Although the renovations at the house are already underway, so far we’ve tackled just the basics – flooring, wall color, and stair style. It feels like we’re starting with a clean slate, so I’ve been exploring different styles and decors that I’d like the house to lean toward now that we have a neutral background.
Our new house is very different than our old house. The new house is more contemporary, it has a ton more light, and there’s more entertaining opportunities with the pool, hot tub, and outdoor fireplace. We also bought a fixer upper knowing that there would be lots of projects for me to tackle to make it our own home with our style. Throughout this process, I’ve been trying to listen to the house and let its character guide me in making style decisions. I’ve also been scouring Pinterest and Instagram to get some inspiration and to settle on a style that we’ll use to steer our design decisions.
A couple weeks ago, I wrote a post on how to create a cohesive house and I’ve had that also in the back of my mind when looking at inspiration photos. I do want the house to feel like one design “unit” and not be piecemeal like I feel our last house was at times.
So, I’ve pulled some inspiration photos that I like for a bunch of different reasons but this overall theme what I’m going for.
Our new house has a great room with tall ceilings and a bank of windows (that I’d like to eventually turn into tall French doors) and with a similar fireplace as in the above photo. I love how in this photo they overgrouted the fireplace and how the windows are black and LARGE. Even though the room is huge, it still feels cozy with the two distinct sitting areas. I also really like those light floors and light walls and am planning to install a bank of windows in our great room above our future French doors. There’s a little too much rustic in the photo with the beams, shiplap, and wood elements, but overall this photo is a good representation of how I want our great room to look.
Dark walls, dark ceiling, dark trim and built-ins are what I love about this photo. And with the modern chandelier. Love it!
I’m on the hunt for inspiration for our mini kitchen makeover to tide us over until the Phase 2 major reno. Some elements like our black countertops will stay for the time being so I have to work with that. For our mini reno, I really like darker cabinet colors with black countertops and am leaning toward a dark blue, green, or inky black.
I love a good gallery wall and will definitely find a home for one in the new house. Gallery lights with mixed frames is what I’m leaning toward.
This bathroom…. What’s not to love? We desperately need to renovate our bathroom and this bathroom is a dream bathroom!
The arches in this photo remind me of the ones we have in our house and I like the light wood floors, with the wall color and trim color. I also love how neutral this space is as it provides a nice backdrop for design elements like artwork.
And finally, this beauty… Eventually I want to paint the exterior of our house and I love this color combination!
I have about 1000 more inspiration photos saved in Pinterest but these are the ones that I’m most drawn to lately and that best represent how I want the overall theme of the house to be. I know that, with patience, our house will get there. Building a cohesive house style is a marathon not a race. I’m looking forward to these next couple months of building the foundation of our home’s style and finally introducing some fun design elements.
