Where do I begin?!? This was a project that we have been wanting to do for a while, but have been putting off because of time. We finally decided to bite the bullet. Although we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. Our house has pretty much been the same since we moved in 12 years ago. We have changed a few things like the rug and couches but basically our decor has remained the same. When our neighbor, Jennifer Gierkey, moved she used a lady to help her decorate her new house. I love the way it looked and Jennifer said this lady had great taste and was all about using things you already had but also searching for new things. So we set up an appointment with her. Her name is Neringa Denton. We liked her right away. She said she does like to repurpose and rearrange what you already have but will also shop for thing that are good deals and not extremely expensive. We liked the idea that she would mix some higher end items with less expensive items, but the space looks like you spent a fortune. We also liked the idea that she shops and buys these things. Since she does this often, she knows which online sites to go to, which stores to go to, where things are on sale, etc...After several weeks of talking and negotiating, we came up with a budget. Of course, we went over budget but oh well :) The first thing she said we needed to do was repaint a lighter color. I LOVED that idea. We picked out a light gray that I am extremely happy with. At first we were just focusing on the living room, well that led us to look at the kitchen. I mean if our living room looks nice and updated, we need to have the kitchen updated as well since it's an open concept house. And if we are going to paint the kitchen, we might as well paint the cabinets. And if we are going to paint the living room and kitchen, we have to paint the whole freaking house because all of the walls connect. And if we are going to paint all the walls, we have to update the downstairs bathroom because it has blue wallpaper. And if we are going to change the downstairs wallpaper, well Charlotte wants her bathroom wallpaper removed because it's circus animals. So one thing led to another :)
We started the process mid October and wanted to have everything finished by the week before Thanksgiving. We were pretty much adding finishing touches the day OF Thanksgiving and we actually didn't finish the whole process until Christmas. It was VERY stressful to say the least. Before they could paint, we had to move all decor to our garage, and Neringa basically told us that all of our wooden furnture like entertainment center, bookshelves, coffee table, end table had to go. So we sold alot of that stuff. We also had to move everything from the kitchen and the cabinets. We pretty much just ate out for two weeks, and when we came home from school, we went straight to our bedroom or Wayne's office. After painting we spend so much time talking on the phone with Neringa, having meetings with her, having her bring over decor/furniture for us to either agree on or say find something different. Seriously time consuming and stressful. Plus we were both working and helping kids with their activities and school work. But in the end, we love everything. We are SO glad it is over though! Oh and a big change we made that we both just love (although it was really expensive) was getting rid of our tall drapes and replacing them with motorized shades. It opens up the room and is so nice and clean looking!
