Before & After

I love a good before and after shot. We moved into our home the first week of May 2016 and were painting full throttle to get the house ready for our daughter, Katelyn’s wedding shower that would be one month after our move in date. (Yes…I’m ambitious…I know! Or maybe crazy!!) Then shortly after the time of her wedding (which was three months after we moved in) we found out Joe (my amazing husbandino [this is a Katelyn word]) was getting a job transfer and we have to move. So I only got around to doing some of the rooms. But here’s a look at the comparison of how the previous owners (nice people) had decorated, and then how we put our touch on things. The property here and the feeling of peace was what initially drew us into this place.

Time for some honesty…I really hadn’t wanted to move. Joe had dragged me to see this house practically against my will. I even went as far as to tell him I was mad at him for bringing me here, but as soon as we walked through the front door, I said to myself, “Hmmm (okay…not the word I thought in my head, but I’ll leave that to your imagination), we’re moving!” This place has plenty of trees, a river that runs behind it and a home that had been meticulously cared for that I knew right away we wanted to be here.

In our previous home (click here to see it), we had a darker grey almost everywhere. So this time I wanted things to be very light and airy. And voila! We used a bright white paint on almost every wall. Joe was not impressed with how many coats (ahem…4!!!) it took to cover the walls. We then painted a greige feature wall with a colour from Behr called Natural Gray (PPU18-10U). I found an amazing fabric in Hamilton, ON at the store Ottawa Textiles (268 Ottawa St N) that I used throughout the living and dining rooms (see the next photo). These lined curtains took hours to sew but they were so worth it in the end and I am really pleased with the results.

Like I said, our previous home had much darker colours so we have a black dining room set that I hope to paint one day. What’s great is that we’ve been able to fit about a dozen people around our table which is perfect for big family and friends get-togethers. I think the combination of the chandelier, the wall colours and brighter fabric tend to make this room look lighter anyways, and when I put the white tablecloth on the table, it’s even brighter. It’s so nice to have all the natural light pouring in during the day and be overlooking a lot of greenery too.

It seems I’ve always had my office facing the front of the house. It find it’s convenient to be able to see and hear if a delivery is coming to the door. It’s the room I probably spend the most time in, working away on websites and other creative aspects like my daughter’s wedding invitation (click here to see it). To the left is where I store the majority of my crafting/sewing items. Joe was so sweet and painted this as a surprise for me on a weekend I was away with my mom, my sister and Katelyn (an annual girls’ getaway). I had no idea he was going to do this while I was gone, but he painted it the same colour as the feature wall in our living/dining room and I love it. This room seemed to fit everything I needed in it just perfectly! It also helps that the closet was full of shelves to store so much more.

For this room, all we did was use the same Natural Gray from Behr and added a few of our own little decorative touches. It’s mostly stayed the same though.

Since Katelyn got married three months after we moved, her room became the guest room. We weren’t able to get around to painting it, but just some different furniture and accent colours, and voila! New room!