Choosing Paint Colors (And a Peek Inside Our House).

Ah, paint. Nothing has given me more decision paralysis than choosing paint colors. 

I thought this would be the easy part, but I quickly fell into the rabbit hole of paint swatches from Sherwin Williams, Benjamin Moore, Valspar, and Behr. There are thousands of different shades of paint. Add to it that I'm idiosyncratically particular about what the shade is called as well. I still swoon over Ralph Lauren's Tibetan Jasmine – I'm convinced that this is the perfect shade of white for our forever home and also heartbroken that they no longer have their full collection of paint.

I honestly thought this cosmetic update would cost us maybe a couple hundred bucks for the entire house. Lots of research and a few hardware store visits later, this article convinced me to go with Benjamin Moore Regal Select paint, and I realized that the actual cost would run well over $600. (I think we're currently running closer to the $800-900 range). We got a quote from a painter that was $1800 to paint the entire house (in hindsight, I'm pretty such this would have been worth every penny), but since this was one of the projects we could actually DIY, we opted to go that route.

I wanted a light neutral for most of the house but one that still provided a bit of contrast to the trim. Since there's not always the best light in most of the house, I didn't want to go with a white for fear that our space would look too flat. This was the trickiest because even in the same open space, the paint can look so different depending upon how the light hits it. 

After painting many, many walls with sample colors, we ultimately decided on Classic Gray for the majority of the house. I love the way it photographs and how it's a barely there neutral. We tried a few different whites for the trim out of like a billion shades of white. White Dove didn't give us the pop and contrast that we wanted and White Opulence was a bit pink. I've read that Chantilly Lace is the closest shade to a true white, but I wanted something just a touch warmer, so we went with 2016 Color of the Year, Simply White, which has become my new go-to white. All the trim and doors are getting repainted in Simply White, along with our fireplace mantel and our custom breakfast nook bench.

BM Balboa Mist, BM Classic Gray; BM Dove Wing, BM Gray Owl; BM November Rain; BM White Dove and BM White Opulence.

We decided to go with Nelson Blue for our master bedroom. We bought a white linen-look bed, so I wanted a bit of contrast. I want the room to feel like a calm oasis and fell in love with Farrow and Ball's Parma Gray. Nelson Blue is the Benjamin Moore equivalent (I think), and is the perfect soft shade of blue-gray.

David painting the master with BM Nelson Blue.

For the front bedroom, we ultimately went with Simply White as the wall color. That room gets the most light, so it will look great bouncing off of the white. Our dark wood campaign dresser is going in that bedroom, and I think the contrast will be fantastic.

BM Balboa Mist, BM Classic Gray; BM Dove Wing, BM Gray Owl; BM November Rain; BM White Dove and BM White Opulence, in a different room/light.

I had initially really wanted to go with a peachy pink for the guest room because I've always wanted to paint a room pink, but we just didn't find any shades that we loved or agreed on. We ended up painting this room November Rain (highly recommended by Emily Henderson), and I think it is my new favorite paint color (although Dave's least favorite). It has a touch of green and feels like a really warm gray to me and looks almost like soft cashmere for your walls.

BM Boudoir, BM Coastal Cottage, BM Balboa Mist, BM November Rain, BM Gray Owl

For the boys' room which is getting a California theme, we went with Sea Foam, pretty much because I liked the name. It reads as more of a light blue than the light blue-green I had intended for the space (this is the only shade we didn't test out), but I still think it's the perfect fun background color to layer on white and light-colored woods.

We're almost through painting the upstairs (finally). We get the new carpet installed on Tuesday, and I'll be able to share some significant progress pics.

Choosing Carpet for our New House.

Six months ago, I didn't think that we would be moving into a new house, moreover choosing new carpet. I hate carpet. Or, I thought I did because I've been accustomed to the cheap, scratchy, always-stained-no-matter-how-many-times-you-steam-clean apartment carpet.

We bought the house knowing that we would have to replace the existing carpet, which was heavily stained. The stairs and second floor were carpeted, while the first floor recently had engineered wood floors put in. Our initial thought was to put in hardwood floors, but putting it in throughout the house would be expensive and felt a little bit wasteful since the main floor flooring was still fairly new. Even though the current main floor flooring isn't the wood tone that I would choose, we'll probably make some significant changes to the floor plan downstairs, anyway, so we might as well save money and live with that flooring for a while.

Since going with hardwood floors on just the stairs and upstairs would still be almost as expensive as getting the entire house down, and the flooring wouldn't be cohesive, I started seriously considering our other option: replace with carpet.

I had recently read a post about Stainmaster carpet on the Chris Loves Julia blog, and that seemed like the ideal solution. I am not at all a fan of cheap apartment carpet, but a pretty, textured, low pile carpet with quality carpet padding seemed like the best option. With two boys (one toddler, one baby), carpeting on the stairs, especially, felt like the safest option to reduce the likelihood of accidental slippage. Since writing this, Noah has already toppled down three stairs while chasing our dog, so I'll take all the extra cushion I can get. I like the feel of carpet in bedrooms, and we'll still be able to layer in smaller accent rugs.

A free deluxe installation deal at Lowe's sealed the deal. With the purchase of carpet and padding, carpet removal, haul away, and installation was free. Done and done.

I already have an idea of what carpet I wanted: textured, low pile with a light, neutral color, and had bookmarked a few on the Lowe's website. My goal was to find some options that were soft underfoot and would be easy to clean. After heading into the store to see some swatches in person, I decided on three Stainmaster samples to order online ($15 which would be credited to our carpet installation): Secret Dream PetProtect Berber Carpet in Tortoise Shell and Medford Active Family Cut and Loop Carpet in Seed Pearl and Notable Neutral. 

Seed Pearl looked too bright, Notable Neutral was pretty, but looked like it would show dirt easily. Both of the Medford carpets felt a little rough, and Dave wasn't a fan. The Secret Dream in Tortoise Shell was by far my favorite. It has a subtle pattern, is a nice, light colored neutral, and feels soft despite being low to the ground.

Our carpet arrives and will be installed next week! In the meantime, we're still working on getting the upstairs and stairway painted and ready. More on that progress, what we've spent on materials, and our experience with getting new carpet installed in another post.

We're Moving!

I've honestly wondered whether this day would ever come, but we are now homeowners! I fully believe that what would take us years to accomplish on our own, God can make happen in a fraction of that time.

Our front door – soon to be painted Benjamin Moore Williamsburg Wythe Blue or Palladian Blue.

We're moving to one of our favorite neighborhoods in south (Orange) county, a community that is beautiful, family-friendly and still very accessible. Our new house is over twice the square footage of the apartment that we are currently living in but could definitely use some updating, which is exactly what we wanted. House projects galore! I'll be posting all about it here. 

Right now, we're in the process of doing some cosmetic updates: paint, flooring, maybe new light fixtures. And of course it is taking so much longer than I thought it would because we have a toddler and a newborn in the mix. We're planning to move in mid-March, and I couldn't be more excited!

Pasta Fra Diavolo with Linguine & Shrimp

If you're looking for a 30-minute weeknight meal that tastes like a Friday night Italian restaurant dinner out, this one's it. I'm working on compiling all of my low-prep work week dinners in preparation for heading back to work next week (ahhh... so many mixed feelings about that), and this is one of my faves.

Makes 4-6 servings.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. uncooked linguine (or other preferred pasta)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 lb. medium shrimp, deveined and peeled – I use one package of the Argentinian red shrimp from Trader Joe's – it really does taste like lobster!
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 5 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 28-oz. can crushed tomatoes – I'll pick mine up from Trader Joe's or get the San Marzano-style with the basil from Sprouts
• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper – I use a little less, so it's not too spicy for my toddler, but the more spicy, the more authentic
• 1 Tbsp. dried oregano
• 1 Tbsp. chopped basil, optional
• salt & pepper to taste

Directions

Cook pasta according to directions on the package. While the pasta cooks, heat 2 Tbsp. of the olive oil over medium heat, and saute the shrimp for a few minutes until just opaque, adding 1 tsp of the garlic in the last minute or so. If you are using the Argentinian shrimp, be careful not to overcook, as the shrimp will become tougher and less lobster-like. Remove the shrimp from the pan and set aside.

In the same pan over medium high heat, add the rest of the olive oil. Once hot, add the onions and saute until translucent and tender, about 4 minutes. Add the rest of the garlic and cook for another minute. Stir in the remaining ingredients and allow to simmer for 15-20 minutes until excess liquid has cooked off and sauce is thickened. Toss shrimp back in with the juices and cook for a few minutes more on lower heat to allow the flavors to come together. Mix the sauce and cooked pasta together. I like to serve this with a light salad, and garlic bread to start.

Recipe via Chef Danielle at Big City Chefs

What I'm Reading: January.

Ah, January is almost over, and here I am sharing my January book list. My goal is to be more intentional about my creative outlets this year – more on that later – so here goes.  What I've been reading lately:

The Year of Living Danishly. I saw this on Shauna Niequist's instagram feed. A few chapters in, and I'm ready to book a flight to Denmark. I actually looked up the flights for January, and they were only $330+ for roundtrip flights out of LAX! Given, it's the middle of winter, but still.

Chasing Slow: Courage to Journey Off the Beaten Path. I've been sneaking chapters of this while the boys nap, and I've dog-eared so many pages. It is one of those books that speaks so well to where I am right now.

The Big Enough Company. This book came up in one of the recent Young House Love podcasts, and I purchased immediately. I don't consider myself an entrepreneur (yet, anyway), but this book speaks to larger work and work-life balance type issues that I'm always interested in.

Styled by Emily Henderson and Loveable Livable Home. Interior design inspiration books are my jam right now. Actually, since forever. A good chunk of my childhood was spent poring over design books and Architectural Digest at the library.

I'm re-reading The Magnolia Story, because I'm all in the Fixer Upper mood right now and #relationshipgoals. I don't have high expectations for a "celebrity" book, but this was actually well-written and a fun read.

The First Forty Days: The Essential Art of Nourishing the New Mother. I bought this for myself a couple weeks before my due date. I appreciated the philosophy behind this book so much: nourishment, grace, warmth. I wasn't about to try a raw placenta smoothie recipe, but the bone broth and granola recipes are now staples in my repertoire. 

The Kinfolk Home: Interiors for Slow Living. This book was a gift from a dear friend for my 30th birthday. It's a beautiful book to leaf through over coffee. All the coffee.