8th Time's a Charm?

Well, we did it!  We FINALLY decided on an exterior trim/siding color that I love.  It didn’t come easy, and one dormer may or may not have 7 different colors of paint underneath the final coat, but I’m glad we didn’t settle.

About a week ago I decided on two colors for the exterior no matter what.  I thought, let’s just do it. If I don’t love it, it’ll be ok. It’ll look ok.

Well, it didn’t even look ok. In fact, it looked like baby blue primer once it got on the house. Safe to say, that’s not even close to what we’re going for.

So after calling in some expertise from a local designer/church friend to reinforce that it “did not look ok,” much internal struggle and suffering the embarrassment of walking back up to the painters with – ah,hem – three more test colors, we have a color on the dormers and trim that makes me happy.  Sherwin Williams Bunglehouse Gray is the darker shade and Analytical Gray for the accents. Let’s not talk about the irony of the name of the lighter shade.

The Bunglehouse Gray is far more green and “earthy” than I wanted to go, but it works with the brick. I just had to get out of my head that this was going to be a painted-brick, white home right now. I had to take a step back and let that go, and then I saw that the house can be lovely if I just let it be!

That was SO NOT EASY. But it’s done. We’re happy. We’re moving on…!

Another momentous occasion that happened over the week was that the house was primed with a coat of KILZ.  I went by one afternoon and had to leave immediately because of the fumes and the smell. Whew! Don’t know how people stand to do that!
We also “decided” (because now you know what I mean when I say the word “decided”) to give SW Pure White a go on the interior walls. I did a little test patch and, although it looks different in every. single. room. I think will be a nice, cool shade of white since we plan on accenting with grays throughout the house. I did try others including Alabaster (which took on an interesting yellow tinge in our lighting), Moderne White (it’s straight up gray and will probably end up being our cabinet color), Nuance (gray again), and High Reflective White (self-explanatory as I put on my sunglasses). Thank y’all for all the suggestions! If you couldn’t tell, our builder recommended Sherwin-Williams paint for multiple reasons, so we were a little limited on the follow through with other brands. I’m excited to see the first coat of Pure White next week and hopefully it’ll speak to me.

Although I’m obsessing over all white walls, we’re considering a few other colors to incorporate throughout the house. I want our bedroom to be very calming and a good mix of masculine and feminine and the bathroom will be pretty much black and white. Lots of room for fun there!

When asked, Alice says she wants her room to be pink (of course), so I’m still thinking just a barely-there pink like the Intimate White for her room. Her furniture is an off-white shade, so that should work well. Something that’s really important to Michael and me is to teach our kids that there are other people, places and cultures in our world besides the Southern small-town bubble we live in. Don’t get me wrong – we LOVE our bubble. But we also want our kids to understand the bigger picture. So, plans are to make Alice’s room travel-themed so she can learn about and be exposed to new places every times she’s in it. I’m going to convert this beautiful Riffle Paper Co. calendar (at 60% off!) into some artwork and have ordered a sample piece of fabric from their new line. I don’t want it to be super themey, but I think these accents will be sweet and hopefully meaningful to Alice as she grows up.

With Alice’s nursery, we went really neutral with soft shades of pink and khaki. It was perfect and I loved spending time in her room more than any other in the house. But, with Baby Sister’s nursery I am going balls to the wall(paper) and planning to put this fabulous Laura Ashley paper above the chair rail. It may be my last girl nursery (or nursery ever for that matter with how hot and huge I feel with this pregnancy) so it’s going to be super girly and I’m pumped!

I’d like to do wallpaper in at least one other room of the house. Thinking the powder room, maybe? I’m considering the removable kind so if I get tired of it I can take it down easily. There are so many great and affordable options out there now – especially on Etsy.

We’ve decided we are definitely going to brick one of the walls in the kitchen to add some texture. Michael and I both love exposed brick, but unfortunately, there was no brick in the house to “expose” so we’re just going to create our own.  The fireplace is on the list to get some more brick somehow, we just have to figure out the best way to do it. Ideally, we’d like to continue it to the ceiling to add height and a focal point.

We are also going to wrap the beam in the center of the living space in wood to match the floors. I feel like it’ll help anchor the room while also adding some charm. We gave ourselves a pep talk last weekend about being sure we continue to incorporate these little pieces of character even if the budget is being squeezed to death. There’s no sense in putting all these resources into a remodel just to make it an “it’s ok” place to live. It needs to be special, darn it!

Probably the biggest overall improvement to the house this week is that two of the antique doors we purchased have been installed!  One is on the front of the house and enters what I’m referring to as our mudroom (it’s tiny, but we’re going to make it work for that purpose) and the other exits to the backyard from the kitchen.  It’s probably the first thing that’s been installed in the house that I’ve actually picked out and I LOVE THEM SO MUCH!! I know they’re just doors, but they are both really unique and have a story. They still have to be painted, but you can get a visual at least.

The front double doors are up next and that is really what I’m really anxious to see! Listen for my excited screams over the next few days. I’m sure you’ll be able to hear them across the state.