When re-painting the entire house or picking paint colors for a new construction, selecting a whole house paint scheme can be a daunting task. How do you know that they will all go together? How many colors are too many? Should I just use one paint color throughout the house? Since we started renovating houses seven years ago, I've had my own trial and errors with wall paint. You know what I mean - when that subtle light gray-blue paint sample magically turns into baby sky blue on the walls? Ugh. We've learned from our mistakes over the years, and below I've gathered together our tried and true paint colors that transition seamlessly from room to room. We love these wall paints and home buyers seem to love them too.
Hardware to go with Brass Hinges & Other Affordable Options
I mentioned a while back that my parents had begun renovating their 1990s builder grade home (which is basically in original condition). It'll be an on-going project, but they have started renovating the 90's kitchen and it already looks like a completely different space! The old oak cabinets got a fresh coat of white paint and we painted the small island a contrasting gray to mix things up (Sherwin Williams Functional Gray). My parents chose to hire a professional painter to tackle the cabinet makeover, which I believe was a wise choice. Painting kitchen cabinets is not a quick weekend project and the paint will peel if the cabinets are not prepped correctly (been there, done that). If you choose to DIY, make sure you take the time to clean, sand, and prime the cabinets and allocate mutliple days for the whole process (it took their professional painter about two weeks with drying/curing time).
Denmead House: French Farmhouse Dining Room
When we were house hunting, we had a pretty short list of features we really wanted in a house. Since we were looking to buy a house in a pretty competitive market with a budget on the lower end for the area, I tried to keep our expectations realistic. On aforementioned list, albeit towards the bottom, was a dining space. Brian and I could easily get by with just our eat-in kitchen (and did more many years in our first home!) but since we enjoy entertaining, a dedicated dining room that can accommodate my large family (just barely!) was a wish list item I am so grateful we got with our new home.
Do It Yourself Magazine Feature: Behind the Scenes of a Home Decor Photo Shoot
We were recently featured in Better Home and Garden's Do It Yourself Magazine (!!!) and I thought it would be interesting to share what the process is actually like in real life. This was our first photo shoot for a magazine, and I had no idea what to expect. For some reason, my biggest concern was making sure we had enough snacks on hand for the day (you can see where my priorities are, haha). Here is our personal experience and a glimpse at all that goes into those pretty glossy pages of home decor magazines!
Denmead House: Budget Kitchen Renovation Before and Afters
Happy spring, friends! We haven't been graced with spring-like temps quite yet here in Raleigh, but honestly the cold weather has been beneficial for getting some indoor projects knocked out, like our kitchen!We knew when we bought our new house that the first thing we wanted to tackle was the kitchen renovation. Originally, we planned on painting the existing cabinets and potentially keeping the laminate, but after living with it for a while, we shifted our plans. I HIGHLY recommend living in a new space for a while before making big changes, if possible. By living in our kitchen, I realized a number of things I wouldn't have if we had just started renovating on day one, such as:
Our New Home - The Denmead House
Happy New Year, friends! I hope the holidays were restful and joyful for you and that you are excited about a shiny new year. We've had some changes in our personal life that are bittersweet but also very exciting (hence the silence around here the last few months). After much thought and deliberation, we've decided to move back to Raleigh. It seemed like every weekend we were going back to Raleigh for family, friends, or work, and it became clear over time that a move back was going to be the best long-term plan - at least for the foreseeable future.