Real-Life House Tour Party!!!

I'm in day 3 of the stomach flu and in between bites of Saltines and sips of Ginger Ale, I try to blog. I'm linking up with Danielle at Transforming Home for her first ever Real-life House Tour Party. This super party showcases the real homes of real bloggers and is chock full of decorating ideas from real people. Some are designers and some just love design. Either way, you are sure to be inspired.

Welcome to the Domestic Bliss home. Come on in!


What you see when you walk through my front door.

My Wall of Fame! If you look real close at the one picture towards the left, you'll see my favorite picture! My Grandfather and The Babe! Yep. Grandpa was a professional golfer and actually played golf with Babe Ruth.

The view of the foyer from the vantage point of my Dining Room.


To the left of the Foyer is my Living Room.

As you can see, my tastes lean towards the Traditional side. I love old things. Old furniture. Old pictures.



The Living Room is also my "office". And this is where I blog.


Taking these photos in the afternoon wasn't the brightest idea, no pun intended.


To the right of the Foyer is my Formal Dining Room. The color on all of the walls you've seen so far is pale yellow (Baer Paint in Havana Cream). I just think that so many things go well with the color yellow. It's also very bright and cheery, which helps in this area of the home where there is little sun exposure during the day.


The beautiful china in the display part of my china cabinet is Royal Ducal that I purchased at an auction.

The blue and gold colors go nicely in the room.

The china we received as wedding gifts I store in the bottom part. I got tired of taking china out of the cabinet every time I needed to use it, which is more often than you might think. So I decided to make it more accessible.
And my "treasure" - the chandelier I rescued from someone's curb.

Another favorite of mine is this little artichoke table I got at a local thrift store.


Now let's head to the back of the house, where most of the living takes place.

The Rec Room walls are painted a soft brown color (Baer Paint in Harvest Wheat).


Last week I joined a Decorating Dilemma party and this room was my dilemma. I tweaked a few things since then and here's the result.

The concensus was unanimous. Lower the mirror a couple inches. But, I didn't. Only because they are anchored into the wall and I just didn't see the point in lowering it just a few inches. And actually, in person, it actually doesn't look so high. The real difference was moving the end table and replacing it with a plant and trunks. The end table was too small to the scale of the sofa and looked awkward in the space. I couldn't put a larger one there because of the basement door being so close. I think this looks better.
Here it is with the table.

And how it looks now.


And into my kitchen.

Mr. MDB and I redid our kitchen a couple years ago with only a $7000 budget. We were able to put in hardwood floors, granite counters and a tumbled marble backsplash. The walls are a pretty olive color. It's Ralph Lauren Lincolnshire Olive.

We also switched out the window treatments and now I have white faux wood blinds which I love. A new ceiling fan and that was that. No stainless steel for this real family. Maybe somewhere down the road. I'd love to hear your thoughts on SS. Does it show alot of fingerprints?
Moving on. More shots of the kitchen.


One of my all-time favorite Craig's List finds, my baker's hutch.


Here she is all decorated for Christmas.

Looking into the Dining Room.


A peek into the Mudroom off of the kitchen.


Let's head upstairs into the master bedroom.

It's quite a departure from the rest of the house - a little coastal cottage/shabby chic/romantic.



Mr. MDB and I designed the beadboard headboard ourselves. It's attached to the wall.

Another view.

This room is so relaxing to me.



And here is a peek into our Sitting Room.



The rest of the bedrooms upstairs are taken by our two daughters, MessyThing1 and MessyThing2. So I will spare you any pix of their rooms. The fourth is the playroom, one day to be my craft room.

For the finale I will show you the funky basement remodel. We just recently finished refinishing this portion of the home. It was actually finished several years ago, but the a flood led to having to refinish most of it. We love to hang out down here.
The bottom of the stairs.


Here, we used a granny smith apple green color on the walls. It's called Asparagus, also from Baer.


The rug I'm not so crazy about, but I'm gonna keep it until I find the one I want. I was gonna go zebra, but do you think that would be too much with the pillows?


Mr. MDB's big screen. Does anybody still go to the theater anymore???

The back portion of the room is Mr. MDB's office as well as the kid's hangout. Oh, and sometimes we workout down here too. Ha!




Looking in from the back room.

Some close-ups.




And lastly, my beautiful custom frame from the lovely Kristen of Kristen's Creations.


You could win your own frame or one of Kristen's other amazing creations by clicking here and entering my Blogaversary Giveaway. If you haven't already entered you have until next Friday, February 26th, 9:00p.m. Eastern time.

Thanks for visiting the Bliss house. Now go to Danielle's for other amazing tours.