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Giving our Home Farmhouse Cottage Charm {Our farmhouse home remodel}

February 20, 2017 / 27 Comments

When we bought our first home it was perfect. Brand new with gorgeous light and modern hardwood floors, updated fixtures, a huge, beautiful modern kitchen with all new appliances, bright white trim and tons of natural light everywhere. It was just my hubby, my daughter, and I, in a perfectly gorgeous (yet modest sized) 3 bedroom home. Just as we were settling in, some news came along. I was pregnant (surprise!) with baby #2. And my little sister moved in with us on top of that! Suddenly this perfectly sized home became smaller and smaller until it felt like a cage. There were toys EVERYWHERE. We had no play space, only one fairly small livingroom that functioned as the home office, family room, playroom, and anything-and-everything-else room. It was time to move ON.

So the struggle to find just the right home at just the right price (but staying in the super small area we currently lived in so that my daughter didn’t have to change schools) began. Home after home was too old, too ugly, or too expensive. Until finally we found the ONE. She wasn’t old… but she was UGLY. Not my style at all. Dark, out of date; everything needed to be changed. Could we do this? I thought so. So we got quotes, hired a painter, bought the house, and…. then our painter backed out and we were stuck with no choice but to DIY! And so we did! It has been 2 years since we moved into this home, and we are STILL making changes, one by one. But it all started with this, the beginning. The whole house got a facelife; fresh paint, new carpets, and can lighting to replace out of date fixtures.

And tons of new decor! Check out my favorite decor on this post.

This was the before photo of our living area, kitchen, and entryway as it was staged when we bought the house.

It took us and our friends two full crazy weeks to transform it. The whole house got a heavy spray coat of primer first. We used KILLZ. It did an excellent job covering all the dark colors. We painted the trim as well. The house was covered in plastic to protect the hardwood floors from overspray. We aren’t professionals here so I’m guessing we went overkill. But it turned out great and the floors survived! The primer looked so nice and bright! It was refreshing to see all those dark colors gone!

Next came the color. I agonized over the right color choice for the home. I narrowed it down to a few favorite greys from Rodda Paint, and ultimately chose one of the lightest shades I had selected to be the primary color for the whole house. The color is “Rand Moon – 0532.” We accented the back living wall and main entry, and painted the whole formal dining room in a darker shade “Subtle Shadow – 0534.” I went back and forth on various shades of blues and greys but ultimately decided on a primarily grey palette so that year round the home was neutral for party and seasonal decor. And because I am a lover of all things grey. It is always a good idea to paint large swatches of your top choices of paint in multiple areas of the home and look at the color for 24 hours in different lighting and from different angles. The $100 you might spend on sample colors is worth it when you will be spending $$$ on a painting project like this, and cannot go back later if your unhappy with the choice! Why Rodda? Ultimately it was the original painters choice and we had already bought samples in that brand so we didnt want to waste that $100 and the paint is FANTASTIC so we stuck with it.

Here is one of my color samples. So happy that awkward yellow is gone!

First look at the greys with the white trim!!

And this is what the home looked like after the remodel:

Living Room (We replaced the lights with can lighting)

Kitchen (We replaced the refrigerator and added a pot rack, new faucet, and more can lights)

New kitchen faucet

Dining area (new light fixture)

Entry 

Here is the home today, 3 years later, after finishing the kitchen and entry shiplap!

Adding farmhouse cottage charm just takes paint, decor, and some trial and error!

You can find the kitchen remodel {here}.

You can find the DIY Faux Shiplap Entryway wall tutorial {here}.

For more home decor inspiration check out this post here to shop my favorite home decor.

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