31 Days of Character Building: Paint Colors

Welcome to Day y of my 31 Day Series, Building Character.  

Paint is the cheapest and the quickest way to give a space a new personality.  I get a lot of emails inquiring about paint colors. Today's character building post is dedicated to the colors I have used throughout my home...

31 Days of Character Building: Holiday Decor Part II Halloween

Welcome to Day 8 of my 31 Day Series, Building Character.  

Yesterday, I shared our Christmas Decor With Character.

Today, I am going to show how we turned our builder grade spec home into...

A spooky haunted house...

31 Days of Character Building: Christmas Decor With Character

Welcome to Day 7 of my 31 Day Series on Building Character.

I use the Holidays as an excuse to put our family personality on display in our home.   I love to incorporate personal items into my Holiday decor to remind us of who we are.  What better way to really give a home character than showcasing the character of the people who live there?  Especially at Christmas time when we are entertaining a lot and surrounded by our family.

Here is a short video tour of my home at Christmas time last year...

See Me in The Current Issue of DStripped Magazine!

I am so incredibly excited to be featured in the current issue of DStripped Magazine.  

You can see my full page photo feature in an article written by the talented designer, Stephanie Sevener.

 The Fall 2011 publication of DStripped Magazine is 180 pages of jaw dropping gorgeous-ness.  I am so humbled (geeked) to have my work and photography featured here. 

 It will be released Oct. 17th, 2011 at select Barnes and Noble Bookstores.  

Or, you can order a copy online, by clicking here.

Thank you, Stephanie Sevener and DStripped Magazine, for this incredible honor.

Also, thank you to all of you who visit my blog.  I love your comments and appreciate every single one.

~Sarah

31 Days of Character Building: Out With Oak

Welcome to day 6 of my 31 Day Series, Building Character.  In case you missed the intro to this series, I am sharing 31 simple ways we have brought character and personality to our new construction, builder grade home.

 When we purchased our home, one of the first decisions I made was to paint all of the light oak wood work...  

This was a big project but, it was a huge improvement. 

Painting oak is sometimes feared because of the wood grain texture.  Personally, it doesn't bother me.  I prefer the look of painted oak with a visible wood grain texture over natural light oak.  Don't get me wrong, I love natural wood finishes but light-organish oak just plain dates a space.

To minimize the appearance of the wood grain texture, I use an eggshell or satin finish.  Semi-gloss paint  draws more attention to it.

(After)

A good sanding and priming is a must.  If you are going to go through all the work of painting your woodwork you will want it to stand the test of time.  The sanding also knocks the texture down a bit.

Based on this post and yesterday's post, wanna guess what's about to go down in the kitchen?

To view the entire 31 Day Series, Please Click Here.

For information on my affordable online design services, Please Click Here.

31 Days of Character Building: Granite

Welcome to Day 5 of my 31 Day Series, Building Character.

Like many builder grade homes, our home was a sea of beige when we first moved in.  The kitchen was no exception.  Let's take a look back...

31 Days of Building Character: More on The Floor

Before sharing today's exciting kitchen makeover reveal, I wanted to announce that my E-Book "DIY Interior Design For Real People" is currently available in a gigantic bundle of 76+ DIY related E-books ($34.95 for the complete bundle) for the next five days only. Please click here for details.

Also, just a quick notice that I am now accepting new online design clients. Please click here for information on my affordable online design service. 

Since my first post in my 31 Day Series, Building Character, I have received a few requests for more information on my new floors.  

Ask and ye shall receive...

31 Days of Character Building: Picture Frame Molding

 Welcome to day three of my 31 day series, Building Character.

Yesterday, I talked about the board and batten wainscoting in my master bedroom.  Today, I'd like to share our picture frame molding in the dining room...

31 Days of Building Character: Board and Batten

Welcome to day two of my 31 day series,  Building Character.  I am sharing 31 simple ways we have given our newly built, builder grade, spec home character.

Our master bedroom felt large, cold and empty when we first moved in.  It was a great space with a large tray ceiling but it lacked the cozy intimate feeling a bedroom should have.  My solution was to wrap the room in board and batten style wainscoting...

31 Days of Building Character:Wood Floors

Welcome to my first post in a 31 day series.  Throughout the month of October I  will be sharing 31 simple ways that we have given our newly built, builder grade, spec home character. 

To kick this series off, I am going to share the huge project that has been underway in my home over the last week.  This transformation has been the biggest character building improvement yet.  

We went from builder beige wall to wall carpet to this...