Welcome to my new home...

Over the last few months, I have been teasing you with little tidbits here and there of our moving adventure and our new home. Now that things have settled down, it’s time to let you in on the whole shebang.

In January, I decided to sell my fab old house and buy a new one. My husband and I had been trying to make my wonderful little house (which I had owned for a number of years before we became “us”) work for both of us, but after nearly 8 years, even I was willing to finally admit that it was time to move on. We needed more space, he wanted a garage, etc. After debating with myself for a couple of YEARS ~ my husband was adamant the decision to sell be mine alone, bless him ~ I realized in January I was OK with letting my house go. It felt right. I had no idea at the time how much the Universe would guide us on this journey ~ looking back now over the craziness that has been 2020 thus far, I can see this is exactly how things were meant to happen. And I am forever grateful. I was able to sell my old house to people who absolutely adore her for more than I ever imagined. It felt like a parting gift from the house, a thank you for fixing her up and loving her with all my heart for 16 years. 

My husband and I were able to find and buy our “someday” house ~ the house which has all the little things you dream of but never quite believe will actually all come together in one dwelling. And even though it is brand new (finished in April), and I am a lover of old homes, it had character built into it and I can feel this beautiful lady coming to life as we infuse personality into her. 

Let’s start outside.



The photo above shows the house as it was finished. We still had to put in grass and flower beds, etc. Here is what it looks like now, several months later:





I am especially in love with the front door. Because our house is a custom home, we were able to work with the builder and select a lot of finishes, etc., including our front door color. The builder was originally going to paint it the same charcoal gray as the shutters, but I wanted a pop of color ~ something that felt happy. I chose this sort of mustard gold and absolutely love it (several people have asked me what color it is ~ it’s Anjou Pear by Sherwin Williams). We also added white rockers, some planters and, of course, Tilly. She has a perfect spot of her own right on the front porch ~ she is sporting her new pink polka dot bikini for summer. 

The porch gets sun in the morning so by the afternoon, it is in the shade. We sit out there many evenings, until the mosquitos run us off.
Now let’s go inside.

We have a lovely entryway in our home, with a high ceiling and lots of light thanks to the glass surrounding our beautiful front door. Here is the before photo to give you an idea of what I started with:

And here is the after:

I decided to hang an updated version of my “Wall of Women” in the entry, similar to our last house. I mixed in a few different pieces of art and a mirror, as well as a cute little entry table. I may still add an umbrella holder and a standing floor vase on either side of the console table, if I can find something I like. 

You may have noticed the drapes on either side of the front door. A bit of an unusual choice, I know. I was trying to solve for privacy while maintaining the right look and feel of the home. I thought about blinds or shutters, but they didn’t feel right. I considered individual curtains, but that felt too fussy. My husband asked why I couldn’t just hang a curtain there we could pull closed when we wanted, which put me on this path. I did a lot of internet and Pinterest searching and found this:

I knew instantly that had the right feel to it. So using that photo as my inspiration (if you know the source, please let me know and I will happily credit), I decided to do natural looking drapes. But our entryway has a high ceiling and I wanted to take advantage of that, so I chose to do extra long drapes, hung quite high. It feels just a tad British to me (which I love) and I quite like how the drapes frame the entryway and also make it feel cosy. All in all, it turned out to be a decorating risk worth taking.



I decided to go with a color called Memorable Rose from Sherwin Williams for the main entryway wall. It is actually much more pink than it looks here ~ I can’t seem to get a good photo of it. The rest of the entryway and stairway I painted a light teal blue called Watery (also from Sherwin Williams). Depending on the light, the color can look a bit more blue or more green. The rose pink color is a lovely contrast to it, and a wonderful backdrop for my metallic frames.





I used this old black rug I have had for nearly 20 years in the entryway ~ it is practically indestructible, which seemed like a good idea for this area. It also grounds the space quite well and was a perfect fit. 
Below you can see how all the pieces work together. I was even able to hang my beautiful pink magnolia photograph that used to hang over my fireplace here, over the dining room entryway. That pink metallic print and frame just look so nice against that light teal blue, and it brings the pink over to the other side of this little space. 

What do you think? 



Next time, we’ll take a look at the dining room, which you can see just a glimpse of above, and was the last room finished. 

Photos by The Art of Living Beautifully