At Home With Rachel Denbow

The next guest in our "At Home With" series is our close friend Rachel Denbow. Rachel is one of our favorites when it comes to decorating, and we are so happy to have her sharing her space today! "Our 100-year-old Craftsman sits about one mile outside of downtown Colorado Springs in a beautiful neighborhood with those coveted mature trees that get close to making a tunnel as you drive down the street in the spring. It's the only rental we were even able to look at when we relocated from Springfield, MO, last February, but we instantly fell in love with the huge dining room and great light throughout the house. It's the third home we've lived in in five years, but the challenge of redecorating a whole new space always thrills me—at least after most of the boxes are cleared away. Our living room is much larger than our last two places, and we love having a fireplace with built-ins and a deep mantle. I love white walls and trim but the dark brick and wood trim are growing on me."  "My favorite find in our mostly thrifted, vintage living room is our piano. I found it last Mother's Day weekend and was so excited about its price that I didn't really think about how we'd get it home. We ended up renting two different U-haul trucks. And after enlisting the help of a neighbor, we realized it was about 1/4" wider than our back door. It sat in our garage for months collecting dust until I finally decided to sand off the front lip to see if that would help. I then tried removing the security door to no avail. It was actually Elsie's husband, Jeremy, that told me that pianos were built to be taken apart for tuning and that we could remove a few pieces to get it inside. Brett and I finally got it apart and relocated to the living room where I sanded, cleaned, and painted it a minty blue. I added sweet little knobs to the front to make it easier for the kids to open the lid and placed some plants on top, so all it needs now is a tune and we're ready for piano lessons!" "The 3-tiered lamp shade next to the piano is probably the most unusual item in this space. I thrifted a few lamp shades trying to find the perfect size for another lamp and ended up with a few too many in the end. One day it just hit me that I could turn them into a sculptural lamp shade if I rigged things right. It hovers over a utility cart in my favorite shade of green and balances out the vintage lamp on the opposite side of the piano." "We love to relax in this room but it's also large and open enough for the kids to get a little rowdy when it's too cold outside to play. The extra floor space works well for Sebastian and Ruby's impromptu dance-offs! I do most of my writing at night on the couch after everyone is asleep and my husband and I like to catch up on Downton Abbey or watch documentaries on Netflix on the weekends. We keep board games stashed in the sideboard drawers and Ruby likes to hide her My Little Ponies in the built-ins so I'm forever finding vagabond toys. I'm looking forward to the piano side getting some use soon!" "We've almost been in this home a full year, so it's funny to me that I've only just figured out an arrangement that really works for this space. I remember sketching out ideas for furniture placement before we even signed the lease thinking I'd know where to put everything the first time. It's a long space with a lot of windows, walkways, and a fireplace. It took me a while to set things up so that we could enjoy the fireplace and the tv in two different places, incorporate both couches, utilize my two favorite chairs, and keep our long coffee table without the room feeling completely awkward. Once we were able to include the piano into the mix things finally made sense to me." Thank you so much, Rachel, for this peek into your living area!  Be sure to stop by Rachel's blog Smile and Wave and say hello!  xo.