Showcase Sunday- My Living Room/Dining Room

I decided to hop on the bandwagon of the other bloggers showing off their homes. Though I can't invite y'all to my house because of privacy reasons, I do enjoy visitors and showing people my home. From now on Sundays will be Showcase Sunday in  which I clean up my house very well and show you a different  part of my house.
I'll admit that I am not the neatest person.  By showcasing my home once a week, I will be forcing myself to tidy up the place really well so that I don't embarrass myself by showing a messy house. This house tour will get me to clean parts of my house that usually don't get touched during my weekly cleaning. Spring is coming up soon and I am getting a head start on my spring cleaning this way.

Come with me once a week and take a peek into my life, catch a glimpse of my house, and see how you too can make yourself a homey home without needing to spend too much money to spif up your house.

The first stop on my house tour will be my living room/dining room. It is one decently sized  room, perhaps a little too packed for some, but I enjoy it. There are lots of pictures on the wall, however they, and any other too personal items will be blurred because, while I don't mind sharing a lot of my life on my blog, there are  some things that are too personal to go on  the internet.

Here is my upholstered set. Though we bought a second hand couch, we opted to get rid of it and decided to replace it with this dumpster treasure that was a matching set as well as being in better condition. The couch and arm chair have  not remained in as good condition as they were when we first adopted them as we have kids; that is part of the reason we decided it foolhardy to furnish our home meant for kids with pristinely beautiful furniture.
Above the arm chair is a mirror that grew up with me in my childhood home. My parents have since moved and this looking glass no longer is welcome in their home; I took it in and gave this regal mirror a place befitting of something of its splendor- directly across from my front door.
Bedecking the walls are numerous photographs, both of relatives and of our heroes. All are pixelated, regretfully.
At the far end of the wall,  you see our fish tank.

You're probably wondering how and why a person who prides herself in her extreme frugality has a fish tank in her home. Fortunately our fish tank is quite cheap to run and adds a great sense of relaxation to our home. I will write a future post or two on how to run a fish tank on a tight budget.
Perched on the fish tank is a board of wood salvaged from the dumpster. This shelf holds fish tank related paraphernalia. Hiding behind a photograph is a painting, made by me.
On the corner shelf, also a dumpster find, are my candlesticks.
Also there are some fake flowers, a present I received last birthday, in a dollar store vase.

Between this picture and the next there is a dining room table, seen in both pictures but without a head on picture. Such a picture would be boring, as who wants to see a plain table anyhow? The table was  a  hand me down from  someone who was redecorating her house and got a new table. The chairs were bought second hand. The dining room  table is where I keep my lap top when it is in use.

This corner bookcase was a hand me down from my sister. It is the home to my breakable nice dishes, CDs, computer various electronics and wires, bird food, and some baskets. Above it is a plant, bought from a nursery a few years ago.While some might  not consider the purchase of a plant to be a frugal one, I appreciate having greenery in my home as I feel it promotes a calming atmosphere.

The wicker and metal flower shaped basket holds various odds and ends such as potpourri. It is not so sturdy and will be moved as soon as baby Spike knows how to crawl. Two and a half year old son Lee knows  that it is not a toy and doesn't touch it.

Above a breakfront filled with knickknacks and personal memorabilia, Buddy the budgy tweets and cheeps. Buddy especially enjoys singing  along to music. The house is a  happier place thanks to Buddy's songs. Buddy was given to us  as a present after our old budgy, Trevor, died of teflon gas poisoning.

The painting  above the breakfront was not an especially frugal purchase. It was bought from a traveling  artist who came to our door. He was a poor  man and I felt happy giving him charity of sorts and getting a beautiful painting in return. I like the painting and the serenity and romanticism this painting  gives off.

These two floor to ceiling book cases were the only two pieces of  furniture that were purchased new from  a store. We hunted around until  we found the best price, which included delivery and assembly.

This swing was a dumpster find and has seen better days, but it does its job. The arm chair was also a dumpster find.

The red pillow that you see is a Boppy nursing pillow, a hand me  down from my sister in law. I love it! The Boppy makes it  much easier to nurse as it allows you to be hands free while nursing. Unfortunately its a bit bulky so has no permanent home; it wanders from place to place.

I feel that children's projects hanging give a home a more lived in feel. I hang projects that Lee makes on our front door.

Baby gates and curtains block off the kitchen and hallway. When we have guests over, we like to keep the focus on the clean living room/dining room and not on  the hallway or kitchen that may or may not be dirty.

Both curtains are old shower curtains that we received for cheap and they are hung on rods that did not require any installation.

Lacking a built  in closet, our coats and diaper bag hang from hooks on  the wall.

The  mural on the  wall was drawn by my husband. When our landlord moved out, he left a wall covered by scribbles. My husband drew the mural on top of that. (With permission, of course.)

The carpet is an area rug that be bought for very cheap from a traveling salesman. We put it down on the floor and pick it up as necessary. We generally keep it on the floor in the winter to warm up the place and roll it up in the summer to keep the place cool and make the place look more spacious.

Join me next Sunday as I give you a tour of our hallway and toy shelves.