Thanks Kellie. Yes, it did change the exterior, but we tried to do it sympathetically. I don't have any current exterior photos, but here is the front of the house and the side before. The new bathroom is on the back of the house, an almost mirror image of the front gable. Here are a few photos from earlier this summer when we got the house listed on the Alabama Registry. I have since refinished the dining and living room floors so they flow nicely with the kitchen we did last year. Cyn427, here is the view from the bathroom window. It's a beautiful view, but the horse boarders do come and go from the barn at random times, so I can't count on privacy. I give my DH a hard time about the curtains, but they are probably a necessity! The upstairs is kind of hard to explain, but it originally had two large rooms on each side of the central hall and the little front gable. One of the large rooms was never finished, but the rest had all wood walls and a level seven foot ceiling. The new bath is a gabled dormer off the back, but the unfinished room will be our future master bedroom. We loved the higher ceilings, so we kept the vault in there. It lead to spray foam insulation everywhere, as it was the best choice for sealing an old house and let us keep the vaulted ceiling. Here is a photo of that room in progress where you can see the sloped ceiling. Marti, the bath is technically just the upstairs hall bath, but it's right outside the door to our future MBR. We thought about trying to put a connecting door through, but it didn't work out because of the low sloping roof line beside the gable. Since we can't have kids, it'll just be us up there, unless we really have a houseful of guests. The downstairs bath is more like you were thinking; it has a door to the bedroom (the purple one I posted above) and another to the mudroom. So it could serve as a true master bed/bath combo if someone needed first floor living. Here's a view of the upstairs floor plan with the new bath (although it was before the gable dimensions changed and the door swing had to be switched). Lake_Girl, that's funny you had the same idea with the sconces. I'm sad Lowes discontinued them, but it allowed me to buy them on clearance (although I had to go to two different stores to find enough). I'm not from Alabama (ninth state I've lived in in just over three decades), but we've adjusted over the past few years and found many things to like about it. Are you near Lake Guntersville, by any chance?

I love your home, and love the woodwork. It probably has darkened with age, and could be nicer if stripped and refinished, but with 4 younger kids that is a project for down the road. For now, I am glad that you are not painting it. You have gotten lots of great suggestions, but many of them seem to be things that at this point you cannot do for a variety of reasons. Since you are suggesting that some of the fixes will be temporary, until your youngest is a bit older, I am thinking in terms of working with what you have, rather than making some changes now that may not work down the line when you are ready to really alter things. Since this is your family room, where all of you gather, imo we need to think in those terms, more than about what looks pretty. I get the impression that you don't use your front door often, since the loveseat is currently sitting there. So, despite the fact that I love the fireplace, you said it is non-working, I believe. It seems to me that for now, the place for the TV is in front of the fireplace. Straight on, almost as a replacement. Don't paint the brick, either. The one thing that could be nice is if the TV stand were a bit lower, so that the top line of the tv sat just below the mantel. With the tv in front of the fireplace, we need to move the viewing angles around a little. I would try the couch all the way back at the end of the room, in front of the double window. Move the torchiere down to replace that little table that is sitting in the corner. It seems like you should have enough space, with the couch against the end wall, to leave the sofa table where it is with the lamp on it. Take the loveseat and put it on the front window wall where the couch is now. Use the little end table to the left side, right by the entry, and add another table lamp (stolen from somewhere?) on that table. Keep the loveseat and table pushed as far to the left, close to the door, as possible, to give the tv visual 'breathing room'. Get rid of the runner in front of the couch. Leave the blinds, I think they are fine, but get rid of the window scarves. I would stay away from curtains, but would consider adding a simple valance above the front and end wall windows, hung just below the picture moulding. Nothing gathered, but rather something flat with pleats. Something like this style: premier stripe inverted pleat valance I would take down all the things you have hanging on the walls in there and re-group. It appears you have a mirror on the wall behind the door, which seems pretty much unusable. The framed art is marching around in a row, and is spaced too far apart. Consider taking the pix that relate to one another and making a grouping of them above the sofa table. I would take down the mirror over the fireplace for now - maybe it can find a new home elsewhere in the house. The tv will kind of dwarf anything that is framed up there, so instead try the large candlesticks to one side (but not all the way to the edge), with a richer color for the candles. Add a lower, wider vase or planter with some taller twigs and green grasses, etc in it, to bring some color and softness above the tv. Think about adding some other items to the pretty shelving besides framed pix - maybe some books, a couple of interesting pieces of pottery, etc. Look for things that pull out some of the colors that are in the fabric you want to use. As for paint, I would use a warm beige color on the walls, and go two shades lighter above the picture rail, same lighter color on the ceiling and on the entire fireplace area above the mantel only. I love greens, but looking at the wood in the room, especially in the closer shot, it feels like beige/gold would do more to bring out the richer tones in the wood. Be sure you have the highest wattage you can get in the lamps. Don't use the ceiling fan lights for lighting the space. They only create glare up high and shadows down below, unless you have them on a dimmer and can get a soft light effect that just kind of washes the ceiling. I think once you add some warm color with the paint, and bring in your pillows and accents, the room will feel warmer and more friendly.

Did you end up doing the magnetized chalkboards in your kitchen? That's how we "chatted" -- you were interested in mine. (I have the all-white kitchen with lots of white marble and the two magnetized chalkboards on either side of our fridge and freezer, if that rings a bell.) Listen, don't sell yourself short! 2,400 square feet is a lot of flooring and (to be redundant) a lot of cleaning. I can see how rugs mightn't be tops on your list .... That being said, last weekend on HGTV's Find Your Style they did a Craftsman living room and used this rug in the Jewel colorway from Room & Board: It's definitely a modern goose on Craftsman style and unfortunately, none of these photos do it justice but in the episode it looked wonderful! from the episode: I don't know how much you want to do True Mission, and (caveat) I really like like a modern twist thrown in to keep it fresh and current, but what about a leather Moroccan rug or a Turkish kilim? Warning: you could be lost for days searching for those! (there are so many and it can become positively addictive -- I started to look for you but snapped to when two year-old Li'l Bit demanded a cuddle) This is the vase I got from etsy, just so you can see what I was thinking: I know you just hung the pictures in your stairwell, but do you think you could hang both of them together? I like them but think, in the photo, they appear kind of lost. In my mind's eye if hung together they wouldn't look so salt & pepper. (Don't change the one by the lamp, however!) Have a wonderful tapas party this Friday!

Wow! First off I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to give me advice, I am so grateful. It might take me a bit to absorb it all, but I have come away with a better idea of what direction to go in for sure. I have decided to forgo to darker greens, as I agree that we can do better. It didn’t occur to me to mention (in hindsight I realize I should have) is that I live in the urban core of Tampa, right between two historical districts. While I don’t have to follow the architectural review boards rules, many of the homes in my neighborhood do. Most older homes on my street are painted very subdued, deeper colors. We just so happened to test a sample of Blue Echo today, so I was happy to see it recommended here by Beth H.: We both really liked it but I didn’t take any photos as it was getting dark by the time I finished up. I have a lot to think about and need to narrow down more samples to try. Again, a huge thank you to everyone who has given advice, now I need to go and try some more colors!