Field Trip Friday with Lisa from Concord Cottage

It’s time for Field Trip Friday with Lisa from Concord Cottage.  You will LOVE Lisa as much as I do.  We have become fast friends.  She is genuine, kind, loving and OH SO TALENTED.  So, sit back relax and enjoy Lisa’s home tour…

Hi Friends, how are you today?? I hope fabulous.
Today we have some friends taking a Field Trip over from What Meegan Makes.  I recently found Meegan and her blog and love her decorating style.  I was so thrilled to be asked to be the Field Trip Friday feature today.
I’m Lisa from Concord Cottage.  Our home is located in Monrovia, Ca, was built in 1922 and is a Cottage Style.

We got the keys 2 1/2 years ago and it needed a lot of work, let’s just say.  There wasn’t A/C and in Southern California you cannot live without it so that was the first thing we had done.  We worked for 3 weeks stripping wall paper, sanding and painting before we moved in.  So our home is still a continued labor of love and we continue to work on it as we go.
I wanted to create a home that my hubs would feel comfortable in and didn’t scream pink everywhere (ok it does in the kitchen and one bathroom but his man cave balances that so we’re ok….lol), yet still looks like me.  So to be honest, I am still finding my style by making our home “Ours.”  We like to go yard saling and thrift shopping together but to be honest he is so ok with pretty much anything I do.  When I do ask if it’s ok to change something his answer is usually “fabulous.”  Especially when the projects don’t involve him…lol.
Here’s a picture of our blended family at our wedding 3 years ago.

Here’s our Living Room.  The front door is in the center of the room so there are two sides of the room which is a little challenging at times.

Just recently I changed our mantel after finding these old windows at a yard sale.  I change it up a lot based on the holiday or season so here are few shots just to give you an idea. I love to decorate for holidays.  Our furniture in our Living Room were the few pieces we bought new and went with neutrals because I love to change pillows and throws too.

Here is the before picture when we walked through it before we bought it.  (Previous owners goodies) I apologize it was taken on my phone but you have to see it to appreciate.  It was all dark wood paneling and lots of wall paper.  There was carpeting and we pulled it up and refinished the original wood floors on the first floor.

We did so much sanding, caulking and painting that there were mornings I couldn’t hold my tooth brush because my hands were so sore and stiff.

We chose a paint that was a taupe and after painting it looks a lil lavender which I now want to change and plan to do that this summer.  I found these grey blue wing bag chairs on Craig’s List last year for $150 and LOVE them.   I love to hunt for art work and accessories at Thrift Stores which can be a lot of fun.

Here’s our Dining Room.

This is one of our favorite rooms in our house.  This is where we have fun dinners with family on Sundays and get together’s with friends.  We love the French doors and the big wide moldings.  The Dining Room Set is one of our most treasured finds.  I found this on Craig’s List and we picked it up the night before we were moving.  That’s a funny story but we were so thrilled to get this.  It retailed for over $7000 and we got it for $1000.  You can find some wonderful things on Craig’s List if you take time and look as so many times people are moving and just want to get rid of things.  This set has the large table with leaves, covers, 8 chairs, the huge hutch and the buffet (you’ll see in the next picture).

We LOVE it so much.  It took 8 guys to get that hutch out of the home and onto the truck and my hubs wanted to KILL me but it was worth it.  I do want to make slipcovers for the chairs as hunter green isn’t my thing but for now it’s fine.  The China in the hutch was from a friend of a friend.  She was over our house and said OMG I have the perfect china set for you and she was also moving and sold it to us for $200 (12 pieces) and the rug was a freebie from a woman that was selling some pillows on Craig’s List and asked if we wanted it.  YES of course.  It’s fabric so we took it, laundered it and it’s perfect with our 2 Dogs and 3 Cats.  I hate to spend a lot of rugs because they get so much wear here.

The Chandelier was my Grandmother Sadie’s and it means so much to me.  It was in their home about 40 years and I always loved it.

Through the Dining Room you enter our Kitchen.

It is very small and narrow and has this darling Kitchen Nook, which we love and looks out to our big Oak Tree.

The Chandelier was in my brother and sister in law’s house when they bought it and they hated it.  When he asked me if I wanted it I jumped up and down!!  YES I DO!!  I just love it.

Are you seeing how narrow our kitchen is??  I’m not kidding, it’s like an apartment size and when we are cooking or prepping my husband and I are cheek to cheek.

Are you ready for the before pics???   There was blue and white stripe wall paper with little pink flowers on the walls and the cabinets were white with wood cabinet doors.

The floor was a yellowed white and black linoleum and we replaced that too.

So we did this on a budget and even though it’s small it works for us.

I love pink roses and hung pretty plates on the wall and made chandelier chain cover too.

Here I hung pink n white stripe plates I found at Home Goods and love them too.

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In the Nook are two fun shelves built into the cabinets so it’s a great place to display little teapots and tea sets.  During Holidays I change this around a lot.

Here I hung some vintage aprons on pretty rose hooks I found.
The Kitchen leads right into our tv room or my hubs Man Cave – Pittsburgh Steelers themed Tv Room.

I hope you’re not in shock by the lovely bright gold color.   So if you know my husband you would know that he is a DIE HARD Pittsburgh Steelers Fan.  He is from there and is such a big fan.  I mean he has that logo tattooed on his arm.  So when we first moved we painted this room taupe and just had a lot of his accesories.  He is such a trooper and helps me with my ideas and constant fixing or changing things so I thought, let’s just go for it.

NFL makes there own paint colors too.  So this is the true NFL Steelers Gold.  I painted the ceiling fan blades black (it was old and outdated) and then hand painted the logos on them.

I found T-shirts at Thrift Stores and used them for art work.  I covered canvas or framed them for the wall gallery.  I also cut some up and make throw pillows too.  He loves his Steelers Room and it’s good to keep your guy happy, right?

Next to the Tv Room and Dining room is our Animal Print Bathroom.  We had to renovate the upstairs bathroom so for this one all we could do was paint.

We painted the cabinets a chocolate brown to update them.  I gave this piano bench a make over and used an animal print skirt to cover the seat.

I found the drapes for $2 and added some more of that animal print from the skirt to the border on the hemline and on the towels.

My friend and I had a yard sale and we traded some items so I got these two pretty pictures and she got two of my lamps.

I LOVE roses and if I could have them every week I would.
Off the Steelers Room is the Laundry Room.

It is a very, very, very small room and I gave it a vintage theme makeover.

On the left are cabinets that hang and below is an area that houses dog stuff, leashes, extra laundry soap, extra bags and various other goodies so I made this Ticking Striped Ruffled Drape to hide all that.  On the cabinets I added some vintage looking keys and crystal knobs.  I found the Vintage Wash Board at a Yard Sale for $1 and made the banner flags with burlap and chalkboard paper that says Wash, Fold & Repeat.

I found this wire bustier at a yard sale for $1 and hung it over the light for interest.  On the shelves I added ruffled fabric and I took plastic totes from Walmart and covered them in animal print fabric.
Ok let’s head upstairs.  Here is my daughter’s Purple and Black Teen Room.

She wanted purple and we let her pick the color.  We found fun black and purple bedding and pillows.

Below is the before and you can see how scary it was.  It has lots of cracks in the walls and ceiling because they are plaster from 1922.  My hubs patched all that and then we painted it.

Her room has loads of windows and a big bench seat too.  I want to make a cushion for that too.  The wall sconces were already here and I added the shades and covered them with black fabric and beads.

We found this black n white Zebra Futon at Living Spaces and it is great when she has sleep overs or we have extra company.

Otherwise it’s great for her and her friends to lounge, play music or watch tv.

I found this vanity at a yard sale for $10 and it was cream with flowers and I painted it black and covered the seat.
Here’s our Pink Powder Room upstairs.

We gutted this except the tub and scraped 6 layers of wall paper off the walls.   We added the new floor, vanity, toilet and put a shower head in too.

Below is the before picture so you can see how outdated it was.

I saved the scraps of each layer of wall paper too…lol.
Here is the Master Bedroom –

I picked a pale blue so my hubs would feel comfortable and not too girly for him.  We have his bedroom set and then I accessorized by hunting down great finds like the lamps from Marshalls on sale for $15 each.  The headboard was a thrift store find for $30 and had the $245 tag on the back.  I want to cover it sometime in a lighter taupe shade.

The closet is the smaller style so storage is always a challenge but we get creative here.

I found the mirrored vanity on sale for $100 and just LOVED it.  I took a frame I had and found the chair which was black and spray painted them a hammered gold.  I made the chair slip cover to make it girly and feminine too.

I love that vintage look, and have a tiara, pink candle and mirror with perfumes out on display.

Whenever I have roses I like to pull a few and have them in our room too.  This pretty vanity is in my eye’s view when I’m in bed and I just love it.  It’s the one girly thing in the room…lol.
Our backyard is pretty big and we have a patio that leads down the pool.

I just found ways to add lots of color back here with new cushions and lanterns.  I bought pots at the .99 Cents store and painted about 10 of them in bright colors of red, yellow, orange and lime green and then are set around the patio and down the steps.

In the center of our backyard is a 100 year old Oak Tree that we just Love and enjoy.  It gives us sooo much shade and even on the hottest of hot days you can sit out here and it’s comfortable.

We LOVE having a pool and are in it on the weekends.  Even if we are running around, or doing projects if we come out here and float for an hour or two it feels like we just had a little vacation.  My husband turns 50 in August so there are lots of fun things in the works right now to jazz up our back yard too.

I think a few tips for creating a beautiful home are surround yourself with things you love and be authentic and stay true to your own style. I love Pink Roses and Chandeliers but that may not be yours or everyone else’s taste or what they’re showing in all the magazines and that’s ok.  It’s me.
 

So I hope you enjoyed your field Trip and our home tour today.  If you want to see more and what I’m doing to our backyard for my hubs Big 50th Birthday Luau Tiki Party next Saturday, please come on over to Concord Cottage and say hello.

Thank you again Meegan and friends for having me here today.
Have a great weekend, Lisa

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Thanks so much Lisa.  It has been my great pleasure to have you here.  You have a beautiful cottage and family. You made Field Trip Friday such a treat today.

Thanks to ALL of you for visiting Field Trip Friday with Lisa from Concord Cottage.

Make it a Field Trip Friday!