House tour: Molly from Pennies’nGrace

I love a good house tour, don’t you?  And especially a house tour where I feel like I feel like the style and furnishings is attainable for me.  While I love taking a peek at fancy, expensive homes – that just won’t ever be in our budget or lifestyle and isn’t even my style.    So I love when I can be inspired as I take a peek at an average home of someone who loves to be a homemaker and has poured their heart into decorating, thrifting, and doing DIY projects to turn their house into a home.  And that perfectly describes Molly’s home who blogs at Pennies’nGrace.  My husband and I so enjoy getting to visit with them, we usually do some thrifting or yard saling together, and I come home inspired to be a better homemaker and to think outside the box even more in my home working with thrifted and yard sale finds. 

I actually did a home tour of their first, much smaller house when they lived in North Carolina and you can view that here.  Last summer, they along with their 4 kids moved to the Charleston area in South Carolina and have been busy making this new house into their home.  She blogs all about her projects, thrift store finds, and much more on her blog and you can find some before/after pictures there too.

So let’s take a tour of their home.

When she first texted me a picture of the front of their house I couldn’t believe how much it looked like ours!  Even down to the burgundy door and shutters (mine are now black).   I just love that palm tree in their front yard– so fun to live within just a 30 minute drive to the beach. 

When you walk in they have a formal living room and dining room – I just love how she set it up.  And I try to not be jealous of that beautiful couch with nailhead trim that she scored at Goodwill for around $20!    Her house is just filled with Goodwill and yard sale finds – in fact it would probably be easier to go through and say what wasn’t from a yard sale, Goodwill, or Craigslist.   But it is GORGEOUS – which shows that you don’t have to walk into a furniture store and taken on debt to finance a room of furniture to have a beautiful home.  It just takes a bit of patience, creativity, and browsing yard sales or Craigslist, and you can furnish a beautiful home on a yard sale budget. 

A Craigslist dining set, yard sale chandelier, DIY frame turned chalkboard, and some wintery thrift store décor grace her dining room. 

I also love her antique pieces too.  She has searched and found several hutches, armoires and antique pieces to add to her home through sales, Craigslist and antique stores. 

Her house has a great open floor plan so now let’s step into the living room…

They still have paint colors and things they want to work on in their home – so this paint color will probably change in the future. 

Another Goodwill find – an almost brand new IKEA chair – the cover on it was nasty but underneath was a beautiful white chair!  And of course lots and lots of thrifted and yard sale pillows!  

That cute white end table didn’t look at all like that when she bought it for $4.46 from Goodwill – see before/after pictures here.  I am not sure I would have even imagined the after if I had seen it at Goodwill.  

The living room is open to her nice big kitchen…

Molly is an amazing cook and I enjoy coming home with new recipes and inspiration in the kitchen too. 

I just love her cute pantry!  She painted those chevron stripes in there before moved in and it is just a fun, super cheap upgrade to a pantry. 

This is a small half bath off the main floor for guests – it is really more of pretty, deep red than my pictures show. 

And her laundry room which I know she loves since she didn’t have a laundry room in her last house. 

It was big enough she could add this hutch and shelf for extra storage and I think she keeps craft supplies and other supplies in it.    (And yes we both share a love for baskets!!  They help so much add organization and functional storage, while still looking pretty.)

Now let’s take a peek upstairs into the bedrooms.    They have a HUGE master bedroom and it is so pretty!    She painted it gray when they moved in and created a DIY headboard from an old fence gate.  I think she found the gorgeous curtains at a yard sale this summer for super cheap.  And she already added the yellow wicker bench we found while thrifting to her room!

Their master bath was literally red from floor to ceiling and all accessories red too when they moved in (you can see before pictures here).  But she painted a darker gray in there and added some fun décor. 

I love her window turned towel holder. 

She created the little desk nook in the corner completely for free with some pallets and things she already had.  And added a faux mantel and some seating in here too.  I think she is looking for a couch or some big plush chairs to eventually go in here.  I don’t know about you – but I love the thrill of the hunt too!   Having in mind some things you would like to add to your home but patiently looking for a deal at a yard sale, Goodwill, or on Craigslist. 

She blogged more about her pallet desk, her Goodwill candelabra, and more here. 

They have an open loft upstairs that they plan to build pallet couches in and make into a fun family room.  She just put up this gallery wall in here before we visited and blogged about it here.

This is the hall bathroom which serves as her kids bathroom and guest bath. 

This is her oldest boy’s room (he is 9) and it is decorated in orange and blue sort of a sports theme.  Another antique armoire stores legos and toys in his room. 

Her 2 youngest girls (2.5 and 4) share a bedroom and it is fun and colorful!

I love her empty white frames gallery wall!

And this is her oldest daugher’s room (she is 7) which also serves as the guest room.  I just love this room with the pale green walls and gray and white accents.  

And another beautiful antique armoire.

I hope you are as inspired as I am by Molly’s home and décor.  You can follow along on her journey over at Pennies ‘n Grace – she share some fun before/after pictures of their first home yesterday.  I just love before/after pictures – they can be encouraging when you are living in the “before” and can’t wait to see the “after” in your own home. 

So what was your favorite room in Molly’s home?  Anyone else ready to go yardsaling or thrifting after seeing all of her treasures??