blue in this one, they're really closer to the green in the other two pics):

And this picture was taken standing in the living room facing the large desk/shelving unit:



There you have it! We're getting close to wrapping up the main floor! Thanks for joining me on our extended tour!

Autumn Recipes & Tablescapes

Heidi is hosting this fabulous Autumn event today, and I absolutely adore anything autumn-y, so, of course I had to participate!!! The recipe I'm sharing today is from my Aunt Geri, who is a phenomenal chef, and who always has the best presentation! Presentation is everything, you know, and she is tremendously hospitable so she has a lot of opportunity to cook for others, and always makes a huge breakfast for Austin and I to enjoy with her whenever we go to Colorado! :) (Love you Aunt Ger!)

Sweet Potato Casserole
3 cups of cooked, drained and then mashed sweet potatoes
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
1/2 c. softened butter or margarine
1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 c. milk

Mix all of the above ingredients together. Put mixture in a greased 9x13 baking dish. In a separate bowl combine 1 c. light brown sugar
1/2 c. flour
1/3 c. softened butter
1 c. chopped pecans
Mix these ingredients together. Sprinkle on top of potato mixture. Bake 25 minutes or until set in a 350 degree oven.

I was so excited about this event because I had $100 in gift certificates (wedding gift) to a local home decor store that expired on Sunday 9/21, so it was the perfect reason to by some beautiful fall decorations, so most of the elements of this centerpiece are from that, the candle holders were a wedding gift, and the star I won in a blog giveaway from Linda! :) The stars (set of 3 - large, medium, & small) will eventually be hung on our dining room wall when everything is done, but for now the small one is a pretty touch for my autumn centerpiece!



Thanks for reading!