We started
our process with updating this house pretty slow. MUUUUUUCH slower than we initially
anticipated. Although we didn’t officially own it until January 11th,
we actually moved in back in mid-December because our other house sold so
quickly and the renters that were previously in this house had moved out
leaving it available for us to move in early!
We moved pretty slow because for the majority of the time it was just me
and George. The move was also done
during week days, not a weekend, and we both have these things called full time
jobs that made it a little more difficult.
We did have help from his brother Bryan and a good friend in town,
another Brian, but they did more of the heavy lifting since I’ve been told I
can’t do it because I’m all pregnant, and it was mostly for just one day. Most women would be excited by being told to
sit on the couch, but I’m not really one of those women. I probably ended up carrying more boxes than
my doctor would like (I snuck them by my husband).
Anyway, we
got our last box moved over the night of Dec. 19th and then the
morning of the 20th, we headed out of town for the next two weeks
for the Christmas break. We had family
coming in town (to Ocean Springs & New Orleans) on both sides from NY the
first week, and San Diego the second week, so we didn’t really have an option
of just skipping family time this year just because we were moving. We don’t see those family members often
enough to brush them off. We had this great plan to leave the kids with my parents
on the 31st, come back to Starkville and have a 4 day painting spree
of the house. No distractions with kids
or giant puppy, or work! Unfortunately, our Christmas break was less than ideal
for several reasons (maybe one day I’ll disclose fully how absolutely miserable
it was), and that wasn’t able to happen.
Cue driving 5 hours back to Starkville with both children and giant
puppy to a home filled with unopened boxes.
Did I mention that the cold decided to officially hit the south that
week as well? That will be a post all to
itself. Don’t you worry. I take cold very seriously. Don’t like it,
don’t like it one bit.
So instead of
painting all those 4 days, we’ve had to paint mostly in the evenings and when
we’ve convinced kids to go upstairs and watch Star Wars Rebels, again. Keep in mind we don't get home until after 5pm, have to help kids with homework, have to make dinner, and then just do any other random item around the house before we get into painting. This usually doesn't start until 8pm which is not the best for lighting and taking pictures :/ sorry. I had all these great plans to take photos on my lunch break as well but this past week has been pretty dreary outside making less than ideal light inside.
My first item
to tackle was all the trim in the house, and there is a TON. It was this lovely brownish-green
color. Not horrible considering the
light walls and keeping in theme with the historic home, but not our style at
all. White, baby. You’re gonna be white, and you will be
beautiful. Unfortunately, since the trim was so dark it took a solid 4 coats to
get my final approval. Here is a glimpse at a before picture of what the trim looked like. Super dark...
It was so dark that it took 4 coats of paint to get the job done. Here is a pic of painting the trim behind the dining buffet. You can see the huge color difference...
And this is what just one coat looked like...
I will say painting that little bit of trim was the most difficult for me. I had a huge piece of furniture I had to squeeze myself between, and when you are 5 months pregnant it's not so much fun. This space seemed much more daunting in my eyes than it does over the computer screen.
We opted to
start first in the living room. 3 large windows, two small windows, 2 book
cases, a brick fireplace, and tons of molding for baseboards, crown molding and
door casings. The difference of white paint literally updated the living room
by decades. It did take FOREVER because
there is so much trim, and don’t forget that brick fireplace. That is miserable to paint incase you are
wondering. Then we added in a new paint color, and BAM, look, it’s like a
living room straight out of a magazine!
Ok, maybe not a magazine, more like a renovation blog that is starting
off pretty ok considering our ridiculous time constraints. Either way, HUGE improvement to this space. Even though the walls are now darker with a grey-ish brown, with
the white trim everywhere it brightens the space up tremendously! We got our paint from Lowe's in their Sherwin Williams selection. We've been happy with their color options and the sample sizes are pretty giant.
Our
multitasking is also at a new level as we were able to paint the entire living
room during the College football championship game. Even a man can multitask, look at that…so
proud…
It’s kind of
depressing that such a long task for us amounts to such a boring blog post, but
such is life. Thankfully, paint was a
great way to instantly update the space for very little money, and for that I
am grateful!
Next areas to paint include the rest of the trim, room by room (There. Is.
So. Much.), the foyer, and then we’ll head upstairs for color explosion. Some of the best advice we’ve received is
doing the house room by room so we’re not in completely disarray all the time,
so we’re doing that. So far it’s working
out well! Now that we have the painting
of the living room and dining room done we just need to fix the drafty window problem, get a
rug, decorate the book cases, hang some art, hang some curtains, mount the TV
(this was a fierce debate but the only option for this small room, and that
buffet will be leaving the space completely), and add some personality. Overall, very proud that we were able to transform these two spaces. Again, we still have a lot to do to make these rooms "complete", but it's amazing the power of paint!
Before & After- Living room
Before & After- Dining room
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