50 Shades of White...Let's Talk Paint!

Actually it's closer to 30,000, that's right 30,000 shades of white!!!  Never could I have imagined that white would be the hardest color to choose.  There are yellow whites, blue whites, green whites, red whites and everything else under the sun.  So I'm here to settle it for you.  If you plan to put any white in your house check out Benjamin Moore's Simply White!  It was chosen as the 2016 Color of the Year and I would completely agree.  Our house is on the cool side when it comes to the other colors selected but this Simply White adds a touch of warmth with a bit of a yellow undertone making it a warm but perfect white.  



We used Simply White on our trim, doors & casing.  Kitchen, main bathroom, laundry and living room cabinets.  It is also in a hallway, Lucy's room and our ship lap wall.  It's kinda everywhere.  Once we had our base color it was time to add in pops of color!

Where to start?  I wanted to focus on the main living area and create the color scheme from there.  If you read the previous post, you know my inspiration came from here so we were planning to go with similar colors.  I looked and looked and looked some more and came across this house by the same Four Chairs Desingers and found this aqua backsplash and fell in love!

Since the cabinets were to be Simply White I thought it added a nice touch of color pop.  So I went to the AMAZING TEAM over at Hirshfield's Paint here in Alexandria and we went to work finding a perfect match.  We came up with what I call our Chameleon color Deja Vu



Sometimes it looks blue, sometimes it looks green and I love then I don't have to re-paint my walls to get a different color :D

From there it was figuring out the color palette and this is what we came up with



We added in a little gray with Eider White, and my favorite gray which was Passive Gray that went in Jackson's room.  The dark blues are for our master and accents for Jackson's room.  For Lucy's room I had painted all the walls pink...the girl loves pink, but then it was just WAY TOO MUCH PINK, so her room is the only room I repainted and chose to keep 1 accent wall pink and the others Simply White.  We took one more risk doing a glitter paint.  Let's just say it was a major fail, and was painted over.  I also fell in love with shades of Mint!  We painted our main bathroom ceiling...wait what?!  Yes, we painted our main bathroom ceiling a mint color as well as the vanity.

Speaking of ceilings we also did a wallpaper ceiling in our dining room!  It is probably one of my favorite accents in the house.  We chose to do tray ceilings in our foyer and dining room to break up the ceiling a bit and I had planned on painting one or both but then I came across a house that put wallpaper in the ceiling and I was sold!  I purchased the pattern Flourish by Candice Olson from Sherwin Williams.  They always have coupons available and you'll want to use them.  This wallpaper was $85 for a double roll and it took us 2 double rolls because of the pattern.  We purchased the glue from Menards, learned how to "book" wallpaper (don't forget this step or it won't work) and worked together as a team to get it done.  Let's just say Mr. Bertie requested we never hang wallpaper again...especially on a ceiling.




We sprayed the primer on the ceilings and walls first.  We actually didn't paint our ceilings, WHAT?! Unless there is a major food fight we really didn't think that was a necessary step...let's face it, 2 less coats of paint, hell yes!



Back to the budget!  I went into Hirshfields and gave them our plan and they gave me a number.  One thing to consider though when budgeting for paint is all the supplies that go along with it.  You will need trim brushes, big rollers, little rollers, MORE rollers, tape, can openers and so much more.  We should have planned for an additional $$$ because we didn't take those items into consideration.

Budget: $1000
Actual:$1388.72
Over: $388.72 (cash flowed)

So I think that covers the gist of selecting paint colors.  Go to the experts and get their opinions but in the end it's all up to you!  Find colors that flow well together but don't be afraid to step out of the box!

Paint colors will be noted when I show the final pics in each room.  If you ever have questions please just ask in the comments section!

Check out my "Paint" Pinterest board to get more inspiration for your home!

One final thing, WHAT ROOM DO YOU WANT TO SEE NEXT?

1) Master Bedroom
2) Kid's Bedrooms
3) Bathrooms

Our Happy Home

     Ok, let's kick this blog off again!  Now that things have slowed down I'm making this blog more of a priority it's time to get back to business and share our building experience with you all!  I run into you followers once in a while and every time I do I get the, "when are you going to post to your blog again?!?!"  So here is what I'm going to do.  I'm going to do a finished space post today and next time I'll talk budget again.  Everyone cool with that?

     When designing the house my main goal was to make it a bright, airy and most important HAPPY!  I wanted to walk in and simply smile and I'm pretty sure we've accomplished that.  It is not elegant, it is nothing fancy, but we put a lot of special love and attention into many details in our home. The inspiration for our home comes from this gorgeous home out in Utah which was designed by Four Chairs Furniture & Design and featured on House of Turquoise.

     I'm going to start with our Family Room if that's all right with you.  This is such an important room to me.  It is where after a hard day you can come home and kick your feet up.  It is where we sit to play Battle Ship, Guess Who and a crazy game of Twister!  And it is where we will decorate our Christmas tree as a family.  We wanted it welcoming, warm, and comfortable.

 

Let's start with the fireplace.  It was purchased through Woodland Direct.  We weren't going for the woodsy feel as you can see, but rather a more modern clean look.  We love the rock bed, the amount of glass and the heat it gives off.  We wish it came with a blower and had less of a black boarder around the glass.  One mistake we made was when we originally had it framed in, it was way too high.  Mr. Bertie's biggest pet peeve is having a TV too high above the fireplace.  Well when we moved the frame work down, we forgot to lower the beam support as well which caused us to still have the beam high and the TV higher.  It's on our list of things to fix/change but that will be at a later date.  The tile around the fireplace was a new product through Home Depot.  I loved it the minute I saw it and hated it the minute we had to try and cut it down.  You see the dimensions of the fireplace don't match up to the tile dimensions so we had to cut it.  Let's just say it lead to a few cuss words.

My favorite one-of-a-kind details are the barn beam fireplace mantel and the barn wood used in the entryway and kitchen.  These came from the farm I grew up on in Pelican Rapids, MN.  One day last summer...let me reword that...one very HOT day last summer Mr. Bertie and I pulled barn wood from that barn.  Someday it won't be there but I now have a piece of memory in my home from that barn.

We used 4 10" lag bolts to support the beam and chose not to cover up the bolts.  I like rustic touch it adds.  

  

Ok, so now let's talk about the custom shelving!!!  This was one project I was jacked about and was lucky enough that my custom cabinet guy Jeremy with Hazel Hill Cabinets was willing to assist me in creating my vision.  Pinterest is incredibly inspiring and so the idea came from this here.  I love photography and I love my kiddos so I wanted to have a place to feature each of their beautiful faces. Mr. Bertie was nice enough to put puck lights above each picture so that at night they can still shine.  We used MDF for the shelving and added dattos to make it stronger.  We also framed in the middle square to add support.  All in all I am incredibly pleased with how it turned out!

Below the shelving are 3 cabinets to store blankets, board games, DVD's and more.  The reason we did the frosted glass is because our DVD and any other entertainment system people have these days will be inside the cabinet.  We didn't want the wood to cause a weak signal for any remotes.  

And now I want to share with you all my newest obsession, Bord!  Jill Arnquist is the owner and the artist behind this incredibly beautiful furniture.  I kinda want to be her someday ;)  I respect any girl that's not afraid to get her hands dirty!  She's located in Alexandria now but still serves the Twin Cities area.  I cannot recommend her enough - inspiring person and stunning furniture! 

I am very simple...less is more kinda person.  

She has her hands on every aspect of her furniture from design, to cutting, treating, staining and fabricating those amazing metal legs.  There are so many options that every piece she makes is unique!

So that's our family room!  Any questions and comments are appreciated!  

Wall Color: Deja Blue

Cabinets & Ship lap: Simply White (best white out there!)

All paint was purchased through the amazing team at Hirshfields Paint

Floor: Shaw Brushed Oak Sandstone 

purchased through Adam Arnquist at Arnquist Carpets Plus Colortile

Rug & Accessories: Home Goods

Window Treatments: Ikea

Ceiling Fan: Lowes