My upstairs hallway. I can pretend it's a 1770 house instead of a 1970 house :)

You've done a good job making the house look "old." Did you paint the mural yourself?

Thank you, oakley. No, a friend of mine did that. It was her first project coming out of chemo for breast cancer, a kind of celebration for her. There are drawings of my cat in it, who befriended my friend, and other details that refer to my sons. I do love it so. My friend is doing well, thank goodness, 8 years later, but she did move far away & I miss her. So glad to have some of her & her work in my home.

awm03 - How cool! Can we see the rest of it?

OH AWM03 that is such a lovely hall! What a wonderful reminder of your friend! She is very talented!
Oakleyok, I love the red accents in your kitchen!
At the top of our landing are two half doors next to each other outside the hall bath and they are really cute and they house tiny his and hers cedar closets. These small, almost useless, closets pretty much sold the house to me :). Parden are baby gates, we still have little ones here.

Oakley, I love your touches of red. My favorite color! This is my favorite reading spot, but the second picture is probably my favorite spot in the house.

Breakfast room:

Okay Oakley--I have definitely decided to do white or ivory cabinets now that I've seen yours. Love what I see of your kitchen!

Roarah, I meant to comment on your cedar closets. It's 'nooks' and features like those that really are cool.

And AWM, your mural is lovely and so unusual. Like Roarah said, it is a beautiful reminder of your friend.

Thanks for the kind words, everybody. I'll take some more pictures soon for a better view of the mural. It's such fun seeing your favorite nooks too. Roarah, when I was a small girl, a neighbor had a house with crystal doorknobs. I just loved them, and was thinking your little ones might find them enchanting too.

Thanks for the compliments! Love the cedar closets, especially the size of them. My MIL had one in her house and it was amazing.

You know what a fun topic would be? Areas in our home we simply do not know how to decorate! Boy, do I have a lot. lol.

i'm a nook lover too and this thread comes along while i'm thinking about the traffic plan in this house.
we have a large 30' x24' l-shape great room which contains the living and dining rooms.
but as usual everyone is always jammed into the 11'6" x 18 kitchen.
i wonder if i could install the kitchen in the bigger living space and have a living room 'nook' in the kitchen space. we only ever use the living room for tv watching and video games, why not make it a nook size space? i can see a fireplace at one end and tv at the other, with back to back loveseats, sort of similar to a local library's reading nooks.
hmmm.......

Great thread, oakley! As a fan of white kitchens, I love yours. I can see why you all enjoy the special places you've posted.

In 2008 we built an addition which included a play area for the grandkids. I wanted a couple of window seats, to encourage the kids to read--even put up some 'Fairy Tale' wall words for fun:

Big, scary son enjoying the sunny window seat:

Every kid that comes into the house loves those seats!