Do you love before and after's as much as I do? I have decided to write about them more so you get a sense from where we started to where we are now. I think in some way or other I will always be changing something around here. I like to work on projects and making our home cozy.
We started with a black door and somewhere along the way I decided I wanted a blue door. It stayed that way for a while until we started changing out windows and gutters, then I decided the blue against stone was not the look I was going for.
When we showed my grandmother our home, she said I just love it! She thought it was perfect and move in ready. Of course, she is in her 90's so I can see where she may find everything just "right".
I am all about vintage, but even this was a bit much for me. But I loved our mail being dropped into our home, I loved the door, and open staircase. Sometimes you just have to have a vision and decide you can make changes and make it your home. Sometimes the vision is a work in progress and what you end up with may not be what you had envisioned at first. A vision is ever changing until you get it just perfect for you.
Some things you cannot change, the fact that if you are standing in our foyer you have a direct vision of the bathroom. Yes, can you see that carpet in the bathroom? Who does this, but rest assured it no longer exists. I will save that for another day. At least we can close the hall door and you cannot see the restroom if we do not want you to.
I did not mind the slate floors, if you remember, I like original details, but the angle? I could not make it work with the floors we had installed.
We will get on to the good stuff now. I put a lot of thought into when we make changes to our home. I want things just right, but I am also realistic. I am not perfect and I do not expect my home to be perfect, but I want it to be perfect to me. If you have this outlook and think about what you want, you will not have to think your home does not measure up to other's. Why try to make your home look like your neighbor's, your friends, whatever trends are current. Make you happy and love your home the way it is.
As you can see the door is back to black. Benjamin Moore High Gloss Black. I purchased it at my local paint store, but I also found it on Walmart's site. Our door hardware was not as shiny as it once was, it is amazing what a little gold rub-n-buff can do. I painted the door knocker, lock, and handle.
Photo Bomb again, he loves to be anywhere his momma is. And I always said if I ever had a blog, I would keep it real for people. He is a huge part of our life and I want him and his million toys always scattered around the house to be a part of my pictures. He is very important to us and I like everyone to know it. We kept the front storm door, we also had it painted black and it looks brand new!
I love those little pops of French style throughout our home. I found this mirror one Sunday while strolling through an antique store and told Mr. Vintage we had to have it for our foyer. I looked for the longest time for a table to go under it, and then I decided I liked it better without a table. Sometimes keeping things simple is what makes the most impact.
I found this flower bucket at a thrift store and then filled it will peonies (similar link for flowers) and boxwood stems. Both came from Amazon. They are really my go to for the flowers I have throughout our home. I have not been disappointed yet. I always read reviews and look at the pictures the reviewers provide. A picture is worth a thousand words really works in this instance. The boot tray came from Ballard's Design, I love the look of copper.
I love statuary pieces, this one actually came from TJ Maxx and I have a small blue glass insulator from an electric pole beside my statue. I use it as a door stop when I want the door to stay open. Blue is not the most common color and I love it.
The small cedar plants also came from Walmart. They are out of stock, but so cute! My greenery came from Menards. It is difficult to see in this photo, but there are pinecones all along the garland. I also wrapped LED lights around the garland for an extra kick.
There he is again with his toy he carries around with him everywhere, even to bed. The rug came from Overstock. They are my go to for all of my rugs. They have excellent prices and have a large variety. As you can see we have baby gates up at the dining room and living room.
I wrapped a little garland around my mirror for Christmas. The mirror looks kind of dwarfed here, I am not sure why, it is quite large.
I found the piece above the door (someone commented it reminded them of the movie The Haunting and very eerie, I personally like it, ha!) at a store called Sparkle and Rust. They have a website if you are interested in looking at their merchandise. I enjoy going there and have purchased several pieces from her for our home. We kept the light fixture, I believe the brass piece is original. I changed out all of the electrical plates when we moved in. They were all plastic and were papered in whatever wallpaper was on the walls. Wallpaper and carpet were literally in every room. Well, what do you think? Does the after pictures look better than the before? I think they do, I hope you agree.
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