Tour My Home - part 8: {main area}

Part 1 {The outside} 

Part 2 {Garage entryway}

Part 3 {Brianna and Micah's Room}

Part 4 {Main bathroom}

Part 5 {Master bedroom}

Part 6 {Master bathroom and closet}

Part 7 {Boys' bedroom}

Welcome to... the grand finale!  This last area, the main area, consists of our living room, kitchen, dining room, and office space.  In reality, this living space is the whole second half of our house, and I am showing it all to you in one post!

I don't think you will ever know how much we sacrificed to get to this point in our home.  (You can actually see a little of it here and here.)  But, let me tell ya... it was worth it.  We scrounged and saved to get to this point, and are now enjoying the benefits.   

{Below}  I am standing in the door of Brianna and Micah's room, taking this picture.  If you turn right, you will be heading out the back door.  If you turn left, you will find the master bedroom and both bathrooms.  But, since we've already been to those spaces, let's walk straight ahead!

{Below} Welcome to our big, open space!  I timed this post just right so that you could see it decorated for the holidays.

{Below}  That door to the right leads to our boys' bedroom...

 {Below}  Since we do not have dryers in Ukraine, many people have asked where I hang our clothes during the winter.... Here is your answer... (Yes, I would prefer that they be hidden in a bedroom somewhere, but I don't like the mugginess it creates.  They dry faster out in the open, and we hardly notice them anymore.)

 {Below}  This is hubby's desk.  I also want you to notice the picture hanging on the wall, which is what we gave him for Father's Day this year.  Love it!

 {Below}  This is my desk which sometimes has a laptop setting on it (when hubby hasn't taken it to the church to work).

{Below}  My view from the kitchen sink.  I see nearly everything that goes on in my home (but my kids still think I have eyes in the back of my head... LOL!

{Below}  No such thing as dishwashers here, so are you wondering where I put my clean, wet dishes to dry?  Wonder no more.... See that drying rack that is disguised as a drawer?  Pretty smart invention, eh?

{Below}  You might remember our wood-burning stove that faithfully kept us warm our first two winters in this home.  We are actually thinking of selling it now!  Our tile floors are heated, and now that we have worked the kinks out, we love them.  The only heat we have in this entire area comes from the floors, and we stay cozy warm this way.  Gotta see (feel) it to believe it!

{Below} See that hole in the ceiling?  One day we dream of building a wooden staircase in that wide, open area that will lead to the attic.  And, in the attic, we plan to build our three boys a big bedroom!

{Below}  Since hubby and I both play the piano, having a piano in our home was a very high priority.  I am teaching all three of our oldest children, and when they "outgrow" me, we will find them a "real" piano teacher.

 {Below}  Looking back to Brianna and Micah's room (left) and the main bathroom (right)

Left to finish in this room:

*  Baseboards

*  Staircase

*  Curtains

*  Large, area rug for living room

*  Light fixtures in several sections of this area

*  Office cabinets and bookcases to replace the two desk  (and our big boys will get the desk for their homeschooling spaces to replace their tables.)

* Decorate, decorate, decorate....!   I still have all kinds of decorating dreams for this room...  But, one day at a time...

So, that about wraps it up!  I really hope that you enjoyed this "Tour My Home" series.  I enjoyed having you come along.  Do you feel like you know us better now?

God has been so good to us!  Even though we have seemingly made many sacrifices by leaving our comforts back home, the Lord has provided for us in great, big ways that we do not deserve.  Yes, we have had to be smart with our decisions and spending, but that is no different than if we lived anywhere else in this world.

Thank you, Lord, for this beautiful home You have given me.  And thank you, hubby, for seeing your dream of providing me my first OWN home ever fulfilled.  

I am forever grateful.

Tour My Home - part 7: {boys' bedroom}

Part 1 {The outside} 

Part 2 {Garage entryway}

Part 3 {Brianna and Micah's Room}

Part 4 {Main bathroom}

Part 5 {Master bedroom}

Part 6 {Master bathroom and closet}

(Below) Enter at your own risk... You have been warned!

Welcome to Davey's (age 9) and Nate's (age 7) room!  This is a very small space, but one we hope they will live in for only a couple of more years.  The big future plan is to one day build a big room in our attic that all three of our boys will share.  For now, this is their happy space:

(Below) This is Davey's bed and desk. When we bought his bed, we had no furniture at all for him. This all-in-one bed answered all of our needs at once, providing us a place to store all of his clothing, books, and toys.

(Below)  This is Nate's bed that we bought when he was just a baby.   Hubby's mom was coming to visit us from Mexico {yay!}, and we needed a place for her to sleep.  We already had Davey's bed, but we did not want her climbing up it.  So, we bought this bed for Nate prematurely, and it now has very special memories attached to it!

(Below)  I found these fabric boxes at Target several years ago for $1 each and brought them to Ukraine with us.  They are the perfect solution for storing small toys such as cars, blocks, army men, etc...

(Below)  And this is where our Davey (4th grader) homeschools each day.  (He homeschools using A Beka DVDs - which is why he gets a TV in school!)

(Below) I labeled this picture to show you where the boys' room is located in relation to the rest of the house.

(Below) A fairly new feature to our home are these shelves in the boys' closet.  We had them put in at the same time we had our master closet built.  They are one of my favorite things about this room!

(Below) I still need to add some pictures to the walls.  Recently I found this picture on Pinterest which is the perfect solution.  Everything about it is perfect.... the words AND the colors!  I look forward to eventually having it printed, framed, and mounted.

Left to do in this room:

1)  Closet doors

2)  Finish decorating

3)  One day I'd love to replace the carpet.  The carpet that is currently in this room was leftover from a previous apartment and it is actually too small for this space.  We were able to hide part of the problem with the beds, but if you look closely you can also see where we had to add a strip of different carpet in the doorway.  (However, this problem is not too big on our list of priorities.)

Next (and last room) to this tour.... the BIGGIE, coming up next!  The last room will include our living room, dining area, kitchen, and office space... which are all in one big area.  Can't wait to show it to you, especially since it is all decorated for Christmas right now!

Tour My Home - part 6: {master bathroom & closet}

Part 1 {The outside} 

Part 2 {Garage entryway}

Part 3 {Brianna and Micah's Room}

Part 4 {Main bathroom}

Part 5 {Master bedroom}

I have kept you in suspense, haven't I?  It has been awhile since I have given another tour inside of our home, but just look at it this way:  You are my guest, and I am doing everything I can to keep you around longer!  We don't get too many guests out here in our village!

The next room up is the master bathroom and closet...  one of my favorite spaces in all of our home.  I love the colors; I love the comfort; and I love that everything in this space is pretty much done!  Most of all, though, I LOVE that I always have water now!  This is the first time I have been able to confidently say that in all of the years we have lived here in Ukraine.  Building your own home with your own well has its advantages, for sure!

{Below}  Thought you'd like to see the Russian writing on our bathroom products.  Kind of neat to see American products with Russian on them, isn't it?

{Below}  That walk-in closet is a dream come true!  We had the shelves and rods put in this past March, and let me tell you... I have been in heaven ever since then.  Before that, all of our clothes have been stored off and on in Rubbermaid boxes.  And, after nearly a decade of doing that, it was getting old.  To be honest, it was getting pretty easy to just wear what was folded at the top of the stack because digging through the box and messing everything up just wasn't worth the hassle.  So, yes, I'm sure you can see why I am in heaven now!

[And, by the way, we store everything in here... books, school supplies, extra linens & blankets, DVDs, scrapbooking and sewing supplies, etc...]

{Below} Everything is accessible, out in the open, clean and neat.... What more could a gal ask for? 

One funny thing about this closet:  Our main builder could not understand what this "small room" could possibly be for.  He said, "I don't get it.  It is too small to be bedroom, and it can't be a bathroom since that is going to be next to it.  What could this space be for?"  I think I've mentioned before that Ukrainians use wardrobes/armoires instead of built-in closets.  I'm sure if he could see how it turned out, he would be pleased!

{Below} My faithful washing machine that keeps purring like a kitty.  You can read all about how I do laundry in this post.  Not too much has changed since I wrote that post.  [No, we still don't have a dryer, though last week I saw one here in our city for the first time ever for sale.  And it only cost $2,000!  No thank you.  Hanging clothes on a rack never looked so good.]

{Below} I brought this laundry organizer back with me from America and it fit in this space like a glove!

{Below}  Here is a close-up of the tile.  See the pretty flowers that are a part of the design?

Thanks again for stopping by to see my pretty space!  One of my friends calls this area my "office."  I can see where she gets that... since this is where I usually start and end my day!

Next part of the tour: the boys' room!

Tour My Home - part 5 {master bedroom}

Part 1 {The outside} 

Part 2 {Garage entryway}

Part 3 {Brianna and Micah's Room}

Part 4 {Main bathroom}

So, here it is... the master bedroom reveal!  {Sorry, but it would have come much earlier if I had remembered to take pictures and download them to the computer before hubby left for his recent trip.}

Isn't it beautiful?!  The comforter set and the Home Interiors picture set over the bed were all shipped from America about 7 years ago.  [I bought the Home Interiors set through a dear friend who gave me her wholesale price.]  We bought the furniture in Kiev, in the only all-wood furniture store we could find (all shipped from Estonia).  Press-board is very big here, and we just weren't willing to buy something we knew would have to be replaced within a few years.  We wanted to buy wood (i.e. quality) furniture the first time and not have to buy again.  And, the curtains were made by yours truly.  I just took four short curtains from a previous home we lived in and made two long ones out of them to keep from having to buy more!

When we bought the bed, we only had one child but we knew that we would be having more if the Lord would graciously give us more.  We both had dreams of a king-size bed and lots of littles snuggling in the bed with us for story time, movie time, snuggle time, etc...  We didn't have the money for our dream, so we slept on the floor for several months, then bought our king-size mattress.  We then slept with the mattress on the floor until hubby could make us a temporary frame for the bed.  We used that temporary frame until it broke {I won't mention the fact that kids were caught jumping on it.}  Then, we bought the bed frame we now have.  Little by little over the last 9 years we have collected what you see...

This room is our bedroom by night, and Nate's (our 7-year-old's) school room by day.  This is where he spends several hours a day watching his A Beka DVDs and trying to figure out how to finish faster than his brother and sister!

(Below) Pictures in our "BC" days..... Before Children...  Yes, we've always been a bit crazy!

(Below)  See the chipped places on the wooden furniture?  Have you ever heard this equation?:

3 moves = 1 fire

Well, this furniture has been through more than three moves and has certainly suffered the damage.  Lord-willing, though, this furniture has found its forever home!  And see the lamp?  That was my birthday gift to David last year.... Aren't you impressed?  Hmmm... bet he never guessed that I bought the function for him {reading his books in bed at night} and the prettiness for myself!

(Below) And this is my side of the bed...  Can't you just smell the hot cinnamon candle?  I smell it everytime I walk into the room and it makes me smile every time...

(Below) Pretty details on the furniture...

(Below) Nate's nametag on his desk.  During the day this nametag is nowhere to be found underneath his pile of papers and books.  We have jokingly nicknamed the kid "pig-pen" after the Peanuts character with the dust all around him.  [And he's a good sport about it, too, joking back with us.]  When Nate loses something, it is usually pretty easy to find... Just have to start moving things around!

(Below)  Nate stores his school books in the window sill when he is done with school each day.  We are learning lots of lessons about organization with him, and baby steps are big steps for the little guy!  I have learned that keeping accessories to a minimum for him works wonders!  (And, by the way, I would not change anything about him...  I adore that kid!)

I adore the golden colors of the walls, but it does leave a yellow tint to pictures which is something I did not foresee.  Hmmm... Not sure if I would have chosen something else, though.  This color is so warm and inviting.  Don't you agree?

So, here is what we have left to do in this room:

• Baseboards
• Finish one more electrical socket
• Now that the water heater was just mounted to the wall, we can fill in the concrete hole that was left and paint over it (the curtain was hiding that ugly spot)
• Decorate some of the bare walls.  Although, I must say, that with four children and their normal loads of books and toys, the bareness of this room can be somewhat refreshing at the end of the day!

Next room to tour... master bathroom!