I know some of you have been DYING to know what is happening over here! And I’m dying to tell you!
It’s been over six months since we moved in, and I can now understand the crippling sensation that can come over people about decorating. Making decisions this time has been soooo different! Knowing that this is our dream home, our forever home, has changed things for me. I’m usually so daring! I usually plow through decisions with gusto, and this time, I’ve been much more conservative. I’ve gotten soooo many questions. And I PROMISE I haven’t ignored you. I just haven’t known the answers!
So, in the spirit of 100% transparency, Here are some answers to questions you may have about the decisions in the new house.It’s definitely time to start introducing color into this non-colorful dream home of ours.
Are you painting the barn red like you said you wanted?
Oh my gosh, this was the ONLY thing I was sure of. I grew up in Holden, and the Stevens barn has had my heart for many years. If you follow me on Instagram, you know the barn I’m talking about. It’s red, and classic, and I LOVE IT!
This is the only picture I have of the Stevens barn. Forgive the graininess.
But, I’ve found that my dream of a red barn isn’t easy. St. George is HOT and 115+ degrees in the Summer, and apparently you can’t paint light siding a darker color. You can only paint dark siding a light color.
The barn is currently light gray. SO, if I paint the siding red, a darker color, the siding isn’t rated to handle the type of heat that the color will attract, and the siding will warp.
It may take me a few years to figure out how to get my red barn, but as of right now, that project is on hold. If you have any expertise, PLEASE tell me!
I even peeked underneath the pillars, and there is BEAUTIFUL wood under there!
Are you painting the front of the house?
Honestly, I don’t know, right now, I’m not ready to make that decision. My gut keeps saying that it would be AMAZING with a brick smear or painted white. What do you think? Leave it, or paint it white?
Photoshopped for fun:
Honestly photoshopping it made me miss the richness of the red brick. So I think it’s staying red.
What color are we painting the kitchen cabinets? ARE you painting them?
I feel like Jekyll and Hyde about this decision because the kitchen is sooooo nice. I’m naturally a very logical person, so this decision is eating me up inside.
The main reason I am leaning towards painting them is to de-fancify the space. I’m not a fancy person, and it’s not my taste. I know my answer on this may surprise some of you, but yes, I plan to paint the cabinets. In fact, we plan to replace the granite as soon as we can afford it. It’s going to be expensive, but I do not like the brown/tan busy granite at all.
The built in chairs are still up for debate. I love that my kids cannot take the barstools anywhere. I love the convenience of the build in bar stools. But, I can’t say that I LOVE my barstools with a gusto. Plus, I agree that the look isn’t 100% my taste. Thoughts?
Will you leave the curved island in the kitchen?
I think so! After we moved in, my mind did a 180 about this. I planned to square off the island, but now, I can see that a squared off island would not function the way the curved one does. The curved island is staying as of now. Plus, if we change the footprint of the island, we create a flooring problem.
That brings us to the next question…are you leaving the flooring?
Although I love the gray wood look we did in Jo’s House, I honestly think these floors fit the style of the home, so the plan is to leave the current flooring. I love the floors. In fact, they are VERY similar to our old ones. We put a slat of our old flooring on this flooring, and you couldn’t even tell the difference. I think it feels Southern and classic.
What color did you choose for your walls?
After the ultimate debate, we chose Chantilly Lace {white} for the walls. There are soooo many warm tones going on, that I needed to cool down the walls a bit, but I wanted a true neutral to work with before we start painting cabinetry.
For those of you who may be curious about the couch, we got it from a local furniture store, but they do sell online. It’s called Passport. If you contact them, tell them All Things Thrifty sent you and they can hook you up.
The white made a huge difference! To see the house with tan walls, check out this post.
Are you taking the carpet off the stairs?
YES. I may regret it when I have grandkids, but I absolutely LOVED our wood tread transformation at our old house. But this is also something that will have to wait until I save up for the treads.
Are you going to use patterned tile in the house anywhere?
Heck yes I am! I think we will put it in the laundry room! I LOVE it! We might still have PTSD from ripping the tile out of our kitchen in the old house, so when this project takes off it will happen fast.
I hope you are as excited as we are to see this house transform! If you have any more questions, lay ‘em on me!
xoxo,
Brooke
Have you thought about just painting the inside of your porch white, leave the rest of the brick as is & paint your door a fun color? Of course your railings may get lost in white? I think it’s something to consider.
The kitchen dilemma is a hard one. Personally, if things are in good shape & pretty I’d have a hard time actually replacing them. My life experiences make it super hard for me to replace something perfectly functional & pretty for something I might love. Maybe paint the stove hood, refrigerator cabinet & bar stools then regroup & see if you want to make more changes? If you do go ahead & paint all your cabinets you may find you like a little patter in your counters & you could save that huge expense. A big plus in my book with patterned counters like this is how well they hide dirt or damage, which seems to happen eventually.
I’m for painting the door a splashy red!
Hi! We have the same wood floors…how do you clean them? I’m struggling finding a safe cleaner that doesn’t leave streaks and footprints!!!
We have a Bissell Crosswave and I absolutely LOVE it. It’s a vacuum/mop and I cannot sing it praises loud enough. Seriously, I think everyone should own one!
What is the name of your sectional?
I’m not sure! You could call Passport and tell them you want to know the details of Brooke Ulrich from All Things Thrifty’s new sectional! Here is their website: http://passportfurnishings.com
Maybe you could paint the bar stools a gray they would blend in with the island and not stand out so much.
I can see how the built in bar stools aren’t quite your style, but I think painting them fun colors would at least make them palatable until you find a more permanent solution.
I just found your site – but the first thing I thought when I saw the bar stools is the ease of cleaning the floors AND wondering if the chairs could be modified or changed out to a cleaner-looking “stool” style to omit the back from obstructing the view and making it easy to hop on and off. The manufacturer probably has other options for replacements.