Two-For-One Blog!

It's been a while, and I have good reason.  First, we've been just a bit busy moving in and settling into our new home.  Second, we still don't have internet.  Long story, and Comcast is quickly working towards becoming the new BGE.  But that's not what I'm going to blog about today.  I figured you may want to start seeing some more interior pictures as we settle in.  I had hopes to blog about a room each week, but given that we're working on a month without internet, you get two rooms today.  Shout out to my parents for letting me use some internet time at their house today!

So let's get caught up real quick from the last blog, which was right in the middle of our water drama.  Long story short, we ended up having a UV filter put in and things happened very quickly after that.  We were able to officially close on the house on October 19 which was the best early birthday present I could have ever received!  We spent our first official night in the house by the fire with some bubbly staring at the house saying over and over again that we couldn't believe we finally live there.  It's been a whirlwind since then!  Since I was off for a week before then to move stuff in, we had a great head-start unpacking, but there was still plenty to be done (and plenty we are still doing, but we are very close to being done!!).

Anyway, this will be a two-for-one blog because I'm going to blog about the family room and the guest suite.  We'll start with the family room.  I posted a sneak peek of that room on Facebook back in October, and we got a lot of comments about the color we used in that room - more on that later.  Before it all came together in real life, my vision for the room was to keep it light and airy since it gets so much natural light and then the stone fireplace brought in an "earthy" feel to the room.  So I was going on those thoughts when it came to decor.  Plus, I like feeling like I'm in a National Park in my own house.  :-)

We started with the ottoman.  When we were moving out of our townhouse in July, I really wanted to keep the ottoman that was a wedding gift from Steve's parents, but our dog chewed a hole in it when she was a puppy.  So the entire twelve years in the townhouse, the ottoman had a ratty blanket over it to hide the hole.  Since we were moving to a grown-up house, it was time to have grown-up furniture (and Sadie grew up too so she's out of her chewing phase now).  I decided to have it reupholstered and I found a person local to the area that was able to do it.  She said to go to JoAnn Fabrics and pick out anything I wanted.  I wasn't really sure what the room was going to look like yet, so when Steve and I were looking at fabric I told him we could really pick anything we want and we'll find a paint color that matches later.  We ended up picking a pattern with a gray/tan theme which was perfect because it's still neutral (so we could paint any color we wanted!) and the furniture we already had from the townhouse for that room is light tan.  The ottoman was returned to us in August and it turned out great!

We made a trip to Bed, Bath, and Beyond at some point over the summer and bought the gray throw pillows.  And during one of our many trips to Ikea, we found the accent pillows.  We really needed an area rug because the family room is a pretty big room and Sadie doesn't really get a lot of traction on hard floors anymore.  Also the rug warms up the space.  With the loud pattern on the ottoman, we really needed to keep the rug very plain and we did - we found that one at Lowe's and it was so freaking heavy to move!

Next came paint.  As we started putting together the tan and gray scheme, I wanted some color in the room.  The color had to keep the light and airy feeling and I was thinking green would be nice against the fireplace and keep that earthy element.  One day we were at my best friend's house (shout out Amy!) who recently moved into a beautiful, brand new house of her own.  She had a color in her powder room that was what my mind was thinking already and she told me it was Sea Salt by Sherwin Williams.  We went to Sherwin Williams to pick out samples for the family room and several other rooms and then we made sure we liked a color in the family room and we put it on the ottoman to see if we liked it with it.  Sea Salt was the winner for both of those tests!

Now that we have the color actually painted on our walls, it is probably one of the most fun colors we've ever picked.  As the light changes throughout the day in the room, so do the walls.  In bright light it looks green and in dim light it looks gray (but a pretty gray), with different shades of both coming through at different times.  It's like a neutral paint with flare and I love it!  Steve and I love how the color pops against the white trim in the room too.  We loved the color so much that we carried it into the foyer too!

The entertainment center is from Gavigan's (a furniture chain in MD, not sure if they are located anywhere else).  While out shopping for bedroom furniture over the summer, we came across this entertainment center and it was a total impulse buy!  We both loved it and of course barn doors are "in" thanks to Joanna Gaines.  I love it in the room and it also goes well with the tan and dark elements.

The lemon and lime trees are from my friend Kathy (shout out!).  When Kathy and her husband stopped by to see the house shortly after we moved in, she saw how much light we get in that room and thought those trees would be perfect for us.  She doesn't get a lot of light at her house and she wasn't about to look at sad-looking trees all winter, so they were offered to us.  I've always wanted to grow lemons and limes but we never had room for them at the townhouse, so I'm very excited to have them now!

Currently, we only have blinds up in most of the house (our room and the guest room are the exception with curtains).  I have no idea where to start with curtains in most of the house.  In the family room, I'm not sure I even want to put curtains in because it will darken the room.  One of the biggest reasons we bought this house was because of the natural light in this room.  I have a funny story about the blinds for this room (Levolor brand from Lowe's, by the way).  When we were still bringing this room to life, I really wanted plantation shutters for the windows.  Wouldn't that be awesome!?!?  I told Steve about this idea and he was kind of on board until we priced it out:  $500...for ONE window!  There are 6 windows in that room alone and since that whole floor is open concept, I would have wanted the whole floor to have plantation shutters, which is 10 windows.  Five thousand dollars in window treatments.  So we let that one go.  Maybe if we ever strike it rich it might happen.

Family Room - Throw from Amazon; Lamps from Lowe's

Family Room

Family Room - if you are interested in the giant gingerbread man, my sister and her boyfriend make them (different sizes and can custom order different shapes).  Check out her etsy page:  hamiltonhomedesigns.etsy.com

That's it for the family room, onto the guest suite.  This room I had planned in my head before anything else for the house.  I knew from the get-go that I wanted it to have a gray and turquoise color scheme with splashes of coral for both the bedroom and the bathroom.  I already had the curtains from our family room in the townhouse (Target find a few years ago).  I knew I wanted to paint the bedroom walls gray (we chose Evening Shadow by Sherwin Williams) so that I could have turquoise bedding.  I admit that the bedding I bought isn't my favorite, but it will do until I find what I have in my mind.  I wanted something a little more solid so there aren't so many patterns in the room, but this works for now.

The nightstands were the first thing we bought for the house from Target.  As soon as I saw them, I knew we needed them for this bedroom.  The dresser was one I've had for a long time (also from Target from years ago).  The splashes of coral are the throw (Target), the extra pillows on the bed (Amazon), and a photo we took while in Antelope Canyon in Arizona.  I'm still trying to find the perfect chair to put in the corner by the two windows, but again I'm not finding exactly what I am envisioning.

Our guests that stay in this room are fortunate to have their own walk-in closet and their own bathroom.  I kept the same color scheme in the bathroom, but reversed it.  I put turquoise on the walls with gray and coral accents.  The color is Tidewater by Sherwin Williams.  The shower curtain, towels, and coral cup & toothbrush holder were all Amazon finds.  Rugs were from Target.  Enjoy the pictures!

Guest suite - Sorry I took pictures on a rainy morning!

Still need a chair for the corner by the windows.  Antelope Canyon picture actually has several shades of coral, and it's not as dark as it looks here.  That's what I get for taking pictures on a rainy day.  :-/

Door to the left is the bathroom, door in the middle is the closet, door to the right is how the door opens from the hallway.  Sadie found a great spot to lay down for my picture.  :-)

Guest suite bathroom