House crashing: Molly from Pennies ‘n Grace

Last week when I was in NC, my husband and I actually stayed with Molly and her family.  Molly writes a fun lifestyle/family blog at Pennies ‘n Grace – where she shares delicious family recipes, her amazing yard sale and thrift store finds, DIY projects, how she decorates her house with pennies, and the grace of God that makes all of life possible. 

Here’s a picture of Molly and her husband Brian and their adorable kiddos.

I was so inspired by her home and decorating style/ability that I asked if I could share it with you and she said yes!  Really I just wanted to document some of her ideas so I can use them to inspire some things at my house and I thought some of you may want to do the same.  And what I LOVE the most about her house is 75% or more of her furniture, home furnishings, décor…pretty much everything in her home comes from thrift stores, yard sales, or craigslist.   Molly loves antiques, loves to tackle DIY projects, and has a rustic, vintage, but yet traditional style.

Here’s their humble abode from the outside.  I love the gray, black and white color scheme.

Loved this little sitting area she created on her front porch. 

One thing that inspired me about her house is the way she uses every little space to make it beautiful with furniture and accessories yet it is 100% functional as well.  But her home never felt cramped or cluttered to me.  (Probably because there was NO clutter – definitely something I am working on achieving in my home.)

Let’s take a peek inside…

I LOVE her living room! It is not huge but it was cozy and beautiful and she has fit in plenty of seating for all the friends and gatherings she hosts.

And I love her color scheme too probably because you can find most of those same colors in my living room.

Just a side note: couches came from a yard sale, the beautiful rug was a Craigslist steal,  her Target wood rosette wreath on the mantel was a Goodwill find new in the box, and probably ALL of the accessories and décor came from either yard sales or thrift stores.  Like I said, she knows how to decorate with pennies and do it beautifully!

The large chalkboard was a DIY project made from a Goodwill find, the large white chair was $9.99 at Goodwill, and the stools came from a thrift store too and she recovered them.   

Loved this display on top of her antique piano.

Now let’s step into the kitchen.

Her kitchen used to be all red as you can see in the below picture.    But she recently painted the cabinets all white and used red as an accent and it really brightened things up.

Canning shelf – I think she found this in a trash pile.  Forgot to mention that – yes, she also finds amazing stuff!

Loved her Keurig station and the k-cups in the glass jar.  I might have to do that!

Pretty fabric backed open cabinets.

Her baking station.

Moving into the guest bath – she has mustard yellow and black in here and it is really pretty!  Her husband just finished installing that pretty tile and they are working on putting in a new sink cabinet in here too.

Hallway

I loved all the groupings of pictures and wall hangings that she had throughout her home.  Don’t be surprised if you see something like this pop up at soon at my home!

This is her son’s bedroom (and also doubles as a guest room when they have company).

She did a really cute Book Nook in his closet made with a repurposed roadside rescue desk in the bottom.

And across the hall is the girls bedroom! 

See the play kitchen –she paid $2.21 for it at Value Village.  The before picture is below and Molly transformed it to look like the above picture – so cute and so much better!

She did a version of my spray painted coffee filter poofs as a DIY mobile over her little girl’s crib – so cute‘

She found an adorable doll house on the side of the road but it was a little big and bulky for her girls room.  So she used pieces of it (roof, doors, windows, trim, etc.) and added to a narrow bookcase so her girls have plenty of room to play!

This was a mirror that broke so she reused the frame and turned it into hair bow station.  Look at all those cute flowers and bows!

Now let’s check out the master bedroom.  I LOVED this room.  Seriously, so inspiring for the space I hope to create in our neglected master bedroom.

Once again, loving the wall display!

And this wall display, and the coziness of this corner.  The mustard yellow chair was a $2.99 thrift store find.

Now let’s step foot into the master bathroom.  Her husband completely gutted and redid this bathroom a while ago. 

She found the gorgeous cabinet at Goodwill – another new in the box Target clearance item.

They refinished and used an antique dresser as the sink cabinet.  Her husband plans to reuse the drawer fronts and make them into doors for the bottom.  Loved this – so pretty!

I hope you enjoyed this tour as much as I did!  You don’t have to have thousands of dollars to decorate your home on a budget.  By shopping smart at thrift stores and yard sales, being patient for just the right thing to come along, and being willing to DIY or paint a few things, your home can be beautiful, and functional for your family.  And you can create a welcoming space to be used to be a blessing to others (as it was to us!)

Hope you will pop over and check out Molly’s blog – Pennies ‘n Grace. I really enjoyed her recent series on how she cleans and manages her home.  Already putting some of her tips into practice – check out this post on Daily tips to a “put together” home.