Home Tour 2: Jamie

When Ron & I joined Cornerstone Church more than three years ago, I met Jamie. She had a sweet baby boy, Hudson. We became friends pretty quickly probably because we have lots in common...we were going to the same gym and loved Spinning class, we like home decor stuff (when I was trying to finalize paint colors for our new house, we talked on the phone for probably over an hour each with our S-W color fan. Ha.), and we like shopping:) She and her husband, Greg, had us over for dinner one night (our wedding anniversary is exactly two months apart). I had just found out that we were going to have a baby too! I loved her house!
Since her husband and his family are builders, they saved LOTS of money by building it themselves and were able to do lots of extras like custom cabinetry, flooring, lighting, stainless steel appliances, crown molding throughout the house, ...
Soooooo, three and half years later, here's the "tour":

Entry way:
Her front door is a wooden, distressed door. When you walk in there's kinda of a long hall. She got the very large painting for a housewarming gift.

At the end of the hallway is this little nook. See the photography? More about that later. The table and chair were hand-me-downs.

The dining room is painted a great reddish-orange color. The table and chairs were purchased from Pottery Barn OUTLET (love that store!). The table was only $250 compared to PB's regularly priced tables, $700-1000+.


Jamie's kitchen really caught my eye on my first visit because I really liked the wall color (Sherwin-Williams Wheat Grass- now in my kitchen/hearth room) and the brick floors. I also love the use of black in accessories and fabrics. Greg bought their table on clearance before they were married. She got the jute rug at Marshall's for $15. Most accessories were gifts.

To save money in the laundry room, they opted to not install cabinets, so Jamie made these polka dot curtains instead. Cute!


The black bench and shelf was also purchased at Pottery Barn Outlet.

Living room: The leather couches came from Sam's Club (the pair was $700). Their coffee tables/end tables were Christmas presents. Lamps were on clearance at Hancock's. I love the built-in shelving/cabinetry.

Guest bath: paisley shower curtain from Target; mirror from Pier One ($60)- gift card; rug also bought with gift card. The Peter's Pottery was a gift.

Master Bedroom: I really liked this color too so I used it in my master bathroom (Sherwin-Williams Halcyon Blue...not sure if I spelled that right). The king-sized bedding came from Marshall's for $120! The furniture was Greg's before they married. The lamps are from Fred's.

The ceiling detail work is beautiful.

Their master bath is chocolate brown.

Hudson's Room: Hudson is almost 4 years old. When he was transitioned from the nursery to a big boy room, they did an accent wall with bedboard, painted it yellow, and distressed it. Looks great! The bedding is from Pottery Barn, but Jamie was able to find one set on eBay and the other set was a gift from his grandmother. Most of the accessories and books were gifts or hand-me-downs.

Harrison's Nursery: Greg painted the monochromatic stripes on the walls. The bedding was purchased from baby's are us. Most of the furniture and accessories were gifts from family and friends. Hudson was moved to his room in time for his baby brother to join the family, so Jamie updated the room a bit for the new baby.

Upstairs
This is the guest bedroom. I love the black furniture!

Jamie made the shower curtain from a piece of scrap fabric at Hancock's for $7.

The bonus room is a playroom for the boys and a sewing & scrapbooking room for Jamie.
The desk with hutch was made from primative beadboard that she found at an antique store in Hardy, Arkansas- neat!

And last, but not least, here's the super-organized attic with shelving built by Greg.

This spring, I'll take get some pictures of their pretty backyard and covered patio. It is awesome!
In closing, here are some of Jamie's tips for being thrifty as a stay-at-home-mom:

• She cooks at home a lot instead of eating out.
  
• They only have a house payment...everything else was paid for with cash.
• They do use a credit card and pay it off at the end of EACH month so that they have flight miles.
  
• They only put what's needed to live on in the checking account. The rest goes into savings.
  
• She asks for gift cards for occasions.
  
• They do spend more on furniture because it will last for a LONG time. And she spends more on photography because that is something she really likes and wants to have those beautiful memories in the best light:)