Master Bedroom Progress

Here it is:

The Master Bedroom.

The master bedroom was very high on our priority list of things to get done as soon as possible in our new home, since its one of the places that we knew we would be spending lots of time. I wanted a peaceful and calming feel in this room. When we decided to go with the wall color (Sherwin Williams, 7669 Summit Gray), at first I was hesitant that it would be too dark but Chris was confident throughout and I'm glad that I trusted him. 
When we first saw the house, this was one of the most boring rooms but instead of being deterred, I saw it as a blank slate. 

Bedroom BEFORE (From the listing)

There was a lot of work done that you can't see here, mainly in the closets- there are 4 total in the room. Two of them are right when you walk in the door- a small walk-in and a linen closet (not pictured) and the other two his & hers closets are on the right side of the room when you walk in, which you can see. They all required lots of TLC but in the end came out bright & clean. We also loved the amount of natural light in the room coming in through the large windows. 

Our Master Bedroom During & After

Because of the dark color, edging wasn't easy, but we did get some help from our friends with the painting (thanks Kevin & Bobby)!

Most things in the room were from our apartment, but I got great deals on the new things we did purchase - the throw pillows, lamps and small mirrored dresser are all from Home Goods. The stand-up mirror (which doubles as jewelry storage inside - pretty awesome) can be found here: http://www.wayfair.com/Powell-Furniture-Cheval-Jewelry-Armoire-with-Mirror-597-514-PW4745.html), and our duvet was a Christmas gift that we asked for from my parents last year from Nordstrom. (http://shop.nordstrom.com/s/nordstrom-at-home-contrast-pleat-duvet/3212613?origin=category&contextualcategoryid=0&fashionColor=&resultback=0)

I still have a wishlist for this room: a rug for under the bed, chandelier for above the bed, and a matching bedroom set (dying for a King!). But for now and until we can afford those things, I'm extremely happy waking up here and wanted to share the progress we have made so far!  

Photography: Jenn's Senior Pictures

This past week in Cape Cod on vacation with my family, I took some Senior Pictures of my sister. Can't believe she only has one more year of high school left, time is flying! She's gorgeous, so she certainly made it easy, and I'm really happy with how they came out. 

See some shots below: 

Where the heart is.

So far, making changes to our house has been as much fun as I had hoped it would be. I've learned so much- for example, the difference between 2 shades of paint on the same swatch can make a drastic difference once you apply the color to a whole room. We have been big fans of buying testers first to paint part of the wall and comparing different shades or hues, since the amount and type of lighting that you have in the room you're painting also makes a huge difference in the end color result.

Sherwin Williams Paint Swatch Book

We have been using mainly Sherwin Williams paint- even though its a bit more expensive, the quality is great and we chose these colors knowing that we want them to hold up for a good amount of time before we have to touch up or change. SW also provided me with a free paint swatch book, which I'm pretty pumped about. (Think they noticed the amount of time we have stood in front of the wall of paint swatches, trying to make the right decision?)

Today I wanted to feature one of the rooms I'm proudest of so far in terms of paint color: the kitchen.

The kitchen started off as completely white, walls and cabinets. We have big plans for this room but of course need some time to save up. Eventually I'd like to refinish the cabinets, add a new backsplash and countertops and even take down a 1/2 wall to make a breakfast bar, opening the room up to the living / dining area. The photos below are the before (from the listing and how the room looked when we first walked through the house) and after (painted and decorated). They are taken from the angle facing away from the sink & cabinets: 

Kitchen Before (Left) and After (Right)

We loved the blue for the kitchen because it felt warm and cozy- a french country blue. The color is Sherwin Williams' 'Open Seas'. The floating shelves provided some depth to the room, and were beyond easy to put up. They are from Target, and come with a template of where you need to drill (still a 2-person job, but took about 20 minutes). I surprised my husband, who went to work outside after we had finished putting up the shelves, with finalizing the decorating and setting up our wine fridge. The Giada cookbook is even open to his favorite meal, linguini with white clam sauce. I'm really happy with how this space came out and can't wait to make some even bolder design decisions in the future for this room.