Meet Our New Living Room

 Hope you enjoyed our first glimpse of our new home yesterday. Today I thought I'd welcome you into our living room! 

This little corner is right next to the foyer you saw yesterday, and I love how it turned out. It wasn't my original vision for this space, but it's what seemed to work best here. Ryan and I got this little bench for our guest room in Kokomo and used it again in our guest room in Grabill. I'd planned to do the same here, but then I thought it fit so perfectly right here. If someone needs to sit to put on or take off shoes when they enter, they can use the corner of this bench for that!

The clock was a gift I gave Ryan our first Christmas together, I believe. 

Here's a closer look at the decor on the bench:

One of our favorite things about our home is that our living room is open to the kitchen. You might remember that we took down part of a wall in Kokomo to achieve a similar look, but this one is completely open. I know that isn't everyone's favorite, but we love it.

I took these pictures from the kitchen. The first one was from the day we closed, and then you can see it now!

It's the coziest space, and we love being in it!

This little spot was my original vision for the place where the black bench is, but I moved it over here, because it felt like it was meant to be right here. 

We ended up taking one section out of our couch to make it fit more appropriately in this space. You'll see that section again in another room. In the background here, you can see the kitchen area, and I'll show you more of that tomorrow. 

Our rug that we got while we lived at WillowBridge was equally made for this space and warms it up so beautifully. Our big window overlooks what will someday be our backyard. We were able to reuse every single curtain from our WillowBridge apartment in this house, so I am excited about that!

A little peek at one of the shelves beside the TV:

This wall leads from the living room to the hall, and we made it our little photo collage space. We've always put these photos behind our couch, but we no longer have a wall behind the couch, so we shook up the location a bit!

This rocker belonged to Nita, and Ryan brought it home to live at our house late last year. We didn't originally plan to have it in our living room, but this is where it fits best, and I'm so glad. It was meant to be here. 

I ended up getting a coffee table runner with a gift card I had, and it ties the living room together so well. This is the tray my friend Amber made for my 40th birthday, and then the vase of flowers Ryan gave me for Easter. They fit perfectly right in that little spot!

Ryan and I have thoroughly enjoyed resting in this space over the last month. We've napped on the couch. We've watched movies. We've studied our Bibles. We've played with Lexi and Braeya. And last week we had our first opportunity to use this space in welcoming a guest. Our little godson spent an entire week here. He played for hours on this rug. We rocked him in that chair while praying over his life. It felt like our dreams for this house were already beginning to be realized. We had a space that was quiet and peaceful that we could offer to him. 

There are still a few things to update as we have time. Most of them are pictures I need to print and put in frames. I also have a request in to Amber to paint me a little ornament with Lexi's face on it to coordinate the one she painted of Braeya. (I told her we would wait until Lexi is a little more grown up and we know more what her face will look like with her hair grown out!) 

We are eager to see how God allows us to use this space. We have our dreams, of course. Small group gatherings, friends for dinner, kids and pets having fun, good conversations, and so much more. May His dreams be grander than ours!