How To: We painted our fireplace at the river black!

The first time we stepped inside our river house — it was the initial viewing — I immediately knew I wanted to paint the fireplace hearth black, even before we decided to put an offer on the home.

Historic Polish: Smooth Ceilings & Plastered Walls

After Brandon moved out and we decided to relocate our office upstairs, we've been focusing all of our energy into a full refresh of the front parlor where the office used to be.

Instant Refresh! Our 4 Tips for How to Paint Radiators

We've been on a radiator kick lately — cleaning, updating and even removing one from our house entirely. We're loving the updated look so much it has us wondering why we hadn't thought to do it sooner!

Our Master Bedroom Transformation: Demo & Restoration

A few weeks back Mary shared the inspiration behind how we've been rethinking our master bedroom, which you'll see a sneak peek of in the photo below. Before we share all the photos from the transformation of the space, I wanted to detail out each of the restorative repairs that went into the process. If you are on the fence about owning a 100-year-old historic home, today's post might just help in the decision making...

Before & After: Painting Our Carriage House

We recently gave the facade of our carriage house out back a quick update and boy is she looking sweet! Since updating the front of our house with a paint refresh this past autumn, we've wanted to update this back space to match.

Before & After: Painting our Historic Home in RVA

We recently updated the exterior of our home with a complete front door restoration, new gutter system, porch repairs and a fresh coat of paint — suffice it to say, we're feeling all shiny & new! This particular update has been a few years in the making (and completed in stages), so we've been excited to share the before and after photos along with a rundown of the background details here on the blog.

Our Gray Halls: Painting the Upstairs Hallway

Yesterday we shared all the prep and painting details we tackled in order to paint the front entry and upstairs hallway — today we're back sharing all the cleanup details and final pics of how it all turned out. Basil is most excited to get this mini home tour started, since the walls now more closely resemble the shade of his coat. He's felt real ownership in this latest project, as evidenced by the paint streaks he acquired while trying to "help" out.

We're Painting! Entryway & Upstairs Hallway Prep

Over the weekend we knocked out one of the bigger painting projects we've had on our to-do list and can't wait to share how it all went down. The formerly white and bland hallway leading up the stairs from our front entryway has gotten quite the makeover in terms of paint...

Painting the Family Room: Done!

After finishing up the painting in our dining room recently, we fell so much in love with the "stone" color we chose for the bottom portion of the room that we decided to use it to paint our entire family room and partial front entry walls. Call us crazy, but we had the energy and decided to pounce on getting this last room done before our gusto (and motivation) ran out. We simply picked up a second can from Restoration Hardware and went ahead knocking out this last room of the downstairs.

Goodbye Purple Walls

We've officially said goodbye to our formerly purple walls and completed the painting portion of our dining room — the room farthest back in the downstairs of our home. While this room is far from finished, we thought it would be fun to share what progress we've made so far.

From Pink to Chic: Updating Our Bathroom's Window Hardware

Another small detail update we made to the half bathroom downstairs while tackling painting the walls was taking care of a really little thing that always kind of bugged me every time I’d go into the room — changing out the pink crackle-textured finials on the window hardware that came with the house...  

Reveal: Our Gray Walls

As promised (and drug out...), today we're excited to show off the final results of our kitchen, back hallway nook and downstairs bathroom painting project. Catch up on all details for how we decided on what color gray paint was our perfect shade, how we prepped the three rooms for painting and how we decided to go all out and paint 2 entire walls in black chalkboard paint.

Painting the Kitchen in Chalkboard Paint

We left off with a preview of the prep and painting we tackled in our kitchen, back hallway and connected guest bathroom.

Getting Prepped for Painting: Our Gray Walls

At the end of May we asked for your help in choosing your favorite shade of gray paint we had swatched up all over our kitchen wall. The results from that vote came in with #2 being the winner — the lightest and warmest shade of the 4 shown.

Help Us Choose Our Gray

While on the topic of painting, we mentioned we've been swatching different colors all throughout the house. One of these areas includes our kitchen and we know we want to go with a gray, but we're having trouble deciding which gray to go with.

Goodbye Red Parlor, Hello Blue Parlor!

As you know, we've been hoping to paint the rooms in our house since we moved in, namely the front room since it had the boldest color and is basically the first impression you get when entering our home. Well, that's exactly what we did over a portion of the long weekend, and today we're sharing the results!