This week, I thought it would be fun to do a little picture-tour of our house.  We’ve rented a home in the West End of Richmond, Virginia for a little over four years now, and while I know we won’t be here forever, we’ve made it a point to make it “us.”

Today, I’m sharing our Living Room/Dining Room.  This is the room that we spend the most of our time as a family in.  The wall color is called “First Anniversary,” and Tod and I did, in fact pick it out and paint on our first anniversary, just after we’d moved in.  I really like the color because it looks different in the day time than it does at night.  At night it’s a warmer, golden caramel color, whereas in natural daylight it’s more like a military khaki.  I love both colors.

The couch and end tables are vintage hand-me-downs, and while I love the shape of them, they aren’t in the greatest shape.  Having two cats and a toddler make this pretty inevitable though, so we’re trying to make them last as long as we can.  The couch actually separates into two parts, which we’ve also had arranged as an “L-shape.”  (Though we prefer them this way, in order to better facilitate couch-cuddling. :)

As you’ll undoubtedly see this week, I have stacks of books in nearly every room of my house.  Also, a thrifted wire-chicken.  Hooray for unbreakable decor!

Books take center-stage in our living room.  This book shelf was in the rental when we moved in.  Even though it’s nothing special, I kind of love it for it’s non-Ikea-ness. 

A trade paper-back shelf is nice to look at.  The 3 long- and 2 short-boxes of single issues that are stashed in a spare closet… not so much. :)

Jonah’s books take up the bottom two shelves.  If you really want proof of my nerdiness, please note that they are separated into fiction & non-fiction.  I’m equally proud and ashamed of myself.

TV is in the corner along with various video game accoutrements & a yoga mat that gets stashed into a vintage knitting basket (I know that that’s what that is for… though I’m not sure that that’s what it’s actually called…)  

I may have posted about these before, but our clock and this quote are two of my favorite pieces in our house.  The clock was a wedding present, and we took the photos of numbers while exploring the multitude of antique stores in Northern Michigan on our honeymoon.  The quote was our best man’s toast to us – I cut out the letters by hand and reading these words make me happy every time I see them.

Next to our front door, a vintage mirror that Tod’s had since college – the curtains are also from that time – his mother made them for him!  Also our P collection (the one on the bottom also came from our Honeymoon.) and a couple of framed pages from the long-since destroyed copy of “Happiness is a Warm Puppy” that I had as a kid. 

In an alcove next to the kitchen, our dining room table.  We eat here, we make art here, we play board games, occasionally it becomes a work desk as well.