Some Added Potential- The Future Den

This is seriously the house that never ends…. We complete a room, and then there's another that follows. I'm not complaining- it's a good problem to have especially in our neighborhood where the houses aren't necessarily sprawling with square feet. Every time we redo a room, I can see us living here an extra year or two than I could before. I think it's been God's way of telling us to slow down and enjoy this home. I'll be honest, we go back and forth about moving, but this house is still surprising us with how well it fits for our family. It truly was the biggest blessing in disguise when Nathan purchased this place 5 years ago.

 

Now to the point of this post- our future den! I. Am. So. Excited. Our house has an addition off of the kitchen that was built in the early 90s. It's the main reason we have such a tiny (but now cute) backyard. Nathan used it as his bedroom back in the college days and then it turned into our workroom when we started renovating the rest of the house.  Honestly, it's been filled with so much furniture and junk the last 5 years, we completely forgot how big the room really is and missed the hidden potential.

 

We closed that door when company was over...

 

 

It's only appropriate on this blog to show you how we embarrassingly lived for years prior to renovating. If you would like a reminder of past embarrassment please feel free to click the following:  Exhibit A, Exhibit B, Exhibit C, Exhibit D... or read basically any post I've done.

 

 

 

With Max's first birthday party planned for mid June- we realized that we should probably clear the room out especially since most of our big house projects are complete. It took only one night of cleaning and we were suddenly left standing there realizing what we have been missing the past few years…

 

 

I felt stupid.
 
 

 

 

It is huge (for our house). And that ceiling!  Someone knew what they were doing when they vaulted those bad boys and added those beams.  I used to curse this room because it was such a mess and encroaching on our backyard, but it wasn't until we actually CLEANED that we saw the potential.

 

 

 
Other than the extra square footage, one of the best features is the fireplace and a MANTEL. Remember when we created the "BuiltIn" situation in our living room because I wanted a mantel to decorate for Christmas? I guess the addition was so stuffed to the brim at that point, that I never even thought that its mantel would ever be an option for decorating.

Holiday mantels are very important to me if you could not tell.
 

 

 

 

 

There is so much potential. We are turning it into our Den/Playroom/Future Guest Room/Craft Area combo. Basically, it's going to be a giant multi-purpose room. Right now it is filled with Max's toys which has been so nice for him to run around and sprawl out. We previously had the toys in the itty bitty Living Room which needless to say made everything cramped and crazy.  

 
We've already replaced the carpet, painted, and bought a couch so we are well on our way- but I'll get to that in another post. It's easier and more fun for me to do small updates than one big post so this may be a long process, but hopefully you can hang in there- or follow @724SouthHouse on Instagram for some "Real Time" Progress.
 
I'll be back soon with our updates and some ideas I have swirling around in my head! In the meantime here is a little peak into our daily life in this room so far. The den is already working hard!

 

 

 -Tricia