It has been 2 whole months since I closed on my house. So much has been accomplished in the last 60 days. I have checked off so many items on my to-do list (there are still many more to be accomplished). There have been some fun and glamorous items scratched off my list, and some not so fun things………But let’s start from the beginning

I bought a 1960s ranch. It’s VERY similar to my childhood home as far as the layout. There’s a lot of the original character I love (hardwood floors), and some original character that I don’t love (like monochromatic green bathrooms). There are also some aspects of this older neighborhood that I don’t love, like “mature trees.” There are over 20 oak trees, which means over twenty trees worth of leaves. I’m so over the leaf situation. The city comes a collect the leaves if they are at the curb. The picture below is from one weekend. I’ve had a pile like that high 3 other times!

The first week after closing was busy with fixing things like electrical, plumbing, crawlspace, and HVAC issues. Contractors were lined up one right after the other that week to get this work completed. The following week I had the floors refinished. The entire house has 2-inch oak planks except for the kitchen and the bathrooms. The floors were in great shape, but they were the original color from the 1960s. The varnish yellowed over time and the floors looked orange. I hired Green Step Flooring in Cary to refinish them. They did an excellent job. I selected three colors to try out on the sanded floors….they pretty much looked all the same:

I chose ‘Coffee Brown’ as the color for the floors. I am still amazed at how big a difference this change made to the overall look of the house. I was very happy with the results. The refinished floors look really dark in this picture below. The lighting wasn’t the best for this photo.

I painted (with some help) the stained paneling in the den. Oil based paint DOES NOT flow like regular latex paint and it took me way longer than I anticipated to paint this room. But it looks great! The wall color is Repose Gray by Sherwin Williams and the white is standard trim paint white that didn’t require tinting. My dad built me a new top for the built-in since the old one was formica and didn’t match the new white paint. I changed out the bamboo blinds for some white Roman Shades. You can find those, here. I need to figure out some curtains and actually get some things on the wall and this room will be set!

I changed out the front door color as well. I’ve ALWAYS wanted a cool colored front door. The previous owners had all the exterior trim painted white before putting it on the market (which was really nice!). But a white front door is basic and boring…..so I painted it TEAL! Lol this probably shouldn’t be a shocker if you know my love for the color teal. The actual color is Worn Turquoise by Sherwin Williams.

The dining room has also received a face lift and a new light fixture. I’ve been pining over this Sputnik Chandelier since I first saw it at Lowes. It’s definitely different from my typical rustic/farmhouse/old world style. But it awesome! I’ve seen plenty of pictures where this modern light fixture has been mixed with rustic dining tables and décor. I will make it all work together. I found a deal on this light fixture on Amazon, here.

It took me a long time to decide on a paint color for the dining room. I originally wanted to paint it Sea Salt by Sherwin Williams. I’ve seen this color in a couple of different rooms in some of my friends’ houses. It looks awesome there, but not so much in this room. After a ton of sample swatches painted on the walls I decided on Silver Salvia, by Sherwin Williams. It’s got a lot of blue mixed in with the gray (but it’s not a Carolina blue!).

The last room I’ve worked on is my room. I’m going for a gray/navy/blush combo this time around. The walls have been painted Passive Gray, by Sherwin Williams. The head board has been repainted navy with some leftover paint from another project. I found this awesome shag rug on rugsusa.com on sale, here. I refinished a “new” dresser to go in this room, in an awesome blush color. I’ll have more details on that later. I still need some curtains and the bathroom door is going to be transformed into a barn door (so that I can have a little more space in my tiny bathroom!) Overall this room has come together pretty well. Here’s some before and progress photos:

There has been a lot of progress. Nothing is completely finished yet, but the house is starting to finally feel like my home and not someone else’s place. It is still taking some time to get use to my new surroundings, but it is slowly getting there.