Finishing Touches

Michael & I have been thinking about how we want to decorate the new house for months now.  Our first impulse is to go buy all new furniture & decor but that doesn't really fit in the budget.  We've been making a list of all the things we'd like to buy/do, so we can prioritize what we really need & what can wait.

We knew a dining room table would be high on the list.  We didn't have a big dining room at our last house & have been using a small table with four chairs.  Our new house has a huge dining room, which will be used for every day eating since we don't have a kitchen nook.  Our current table would look ridiculous in the big room.  Plus, we've been wanting more seating for awhile now.  We went back & forth on what we wanted.  Luckily, we agree mainly on style but we weren't sure if we wanted to buy a really nice table that would last a long time or something less expensive that we'd probably need to replace in 5-10 years.  There were pros & cons for each side but in the end, we fell in love with a table & everything else felt like we were settling.  It wasn't cheap but compromised by not buying the chairs we liked yet.  We're going to use the chairs we have for a little while or buy some less expensive chairs that match closely enough.  That way we won't spend our whole furniture budget on one room.  We went with a Thomasville table & I love it.  Well, we picked it out online & won't have it for a couple months, but I love the pictures & think I'll love it in person, too.

Our next purchase was new bar stools.  We love our bar stools from the old house, but the new house has a counter level island instead of bar height.  The tall stools just won't work.  We found these on Amazon & ordered them on Saturday.  Can't wait to get them in the mail!

Next on the list is paint.  The house comes with one color on all the walls & one color on the trim.  We know we want to paint a few rooms a different color, but we decided to do it ourselves rather than have the builder do it.  I think as of now, we're leaning toward the study, the master bedroom & the guest bathroom.  We're going to keep the entry, kitchen, dining room & great room the color the builder painted since those rooms are all connected.  We're not sure how we're going to decorate the kids' rooms or the guest bedroom yet, so we're holding off on those.

Here are our current thoughts on the three rooms we want to paint.

STUDY
We're thinking about a bluish gray color & are leaning toward Software (Sherwin Williams).  The room has vaulted ceilings & a big window, so I think we can get away with a darker color.

MASTER BEDROOM
I originally was thinking a light gray color but am now leaning toward a grayish green color.  My current fave is Svelte Sage (Sherwin Williams).

I've found some pictures online of people who used this color on their walls & I really like it.

GUEST/KIDS BATHROOM
We were drawing a blank until Michael suggested a light yellow (actually he said a grayish yellow, which we aren't sure exists, but I knew he was meaning he didn't want anything too bright).  I found one called Lucent Yellow (Sherwin Williams) & it's currently in the lead.

I would like to do turquoisey blue accents with this - bath rug, towels, etc, but Michael's not sold on that idea yet.  I think the blue would make the bathroom kid friendly but also tasteful for guests.

(By the way, it feels totally weird to refer to our "kids".  I'm a visual person & I don't think it will feel normal pluralizing the word until the baby is born & I can see for myself that I indeed have two - ha).

Can you tell we like gray?  I just realized that I referenced gray in all three of my picks.  Hey, at least we're consistent!  Hopefully we'll knock out painting the weekend of the 21st.  An employee at Sherwin Williams told us they're having a 40% off sale that starts that day.  Score!

I know it will take time to get the house how we want it, but I love checking stuff off my list!