First Steps in Our New Home

We’re officially moved in! It’s only been a few days in our new home and we couldn’t be more in love with it. It’s full of natural light, peaceful (we previously lived off a very busy road), and gives us all the space we need. Now I won’t sit here and pretend that everything has been easy peasy because we did just go through a move, which is stressful in and of itself, and it was a move during Covid-19. Don’t forget to throw in the two young children and dogs into the mix for some added chaos. We took all the necessary precautions and thankfully made it through just fine.

Since we owned the home for some time prior to moving in we had painting done in a few rooms and a deep clean. This was important to us as living in the home during projects is more challenging and not a wise decision given social distancing.
The first area that we knew we wanted to paint was the bookshelf hallway off the side entrance of our home. It was previously a dark off white that came across dull and the shelves had been quite marked up over the years. We went with Benjamin Moore’s Simply White to brighten the space. It’s a traditional warm white without being too heavy or creamy. See the before and after above.

Next up was our dining room. The walls are currently a soft gray that will stay for now, but we wanted to tweak the beams in the ceiling. While we admired the look of the brown wooden beams, the ceiling in that room is lower than other areas in the house and by painting them white it opens up the space. We’ll be taking a “less is more” approach to this house and want it to feel open and airy while inviting at the same time. I truly loved the decor in our last house, but it definitely felt cluttered at times.

While we were painting the dining room, we decided to brighten up the fireplace as well. We had the exterior black brick converted to white. We may paint the inside of the fireplace black later down the road as well. We used Simply White in this room also.

Now we get to the kid’s rooms. Ah the delicate act of balancing what the children say they want versus what will actually look good. For example, my 6 year old son when asked what color he would like his room replied “three colors Mommy! Blue, green, and red!”. Now you can only imagine the thoughts running through my mind, but I simply replied “hmm we’ll see buddy!” and somehow we ended up with Benjamin Moore’s Hale Navy and thankfully he was thrilled- whew!

Somehow my 4 year old daughter was much more practical and asked for turquoise. Needless to say I was quite pleased. I chose Sherwin Williams Waterscape, as I wanted to softer feel for room rather than too bright and in your face. Not exactly turquoise but it did the trick!

That’s it for now. Much more to come after we get through the bulk of our boxes. I haven’t even opened up the fun ones with decorative goodies for the living room and dining room yet. We prioritized the kitchen, kid’s bedrooms, our bedroom, and playroom, so the good stuff is yet to come.