Before we moved into our farmhouse (2.5 years ago) Nick and I both acknowledged + accepted that it was (mostly) a total fixer-upper. Every carpet needed ripped out, wall paper removed in more than half of the rooms, complete bathroom + kitchen gut jobs, the house needed/needs insulating + central air , virtually every ceiling in the house had/has some sort of water damage — and the list goes on.
We knew all of these things going in. We were “in it for the long haul” we would say. We knew that if we wanted this 25 acre slice of heaven on Earth we were going to have to make compromises. BIG compromises. And we did.
I think Nick had a better understanding of what it would mean to live with floor tiles crumbling beneath your feet and/or lifting up at the mere prod of a finger, with an oil furnace that would cost us a small fortune to heat our home to a brisk 55 degrees that first winter — I did not.
Over the last three years this house has worn me down in some ways, but it has most assuredly also won me over.
Now that we’ve completed some major damage control projects (installing a wood stove + two pellet stoves for heat, addressed major leaks in ductwork + furnace, firming up a barn in disrepair, attacking water damage issues, etc.) we’ve eagerly jumped into some other home improvement projects, like: building a built in bench in our breakfast room and replacing flooring room by room, etc. (And a new mudroom — beginning next week!)
I’ve already shared much of the progress in the kitchen with you here on the blog, but I’m going to start sharing even more of our home projects. Including the less sexy ones. You see, I’ve always held off on sharing interior blog posts because largely you’ll find that the most common framing is the “before and after.” And then only glimpses of that journey in between. Because we are total diy’ers over here, there is just so much time in between our before and afters — to me it just seemed strange to share. Plus so much of what we’re doing has little to no glam value…
In the last almost 3 years I’ve come to embrace the journey and not be so caught up on that darn destination. Bloggers like Gwen and Brittany, who embrace the beautiful moments with the really real + ugly ones, have inspired me to share ours too. I want that type of dialogue to be more widespread — so I’m chiming in. :)
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Today I’m sharing with you our breakfast room as we approach the final stages of design! I know it will be a few more months (if not more) before I call it “finished”, but for now I’m starting to see it all come together and oh my gosh is it ever exciting! Haha!
Adding such a large white object to the room drastically increased the amount of light reflected in the room and it is now at least twice as bright. Totally sealed the deal on painting all of the walls white in here. ;)
That said, I have begun to re-think my “paint all the walls white” methodology and have started toying around with whole house color palettes.
Here’s where I currently stand:
Note* The whole house color palette was created using Valspar color swatches (via my paint options at my local Lowe’s). I utilized the color selection tool on Valspar’s website to help me put together the above image.
In reality there is still a decently sized list of to dos for this room: finish trimming, paint walls + trim, get window treatments, source chairs (something like these to bring in some more modern elements?), acquire pillows for bench seat, find art to decorate blank walls (maybe some fresh prints to mix in with my own?) and replace the light fixture above the table (like this one?) and also the ceiling fan (like this one?).
Adding the built in has added so much dimension and character to this room, but also completely changed the layout! With the table nestled into the bench’s nook the room has opened up to potentially reveal two clearly defined spaces instead of just one purpose. Still mulling on my thoughts there…
What do you think of a whole house color palette? Thoughts on the colors I’ve chosen? Chair style choice? Lighting? Window treatment sources? What to use the other half of the room for? Tell me your thoughts!
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