This is a long overdue post - I wanted to post it the week that we closed on the house, but then actually working on the house, graduation, Ireland, and moving have all taken over my life for the past month...so here we are, a month overdue! I wanted to share what the house looked like room by room, and what my initial plans for the space are! When we went for our inspection, I went through all the major rooms and measured out the rooms so I could have an idea of what we were working with. Below are my simple drawings, actual pictures, and a few ideas for furniture and decorations for the downstairs. We will cover the upstairs in a separate post!
Our plan for the house was really to make it feel bright and light and welcoming. We ended up painting all of the walls a light grey (universal grey by Glidden), have painted all of the trim and doors bright white, and replaced all of the yellowing outlets and switches with white ones. We are in the process of exchanging all of the door hinges and door knobs (we went with these black ones). We are going with black hardware throughout, which I really love because there is less variation between items, and it ties it all together. I'm very new to this house thing, so I really want to make it as simple as possible to keep it cohesive.
It's crazy looking at these pictures because it already looks so different in the house (which if you follow along on instastories, you already know!), but those final reveals are for another post ;)
kitchen //
Our kitchen and dining room are connected, which I love. I really wanted a somewhat open concept, so we really found the perfect situation where the kitchen and dining room are connected, and then flow into the living room that has it's own walls.
I mentioned in our house buying post that when I first saw the house, I was thrilled that the kitchen had white cabinets. After having dark wood cabinets for my entire adult life, I really wanted a bright and light kitchen. The cabinets, as well as the appliances and counter top, were brand new. I was smitten, but CR pointed out how nonfunctional the kitchen actually was.
I convinced CR that this was not a deal breaker, because we had the space to make it an actual functional kitchen. So we went about hunting down the cabinets they bought for the one side, and installed two new cabinets and a pantry along the left wall! We also replaced all of the cabinet knobs with sleeker round black knobs. Now we are waiting for the countertop people to come install our new countertop. After that we are going to put up floating shelves (like these ones) in a stain that matches the real wood floor in the dining/living room area (the kitchen has a weird fake wood tile. so weird) to pull it all together. That's where we will keep most of our dishes (I just bought a few more of my favorite bowls from Target, which I can't wait to display!). After that, we are replacing the backsplash on the other side (which, btw, is really just the same tile as on the floor in our bathroom. ???) with probably white subway tile. Then we are going to put a little coffee station in the back corner (not pictured) so we can keep all of those things in one place. For now, it's all a waiting game!
dining room //
This room really is the one room that needed the least work in the whole house. We painted the walls and trim so far. We will be replacing that ceiling fan with a simple chandelier - something that looks like this one (but in black). And then some blinds or curtains or...something on the windows. I'm still somewhat struggling with window treatments and what should go where. I've never actually purchased blinds or curtains before, and have never really paid attention to that part of decorating, so if anyone has any ideas, please share!
As far as the dining room table, I was conflicted about kind of table to get. I love the look of big farm house tables, but I felt that didn't really go with the look of the rest of the house. We do have some of those farm house elements, throughout, but I felt a big giant wood table with look too clunky in the space. I found the perfect compromise when I found this table on Etsy a few days ago - it has the wood element (in a color that we choose), but also has matte black steel legs, so it ties everything together. Biggest bonus is that it's handmade and less expensive (even with shipping) that a lot of other tables I found on the major furniture websites! Now I have to figure out the seating situation. Any suggestions? I have no idea where to start there either. Benches on both sides? Upholstered chairs on the ends (not those $$$ ones, but a similar style)? Upholstered chairs for all? I have no idea!
living room //
Now for the living room, and all this space that I'm unsure what to do about.
First of all, I'm obsessed with the fact that we have a fireplace. I'm already looking forward to decorating the mantle (is that weird?). We are going to to something controversial though...and paint it. I know some of you will try to convince me not to, and I get that, but I'm set on doing it ;) I found a ton of inspiration pictures that just make me feel that it's the right choice for our space. It's lower down on the list of priorities, but I'm hoping to get to it next week!
Besides that, we are going to eventually replace the boob light with ...something else (to be determined, apparently haha). Other than that, we will for sure have curtains on the big window, and then maybe blinds for the smaller ones? Still not sure.
As far as the space goes, there's so much of it. I have no idea where to start here just because it's so big. We want a big comfy couch for the space - my younger sister is actually moving in our old house, so we are letting her borrow our smaller love seat, so we are starting over here. I think we are going to go with either a dark grey or navy L shaped sectional. I'm having a hard time finding one I like though. So far this two piece sectional is my favorite, especially because you can customize the color of both the fabric and the legs. Or we could go with a couch with a chaise on the left side, I can't decide! Then we'd like a rug (tbd based on couch color), a cool coffee table (I kind of want to make this one), and an accent chair. (something that's a fun accent like this blue version from World Market). And then we still have so much space that I'm not sure what to do with! Our bar cart will go in the corner (...it may be the only thing actually set up in this room right now #priorities). For now we will use our Ikea entertainment center for the TV, but I see that being replaced in the next few years too. One step at a time!
Okay so that's the downstairs! Here's a quick peak into what the entry way door looks like now! The trim still needs to be painted but I'm so happy with it's transformation!
