When my husband and I decided to move our family half way across the country from Tennessee to Kansas, we knew two things for sure: 1. We would love to live on a lake if possible. 2. We didn’t want to worry about a major remodel with two small children running around.
Unfortunately, lake houses in our particular area of Kansas are few and far between. So when we spotted our house for sale on zillow, we decided to jump on it . . . sight unseen! My mom went through it, gave testament to how clean and well-kept it was. We knew the chance likely wouldn’t come up again for awhile. So, the next thing we knew, we had an accepted offer!
Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the ease of our house. Mostly everything has been meticulously maintained. It is spotless in a way that our 60’s ranch in Nashville never was. BUT, when we moved in, it was VERY 90’s with honey oak and yellow paint EVERYWHERE. So, slowly but surely, I’ve changing the color palette to something more our style and documenting as I go! I started with a simple but dramatic change: paint.
YELLOW YELLOW EVERYWHERE
Unfortunately I was in such a hurry to get rid of it that I didn’t get before pictures. Shame on me! So this is one that I had saved from the sale of the house. 
In Progress. I replaced the yellow paint with a subtle gray that I thought would accent the wood color. (Sorry for my kiddos diaper bum haha!)
Step 2: So many hanging lights!
The original owner used our reading nook as a dining room. So once we changed the function of the space, a chandelier (above) no longer made sense. We replaced the single light with 3 recessed lights and we love the result!
Step 3: That honey oak fireplace mantle
The first month we moved in we had a crazy amount of rain which caused our chimney to leak into our house. What was frustrating at the time ended up being a blessing in disguise because it forced me to rip out the old squatty design and give it a nice refresh. I installed pine boards from mantel to ceiling to create a faux shiplap look, and reused the crown molding and mantel.
So, as of now, I still have several projects to complete! I plan to paint out the window trim in white and replace the carpet with wood floors. Eventually the gallery wall will have a nice set of french doors. Until then, here is where we I am with decorations and furniture in!!
Thanks for reading! If you want to keep up with our remodel, please check back or follow my blog!
*Update! New progress to the living room! Get the details here!
[…] we officially moved in, the first thing I did was get rid of the yellow paint! If you read the living room remodel post, you saw the light gray we used in the connected living room. I wanted to separate the spaces using […]