Where You Live Friday-Living/Family Room

I started this blog as a journal to my grandchildren and what better way to show them how things "used to be" than to show them how we lived. So when I saw this link on

Kelly's Korner http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/

I thought I'd join in!

First I should say that we are a Military Family and spent 16 years traveling with the Army never living anywhere for more than two years when my husband, Tom, was forced out on disability. He took an internship as a civilian with the Department of the Army in HR and they moved us to Maryland. We sold our house in Kentucky and bought a townhome here. We NEVER planned on staying past the 3 years of his internship. EIGHT years later here we are! Our grown children followed us here and our granddaughter(& her parents) even live across the street.

So here we will stay.

Our "Living Room" on the main floor. The window seat is a great place to change diapers and below it are books and puzzles. The other angle shows a bit of the kitchen/dining room and an old church pew adds seating for when everyone is here. Seating is big with us! I also have leather bins under the pew to hold toys. Above the pew is a painting I was able to get from my parents home when they passed, it's of the house I grew up in. You can see how Tom and I use our laptops here too. Below is the sewing machine my grandmother taught me how to sew on as a side table, the rocking chair I used as a child and the afagan that my parents made together in 1954.

"Family Room" This is our downstairs antique sports themed "family room". I don't know if you can tell but it's quite a bit bigger than the upstairs and when everyone is here I try to direct them downstairs. We have dueling couches, one on either side of the room and my father's chair & footstool in front of the fireplace and my grandmother's rocking chair in front of the window. Of course the wall above the couch is filled with pictures of grandchildren. By the way the dogs Brutus & Minnie Mouse (guess which is which) are WONDERFUL with the kids.

Here is the other side of the basement. It used to be storage space but we had it finished as a bar/game area. There is a 3 in 1 table, tv's mounted in each corner, chalkboard, antique kid's desk and of course a kegerator with Tom's High School football jersey framed on the wall. The view into the bar shows our desktop computer, this is where we print and scan from. The boxes on the floor are full of my parents pictures that I am categorizing & scanning. Even though Ella (our granddaughter) plays on my laptop she likes to use this computer because she can print. You can also see the overflowing toy box and gumball machine. The doorway is to the sports themed bathroom, I guess that will be for another Friday.

This is a close up of our mantel. It has my parents wedding cake topper under a dome and a canvas picture from last Mother's Day of my two grandchildren at the time.