Monday, July 15, 2013

Handmade Home #11: Living Room Progress

I am very thankful for the amount of space in our living room. We knew we wanted to have big groups over on a regular basis, whether it be mission teams or groups from our church, so we drew up our great room to be pretty large. When we had that first team over there was plenty of room and plenty of air moving through so that it wasn't too uncomfortable! I cannot wait to have some ladies activities here very soon.

This is the way my living room is currently looking:
Wood for the false ceiling is way down on our list, so you can still see the peak of our roof and all of the wiring. Probably a good thing since we can see wet spots this way and know where to seal it better!  Our lights are from the market in zone 1 in Guatemala City. They were about $5 each... who needs a West Elm?!
{Those aren't wet spots, just different batches of concrete}
Without the ceiling it has a different feel than it will eventually. The false ceiling will be on top of that white beam, so you will still see it. Did you notice our ceiling fan?! I LOVE having ceiling fans. It changed our life!

Here is my thrifted hutch that Jimmy refinished for me! It has all of my serving dishes in it and all of our board games and puzzles in the cabinets below.
The wire roll table is from the Kekchi radio station! I saw it lying around and asked if I could have it. We still want to clean it up a bit. Jonah and Silas love stashing things down the hole that is in the center of it. Whenever I can't find something, that is the first place I look! 
The orange quilt was made by my great grandmother. She loved to sew and make things! I never knew her but I feel connected to her for sure. It doesn't have a backing on it, so I am going to finish it. I'm so thankful my mom let me bring that back with me!
We joke that the chair on the left is mine and the chair on the right belongs to an old man! If Eden ever sees me sit in the swinging chair she comes running. She likes swinging in it even better than the hammock. I want to make a foam cushion for the bottom of it, but I'm still looking for the right fabric. 

Jimmy came home with these one day!
We put one in the corner and stuck a plant in it. We probably need to seal it or something. 
And finish sealing our floor... one day! That pretty circle on the floor is from when there were a couple of the masons at our house working on the smooth coat on our walls, one of them went out to the wood shop, brought back a can of stain, opened it, and then left it there on the floor laying sideways and open. NO ONE needed stain for anything... I don't get it. It doesn't matter since I want our floors to have character, but seriously I was planning on my kids christening those floors with all kinds of character, not a curious mason!

I really tried not to buy fabric while I was in the States since it is cheaper here, but geometric prints are impossible to find, so I did by one yard of this zigzag home fabric. So far I only made one pillow, but I might have enough left for the chair cushion. My mom made us the furry blanket the first year we were married. It is perfect for windy evenings on the couch. 
Jonah wakes up like I do! One day I will introduce him to coffee and then all will be better!

On the other couch is another pillow from Ikea, but those granny squares are homemade. This was my first crochet project. I love crocheting, it is the perfect road trip activity! 
I originally made it to cover a changing pad for E's room, but since she will be out of diapers before she has a room I decided to keep it in the living room. I hope to add to it eventually. 
Eden is always in this rocking chair. She hasn't fallen yet. I move her out of it probably a dozen times a day, but she knows how to get down by herself just fine too. That spot on the couch is E's contribution to color in the room... it's a still wet grape popsicle smear! I love that crazy little girl!

Here is the other side of the room. Jimmy's parents bought him this tv for his 30th birthday. I new I wanted to kind of camouflage it. 
Jimmy has been making fun of me for months. I have been collecting paca (thrift store) frames just for this wall... hoarding them really. Most were between $2 and $4, except for the frilly one from Solola. 

Jimmy was even more thrilled about my stockpile of frames when it was time to hang them all!
This is the frame from Solola:
Jonah and Silas made this painting for me the other day specifically for this frame. Silas painted the top half and Jonah the bottom. They are VERY proud of it! It makes me smile each time I look at it. 

Most of the frames looked or still look like this:
I have been refinishing them a little at a time. I am going to print photos for most of them. I picked up some mattes in the States, so that I could print 8x10'a in my home, but I will have to order a couple of 11x14's to come down with the next team. I haven't found a place here that can do it, there is probably a place in the capital.  

Our family has been studying a lot about gratefulness so that filled one of our frames. It is some linen and fabric scraps: 
Jimmy brought the boys back a huge starfish from the island of Livingston, so that was added to our wall. 
So I still have a lot left to refinish and fill. 
We picked up another chair that matches the boys' for Eden when we were in Solola. My cousin gave us this kids' table and the last team was nice enough to bring it down with them. Jonah and Silas love doing puzzles on it.  It is hard to find dry wood here that doesn't warp or have bugs in it, so a nice flat surface that I don't have to treat with toxic chemicals and then give to my kids was very welcomed in this house!
The dresser that sits below the tv is from the boys' old room. It has bugs in it even though we treated it. Unless you use arsenic, I haven't found anything else that works. We were going to get rid of it, because I was tired of having wood dust on all of their clothes, but it sits here for now. A credenza isn't on the list yet. It will probably sit there forever. I kind of like it. Somehow in our move we lost 2 nobs though... that's what happens when you move things in a cattle truck. Classy! Becca gave me the beautiful planter for my birthday. I love it! 

So that's where we are for now. The room needs a larger rug. I would love to make a bright colored braided rag rug. I saw this one on furlough:
The lady whose house it was in is coming down on a team soon and said that she would teach me! We will see. I don't have that much scrap fabric, so by the time I buy enough to make one this big it might be cheaper just to buy a finished rug. But the process would be lots fun and it would be an original!
Thanks for visiting our home!

2 comments:

  1. I love it! Especially the frames wall and the lights. I need to shop the pacas more often!

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    1. Thank you! I never bought anything at a paca here until we got a Mega Paca in Peten. It is so nice and organized... as far as pacas go, and there are prices on everything, so I feel like I am on an even playing field with everyone else. I stopped by a different paca the other day about some chairs that weren't marked and the lady looked at me and paused a little before she said something. It's that pause, where I think she is marking up the price in her head since I'm a gringa that kept me from shopping in pacas before. I don't like the dark pacas either where you feel like you are up to your elbows sorting through stuff that there isn't even enough light to see... yuck. I'm kind of a Mega Paca snob I guess;)

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