A dramatic living room makeover from Measured by the Heart (guest post)

For the past several summers I have opened up my blog to allow other bloggers to share their stories with you. It’s a great way to connect you guys with other bloggers that you may also enjoy reading. I love blogging and I love helping other bloggers by allowing them to share their stories with a new audience. So, having said all that, this summer is no different. Every Monday (and a few random other days) all summer long I have a special guest blogger scheduled to share an awesome project or tutorial with you! Don’t worry though, I still plan on blogging about DIYing our new (to us) house as well. Lots of great stuff going on over here.

I am kicking off my summer guest blogging series with the most awesome living room transformation. I literally dropped by jaw when I saw the before and after of this room. And it melted my heart and made me go “awwwwww” when I saw that her little daughters helped her install new floors. I hope you enjoy Connie from Measured By the Heart as much as I do.

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Hi everyone. I am so excited to be Here at House of Hepworths. Isn’t Allison the cutest? Let me introduce myself.

My name is Connie and I blog at Measured by the Heart. I write about all things DIY. Including home improvements, hair tutorials, recipes, printables, parties and more.
Today I get to show off my family room makeover. A year and a half ago we moved into our forever home. It was quite the journey and you can read my Home story if you want to know more.
Here is what our family room looked like before we moved in. This pic is from our appraisal.

Things have definitely changed. Here is the after.

It was a different route getting here. One day I woke up to find this on our ceiling.

There were several of these all over the ceiling and they were dripping. The disaster cleanup guys were called in and holes were made.



They pulled out a big chunk of carpet because the flood had rained down on it.

Then we had to have these big fans running 24 hrs a day to avoid mold. They are loud and gave us a headache.

But my kiddos had fun with them.

All of the flood pics were taken with my cell and can be found on my instagram account.
Since we had the carpet ripped up, we decided we weren’t going to put down new carpet. I wanted wood floors.

This picture was taken at Christmas time. Right after we put the floors in. My hubby is currently working 15 hr days 6 to 7 days a week so he is never home. My girls and I put the floors in by ourselves. My 8 and 11 year old hammered in about 25% of the floors. {the flood was extensive and we ended up putting in 2500 sq feet of flooring}

I am so stinking proud of how hard they worked and what great attitudes they had! My girls rock.
We also tore the carpet off the stairs and put in wood.

I was nervous but learned it isn’t too hard to install hardwood stairs.
Since the ceiling was opened up, my hubby decided he should put can lights in. Electrical is not in my wheel house. So he found the time to sleepily put them in. And now the ceiling looks like this:

It was hubby’s idea to put two fans in the ceiling and I LOVE it. It gets hot in the summer. Especially with three big windows. But we love our view too much to cover them.
So now the big construction is over and our family room is back together. Want a tour?
Let me remind you of the before and after.


Aren’t those floors gorgeous?
Here is how I styled my fireplace.

We love to travel and I always try to pick up something for the home from the places we visit. It reminds us of how much fun we had. The surfboard and carving are from Hawaii. The turtle my hubby made for me out of copper. Because he knows we love swimming with sea turtles. And have awesome memories from Grand Cayman. You can find the love is spoken here printable on my blog.
Our tv cabinet was made over from a dresser.

I love decorating with gourds. They dry out with such a great texture.

Continuing around the room, this chair is everyone’s favorite.

Not only do I love the lines, it is so comfy. Behind it is one of the windows we just can’t cover up. Want to see the view?

This picture was taken last fall. It is much greener right now. Our backyard neighbors are dairy farmers. And we love looking out and seeing the cows in the fields. At night you can see the lights from the city in the distance.
Standing at the tv cabinet and facing the family room, you will see our couch and coffee table.

I don’t love my couch but for now it is what we have. And it is pretty comfy as every seat reclines. I made some pillows for the couch.

I have two galleries on the walls. One behind the couch.

And one on the wall opposite.

I love having photos of my family all over my home. If you want to do a gallery wall, check out my tutorial showing an easy way to make a gallery wall.
Thanks for joining me on my family room tour. A big HUGE thanks to Allison for having me over today.

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You can find Connie blogging away at Measured By The Heart. Go check her out!