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40 Comments

Real Home Tour – What my house really looks like

Filed Under: home tours 40 Comments

Cue the laughing until you cry emojis – this should be a real hoot.

I share a lot of home tours here on the blog. Mostly seasonal ones and one that I update as I make changes throughout the home. But today’s is a first!

If you know me, this isn’t much of a surprise at all. In fact, if you follow me on SnapChat (@makinghomebase) you’ve had more than one glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes here. The truth is, I was chatting with my blogger pal a few weeks ago, lamenting about how picture perfect blogging has become and we joked about if only our readers could see what our homes really looked like. Well, today is that day my friend, I’m showing you the real MHB. These pictures were snapped over two days, that’s right my house looked like this over multiple days. I literally did not clean up a single thing because I wanted this to be as real as possible. You’ll either be laughing and saying SAME throughout this whole post, or you’ll promptly want to unsubscribe because you’ll realize what a mess I am. Either way, I hope you’ll appreciate that while I love decorating, and I love showing you the spaces in my home, the majority of the time my home looks a little more like this (maybe not quite this bad) and less like those perfectly styled pinnable images. To really appreciate this real home tour, be sure to check out the regular (styled) home tour as well.

My Real Living Room:

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On any given day, you can expect the throw pillows from this sofa to be all over the floor and blankets laying around. Laundry baskets double as cars, trains, whatever Peighton dreams up.

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Millie’s favorite past time is opening these doors and pulling out all the things, so it’s usually pretty bare. On the top, that’s all the stuff that was on my coffee table that I had to move in order to take photos for a different project days before. Yep, it’s been there for awhile.

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And if you don’t have a circus tent in your living room then you aren’t decorating the right way. Also, if you haven’t noticed, I find it impossible to keep my floors clean. I need a robot vacuum but I’m concerned about the amount of (non-dirt) crap on the floor so the struggle continues.

My Real Breakfast Nook:
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This is the most accurate representation of what my breakfast nook looks like pretty much every day. Ha!

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Peighton loves to bring out all of her Shopkins and ponies out and build a little town for them on the table.

My Real Kitchen:

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Thank goodness for an extra deep sink. You can’t even tell it’s full of dishes.my-real-home-tour-19

The kitchen is a disaster. All the time. In my home tour photos, I remove allllll the things from the counters. There really isn’t a ton of counter space so when anything is on the counter it looks cluttered, which is always.

My Real Office:

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I’ve never shared this room on the blog before. It’s actually the dining room of our house that I’ve turned into a home office. I love it because it’s right off of the kitchen and I can pop in and edit photos or whatever while cooking dinner. It always looks like this so it’s never been photo ready. The worst part? It only has pocket french doors so I can’t even hide the fact that this room is a disaster! In my defense, I am writing an eBook, re-decorating Peighton’s room, and decorating for fall all right now. But if I’m being honest it probably would still look like this. Also, do you notice that little wall organizer still has the tag on it from TJ Maxx? I’m winning at home office styling, folks.

My Real Bedroom:

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You bed makers are probably appalled. I don’t make my bed every day! I aim for a couple times a week. I do prefer getting into a made bed but it just doesn’t always happen. And let me just say, Peighton’s favorite thing is to hide under my covers/pillows and go into “Peighton’s world” so basically even when my bed is made in the morning, you wouldn’t know it by afternoon time.

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And those perfectly styled bedside tables. Don’t you love my booger sucker + Maglite styling? The flashlight is left over from hurricane Hermine. Which was what, a week ago? Ha.

My Real Master Bath:

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Remember that gorgeous master bathroom makeover from last month? Here’s what it looks like now. All of my toiletries are still in a travel bag left over from Haven Conference. And a screw fell out of the hinge on the vanity cabinet about two weeks ago, and we still haven’t fixed it.

I hope you are seeing a theme here. We actually live here. Those picture perfect pinnable images aren’t my everyday reality. While I love the feeling of a clean house, I love happy kids, wild imaginations, full bellies, and family movie nights way more.

my-real-home-tour And just for fun, I took this picture last night, just a couple of hours after I shot photos of my fall home tour. It doesn’t take long…

I’m not the only one pulling back the curtain and sharing real life. A few of my blogging friends are giving you glimpsing of their real home tours too! I think you’ll find each other them fun and relatable! You’ll love it!

Chelsea from Two Twenty One

Jenna from Rain on a Tin Roof

Chelsea from Making Home Base

Taryn from Design, Dining, & Diapers

Charlotte from Ciburbanity

Katie from Bower Power

A real home tour from bloggers? Awesome! These six bloggers show what their homes really look like. I love this!

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About Chelsea

Chelsea Coulston is the resident decorator, baker, and pillow hoarder around these parts. A wife to an active duty Sailor and mom of two girls, Chelsea's got a knack for decorating even the most challenging spaces (just see her military base house!) She's inspired by cool beach tones and warm natural elements that remind you of a day at the beach. After living in a half dozen rentals, she's enjoyed spending the last few years in a cute ranch style home that she and her husband have almost completely renovated themselves. Chelsea lives in sunny Jacksonville, Florida with her husband and two daughters.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Karen J says

    September 12, 2016 at 10:24 am

    Thank you all. I really needed this. I’ve been so depressed and unmotivated about the condition of my house for a while now.

    Reply

    • Chelsea says

      September 12, 2016 at 9:18 pm

      aw Karen, in our Pinterest-y world I feel like it’s hard not to get down on yourself when everyone else appears to have it way more together. Guess what? WE DON’T! Try to keep that mind next time you see a perfectly styled home. They are just pushing the mess right out of the frame 😉

      Reply

  3. Charlotte Smith says

    September 12, 2016 at 10:35 am

    My top two moments from your tour are the price tag still on the gold hanging baskets in your office. I noticed the awesome shelves and THEN saw the price tag… I wasn’t forensically examining the images like that would seem. Don’t worry. I also love that your toiletry bag from Haven is still in use. I literally snapped my bag from our vacation 3 weeks ago. Still packed. Sitting in my closet. #kindredspirits
    xx

    Reply

    • Chelsea says

      September 12, 2016 at 9:19 pm

      Legit, my favorite home tour of all time! I’m thinking about rebranding my blog altogether and going for a more “real” home blogger thing where I show my robbery-chic decor! hahahaha

      Reply

  4. Teresa says

    September 12, 2016 at 12:46 pm

    Absolutely perfect! Our homes should be proof of a life lived, and living is messy 🙂 BTW – I have a Roomba and LOVE it! I set it to do its thing every morning and Swiffer once a week. Once a month I thoroughly vacuum the rugs, and sweep/mop the floors…the old fashioned way. It makes my life sooo much easier.

    Reply

  5. Anna Starner says

    September 12, 2016 at 1:08 pm

    Thank you for opening your home jut as it really is. It is so true that it only takes a few minutes to go from neat and tidy to a lived in look.

    Reply

    • Chelsea says

      September 12, 2016 at 9:21 pm

      Hey Anna! Thanks so much! Tomorrow, I’ll be back to shiny pretty room reveals but today it feels so good to share my real home and life with two littles!

      Reply

  8. Taryn says

    September 12, 2016 at 6:53 pm

    I loved this. Love the princess castles on the table. And I do have a robot vacuume and highly recommend it! It has eaten a few shopkins that can be retrieved, and we do have to sorta pick up the floor, but it super helpful!

    Reply

  11. Jessica says

    September 13, 2016 at 12:58 am

    I want to begin by admitting that I love the real home tour the best out of all your home tours. It’s the only one that made me sit up and say that I wouldn’t mind having a cup of coffee here. This is mainly because I wouldn’t be as worried about spilling my coffee – which my clumsy self has a tendency to do. I think that we tend to sacrifice real and approachable for social media likes, and honestly? I’d much rather be seen as friendly and approachable, than have a million likes on what of my photos.

    Reply

  13. Nicole says

    September 16, 2016 at 4:28 pm

    I grew up in a house so clean you could eat off the floors. We were told to play at the neighbors house. I think my mother missed a lot! I wanted my children to be able to LIVE in our house, and the more the merrier. Our house is clean but we make comfort and family priorities. Your children will have better family memories and so will you!

    Reply

    • Chelsea says

      September 17, 2016 at 8:34 pm

      Oh the memories are so much more important to me! While having a clean house is a fantasy, I’d so much rather have princess castles and imaginations running wild! I know one day, it will be way too clean and too quiet around here. Thanks so much for your comment!

      Reply

  16. Elle says

    September 17, 2016 at 7:49 pm

    Keepin it real, done right. Like you said, life’s moments are so much more important than extreme tidyness (though that is one of my ultimate fantasies). Just imagine how distraught those adorable little girls would be if they could never build doll houses on the kitchen table or throw pillows on the floor. It’s their home, too, after all. I appreciate you sharing this with us. Hopefully, your real home tour — and the others you linked to — will motivate the rest of us to keep on striving for that perfectly Pinnable home, because we know that our lovely messes can be right outside the frame as well.

    Oh, and I can totally relate to the kitchen with too little counter space. Let there be one bottle or one mug on it and it looks like I’ve completely abandoned the place.

    And don’t let me get started on my office. Ha! I’d be flat out embarrassed!

    Reply

  17. Lucy Wynne says

    September 20, 2016 at 3:17 pm

    Hi Chelsea, now I feel I wouldn’t feel bad if you dropped in unexpectedly because without prior warning theirs cat fur on the floor from my Ragdolls and hay from the Chinchilla. The sinks full of dishes and beware the dust bunnies that my carpet sweeper doesn’t get. Could you be convinced that the cobwebs are my attempt to embrace nature rather my not embracing cleaning?
    Real homes don’t look picture perfect and I’m delighted to know this is the reality outside the picture frame. Keep doing what works for you as a family and once in awhile give us all a reminder of reality with a real tour.
    Take risks 🙂 Enjoy Today because it is here and now, tomorrow who knows?
    Lucy England

    Reply

  18. Nichole M. says

    October 4, 2016 at 9:05 am

    I just found your blog through justagirlandherblog so I stopped by and looked at this post. Can I say, you are awesome! I LOVE home blogs but always think about whether people really keep their homes so neat a tidy CONSTANTLY. BC (before children), our home was decorated perfect and almost always pretty neat. We now have a three boys (6, and 2-year old twins) and my house is always getting messy. My husband tells me not to read my home blogs because it’s not real life and gets me down sometimes when I look around my house and it’s a mess AGAIN! Anyway, thank you so much for being REAL and sharing this blog. It has really brightened my day! 🙂

    Reply

    • Chelsea says

      October 10, 2016 at 8:55 am

      oh Nichole, I know exactly what you mean! It’s hard not to get down when it looks like everyone has it together and you don’t. In fact, most days I feel like I’m barely keeping my head above water around here. Trust me, bloggers are real people too! What I learned from writing that blog post is that I would rather have a messy house and spend those moments in the mess with my girls than to constantly be cleaning after them and missing out. One day we’ll both have clean (and quiet) homes, then what will we do with ourselves? Have a great day! xo

      Reply

  19. Michaela says

    November 13, 2016 at 6:25 pm

    Haha. Snot snatcher chic! Seriously it’s beautiful because you can tell a real family lives a happy life here… and because your mix of textiles, giving me so much life right now??

    Reply

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