Military Housing, and how I stay sane living in it

Another thing that I am very fond of, and if I may say so, pretty decent at, is decorating. As some of you may or may not know, military housing is not very conducive to itching that decorating bug you get when you move into a new place. Especially for a color lover such as myself. Sure, we have painted homes before, but have found that it is not worth it when you have to re-paint it back to it's lovely whiteness before moving out. So I substitute by decorating the hell out of it. :)

This is a generic picture, not my actual home (for obvious reasons), but it's pretty much like this anywhere you go. Brick duplexes, one after the other.



I will say, it is much nicer in the warmer months, and they have it very welcoming for the photo-op. :)

Something I love, love, love about living on the base is the safety. We have lived off base before, which has been nice, but nowhere else can I send my seven year old out on his own in the morning to ride his bike, go to the park, play with friends, all on his own. Military families are notorious for reproducing (lol), so there are kids of all ages everywhere.  It has provided him with a much healthier lifestyle, in my humble opinion.

On to the inside. I unfortunately did not take before pictures, but I have not tackled the hallway leading to the bed and bathrooms, so just to give you an idea, this is what the interior essentially looks like everywhere. White walls, white tile (which is clean, it just always appears dirty.. yuck), even white cabinets in the kitchen. It is stark, bare, cold, uninviting, and my favorite way to describe it is institutional. If I didn't have all of my 'homey' things, I would have to be institutionalized, let me tell you.  ;)



Kind of gives you the heebie geebies just looking at it.


Ok, so where to begin. One of my favorite areas in the house is the corner 'reading nook' in the living room. We have a huge Persian rug and sectional couch to work with, so it took quite a bit of rearranging. Like, 5 or 6 times until we were satisfied. I would like to smugly add that the way it ended up is how I wanted it in the first place, but I digress...




If I could the walls would be painted a rich creamy buttery yellow... sighhhh...

Next up is my dining hutch area. This hutch is truly my pride and joy. I inherited it and the matching table and chairs from my grandmother, and completely stripped and renovated the hutch. I don't think a million dollars could buy it from me. (ok, who am I kidding? haha) My grandfather was also in the Navy for 32 years, and the ships wheel is a lovely heirloom from him. It is huge and HEAVY, so I don't worry about it being knocked over by roaming children and dogs.



I have another rug on the way for that bare area in front. Ebay is where it's at for rugs. Trust me on this.



The antique radio pictured here was my husband's grandfathers. If you haven't figured it out, we have a very eclectic mix of furniture and we love antiques. Just wait until I tell you about the coffee table! ;)



These are all cell pics, so some don't have the best quality.

This picture is pretty boring, just how I spruced up the tv area... The hanging lamp in the corner is pretty fun. Found it in a vintage store and had it repaired at a local lamp shop.


On to the coffee table. Again, kind of a boring picture, but my husband got this antique coffee table from a friend whose dad passed away. It was made in Japan, and that's about all we knew about it. One of my good friends here is Japanese and was over the other night, and told us it is actually an old Japanese dinner table. Pretty cool, if you ask me.  :)




It worked out pretty nicely, we have the kid's play area tucked in neatly behind the couch.

Next up is the master bedroom. I got the bedding from Anthro from the H for Christmas, and I loooovee it. So soft and comfy, and the colors are quite soothing. I have always wanted to paint a bedroom grey, but that will for obvious reasons have to wait for now. The mirrors were collected here and there, most of them were given to me by my aunt. We have very similar taste. Someone on the nest suggested switching the larger mirrors to the bottom and small ones to the top. I've considered it, maybe some of you have thoughts on that as well?



I'm thinking it might be the angle of the camera that makes them look top heavy, it doesn't look that way in person. It's the first time I've used the mirrors in the master though, so feedback is much appreciated. :)

 
Decorating a little girl's room is about the most fun I've ever had. Hayden, my son, is 5 years older than her so after years of blue, I am a little pink crazy, I admit it. We got the 4 poster bed from H's friend's father's estate (we got sooo many things from him, for an incredible price. I am so grateful). I originally had the curtains as actual window curtains in our old home, but another thing about military housing, the window sizes are NEVER the same. So, I made them a backdrop for her bed. I also made the wall hanging 'Peace'. If you would like to know how I did it, feel free to send me a message. It was super easy!




The bedding I got from Marshalls on clearance. It was complete lucks on clearance. It was complete luck, because it matches my vision for her room perfectly.

Another wall in her room features another DIY project. This one is so easy, anyone can do it. It is just two canvases, stapled together with a staple gun from the back. I stamped the larger one with a pattern, painted the top one, added some vinyl lettering ordered from Ebay, and voila! The frame I got at a garage sale, my aunt actually ended up taking the picture that was in it and had it re framed, so pretty cool that it got re purposed twice!

That's all of the interior pics I have thus far. Like I said, comments and feedback are always appreciated!

It's ladies night out tonight, so I will have some pics to post tomorrow... Today, I give you Nora's OOTD.



All Target.  :)




Aaaaaaannndddddd..... 5 minutes later.....





Why do I bother? lol




I'll also be stopping off at the beauty supply store this weekend to pick up a few things I've been thinking about trying, so stay tuned for thoughts and reviews.

Thank you for reading!!


Peace.  :)