Black Cape Cods

One of my favorite go-to pursuits

is perusing house listings on realtor.com.

It’s been a while since I blogged about my “finds”,

but then yesterday I spied this cape cod in my hometown*

FOR A MERE $25 GRAND!!!

If you can’t see the enormous potential

of this charmer-in-waiting,

then I’m sorry —

but we can’t be friends any more!

*It’s in Greenville, Illinois, which is 50 miles east of St. Louis

+ has 1207 sq. ft. + 3 bedrooms + 1.5 baths (listing here.)

I did share this house on my RedBird Facebook page,

as is my way (follow me!),

at which time I mused about possibly

painting it all black to make a modern statement.

I’m pretty sure I was influenced by this do-over,

featured in the current issue of Country Home magazine —

as I thought it was really striking + so well-done.

The original section remains quite traditional + untouched,

but the flat roofs on the wings

+ their horizontal siding add the modern.

Metal roofs can go either modern or traditional,

+ I think this raw, unpainted metal looks industial + modern.

Country Home

This next all-black houses’s over-sized windows

add to its modern look,

yet I think it remains quite traditional.

Here, the dark metal roof accents skew traditional.

origin unknown

This stately Victorian house

is nearly all black,

with pops of white in the window surrounds.

Notice how the black window sashes “pop”

against the white trim.

Would you have painted the door trim white?

I would have.

yentua.com

This sunning home looks fantastic in black,

+ notice how pretty  all the mostly-white flowers

contrast with the dark facade:

xtoxictears.tumbler.com

This house reminds me of the Country Home do-over,

with its traditional bones

+ some modern details added,

such as the horizontal boards on the porch + foundation:

House and Home magazine

However, most of the black houses online

do include white trim,

+ let’s face it, that’s a really good look.

When a house has a multitude of beautiful details,

the white gives them the attention they deserve,

like this home’s arch top window + door

+ swoon-worthy front pergola:

aviondale.com

This house is very traditional + colonial,

but the pale blue door brings it into the 21st Century

in a very pretty way:

inspiredhue.wordpress.com

I think this is a newly-built farmhouse-style house,

+ those stand-out twin columns

might be lost if they weren’t painted white.

I love the window box with its brackets,

which echo those along the roof gable!

decor.net

Here’s another beautiful new-build

with pairs of porch columns.

Its metal roof reminds me of the all-black magazine house

that sparked my all-black inspiration.

The simple, pale front door says “today”:

charlottedack.com

.This next beautiful house’s charcoal siding

is more interesting when paired with black shutters

+ white paint on its colonial details,

like that front door surround + picket fence.

(P.S. Nothing says New England architecture

like a whale weathervane!)

unknown origin

And speaking of pretty white details + picket fences,

this house couldn’t be more charming.

I’m smitten with the rows of rose bush topiaries

+ box woods marching along side the brick front sidewalk!

This Old House magazine

In conclusion,

here’s a look-see at a pale before + black after:

They kept enough white trim

to accent the pretty details

(notice my “faves” – the black window sashes),

+ amped up the modern very nicely

with the natural wood door

+ horizontal natural boards on the foundation

+ on that nicely beefed-up front porch.

M e a n w h i l e —

after all this online researching of black cape cods,

I’m on the fence about my hometown house’s exterior color.

Instead of going with a monochromatic all-black exterior,

I now think there are just enough pretty details

to highlight in white.

I think I’d paint those interesting window sashes black,

so that they stand out,

+ some sort of pale front door

would be nice + on-trend, don’t you think?

Too bad I don’t think I could persuade G.O. to move

to my southern Illinois homeland with me!

Navy Blue Walls, The Sequel?

I think it’s been 5 years since we painted our living room

Pittsburgh Paint Flagstone gray:

In my little world,

having any room be the same color for 5 years

is just NOT acceptable!!

Yes, it’s time for a change!

(Plus, I never really wanted gray.)

My heart was set on my favorite color — navy blue!

Sadly, as so often happens,

I was too timid to choose something so bold

+ instead, settled on the neutral gray.

(Don’t get me wrong — I do love Flagstone!)

So much for going big or going home, though.

Anyway, speaking of gray, our living room’s focal point,

this vintage sorter, is also gray:

And what a sad, sad coincidence . . .

. . . we also have a gray couch + not 1 but 2 gray chairs!

I think we can all safely say:

TOO MUCH GRAY!

So it’s not only time (5 years!?), already,

to change that gray wall color,

but I need to get rid of a gray chair or 2.

First, the walls.

Yes, my heart still belongs to navy blue,

+ who knows?

Maybe I’ll actually love this one!

Navy blue paint is really hard to get right!

Sometimes it’s COBALT!  Or PURPLE!

 

But, if it was a true dark navy,

wouldn’t it look fantastic with my beloved ikat rug, though?

Here it is in our most recent past house, the brick bungalow,

where it also looks great with that dark blue furniture:

This now brings us to the gray chair portion of our living room change.

I’m pretty sure we’re switching out that arm chair

+ getting this pretty mid-century arm chair + ottoman, instead:

Here it is, sans ottoman but in a tad larger photo op:

It doesn’t really look that dark blue,

but I think it will work.

Fingers crossed it won’t blend into the navy blue walls behind it, God forbid.

Uh oh.  Do you see what’s happening?

There’s that pesky color doubt of mine rearing its head again.

So, just in case, I’ve got “PLAN B”, + here ’tis:

It reminds me of a color, Beeswax,

that we used in our riverfront farmhouse

that we built at the turn of the century.

It’s just so darn cheerful,

+ wouldn’t it complement the pretty butter yellow in my rug???

Oh, here we go again.

Stay tuned!

Are You Ready For Some Mushroom?

As I mentioned previously,

G.O. has been busily replacing all of our original woodwork upstairs.

Before:

During:

More during:

Yet more during:

And, in conclusion, even more during:

My goal for all this beautiful woodwork?

I want to paint it gray with warm white walls.

This time I’m choosing a gray

which skews a bit more beige than plain Jane gray.

Something just like this,

which (my personal favorite), Country Living magazine,

is calling Mushroom:

A Pinterest search for Mushroom yielded this yummy photo:

I have a Pittsburgh Paint fan deck upstairs this morning,

hoping to find the most perfect Mushroom.

The good news is that I found 3 contenders!

The lightest — Swirling Smoke:

Or perhaps something in the medium range, Ghost Writer:

Or the darkest Mushroom, Stonehenge Greige:

(Greige is another word for Mushroom, by the way.)

Here’s my inspiration photo again:

My 2 top contenders are the medium, Ghost Writer,

or, if I am brave enough, the dark, Stonehenge Greige.

Stay tuned!

Has Gray Finally Had Its Day?

G.O. has been busy with the woodwork upstairs,

so it’s now or never for me to select a paint color for said woodwork.

I’m thinking a medium to dark color with white walls.

G.O. wasn’t on board at first, as he often isn’t.

The last time I had darker woodwork with white walls was in 1985,

when I chose a pretty gray

from the Benjamin Moore Historical Colors Collection.

How 80’s of me!

Fun fact:  Benjamin Moore still has their Historic Colors Collection!

Back to my dark woodwork with white walls aspirations.

This:

Yum!  Notice the wainscoting,

which is painted with the same color as the woodwork.

Upstairs, we happen to have a pretty embossed wainscot of our own:

Sad!

I can’t wait to see that original feature shine,

once it’s painted something darker, with white walls.

My first thought was gray, which had me asking:

Isn’t there enough gray downstairs?

Is gray going to fall out of fashion soon?

Aren’t brown +/or beige making big comebacks?

THE STRUGGLE IS REAL!

Anyway, within moments, I began my search

for a neutral that’s more beige than gray,

or, as the popular kids call it: “GREIGE”.

Speaking of which, check out these beautiful greige rooms,

in a charming Charleston, SC home:

 

It’s not just me —  you love it, too, right?

Meanwhile, I’m now back on the prowl for a greige paint that I love!

Stay tuned!

 

BEFORE, DURING + AFTER BATHROOM PHOTOS

Disclaimer:

I don’t know why, but I typically don’t take lots of before photos,

+ believe me, there have been really horrific ones, like this,

in our main bathroom downstairs:

The befores make the after photos so much more dramatic!

Wow — viva la difference, am I right?

Earlier this week, I forced myself to grab the camera

+ head upstairs for some epic before AND during photo ops.

Let’s start with the bathroom’s tub + shower surround,

which are already finished + are actually afters.

I chose white subway tiles because they are classic + timeless.

My design for the window surround turned out well, I thought, modestly:

I’ve already shared the Sherwin-Williams paint we chose:

Unusual Gray (at the bottom) for the walls,

with Contented (third from top) at 50%, for the ceiling.

Very neutral!  Very pretty!

But as often happens in a room’s during stage, it’s kind of a blah!

What does it need?

I’m not sure, but here’s a start.

These IKEA cabinets in white contrast nicely

with the darker-than-I-thought-they’d-be Unusual Gray walls:

I’ve already shared my love for the tall cabinet’s black legs.

They, combined with the black in our floor tiles,

mean I need to repeat more black, for continuity purposes.

How about a black metal mirror for above the vanity?

I’ve chosen this one, because it’s modern yet rustic at the same time.

Another disclaimer: this was $90-something from Target,

but they’re out of it online,

+ you’ll have to search for it in their stores.

We are going to Target right now, so stay tuned!

QUICK UPDATE:

Trips to 2 different Target stores ensued,

+ we ended up buying this one, which was $35-ish!

Have you shopped for mirrors lately?  That’s a great price!

Now it’s time for G.O. to hang the bathroom door.

Here’s what that looks like, about midway though:

He sez that all this wood stuff is called door casing,

+ it’s taking longer than I’d hoped.

I have to remember that he is a perfectionist, so I shan’t ask him to work faster.

HA!  Most of the time, I don’t!

Here you can see where the finished woodwork will be positioned:

Here’s a wider view, looking to the hallway + bath.

What’s up with that embossed-looking wainscoting — you’re wondering?

Here’s a close up:

It was surely very beautiful when the house was built,

but right now, parts of it are in rough  shape.

Speaking of being in rough shape, notice our beautiful-but-sad staircase

+ how the wainscoting extends down those stairs!

Back to our upstairs.   Right now, my goal is to find an even grayer gray/green.

I want something more neutral for the upstairs woodwork,

but I don’t want just gray; we’ve got that downstairs.

As always, I shall head to Pinterest first + see what others have chosen.

Stay tuned!

 

That Time We Almost Had A Green House

It’s official.

I am somewhat obsessed with green now.

You may recall my Pinspiration greens from Sherwin-Williams.

I recently blogged about painting our upstairs bath sage green.

We chose Unusual Gray (at the bottom) for the walls,

with a ceiling of 50% Contented (second from top).

Our bathroom, very much in its “during” stage:

My green obsession has me plotting to use a lot of sage green upstairs,

so stay tuned for that.

Meanwhile, I now have just a wee bit of color remorse

re: the exterior siding of our Dutch colonial.

How’s that possible?  I’m asking myself,

when I truly love the white + gray + black scheme that’s out there now?

I was perusing some older blog posts the other day,

when I came across some siding choices from 5 years ago.

As one does, I’d placed some color samples on the house

for what I call “the admire”,

which is what I do when I am trying to decide ANY-thing.

Notice that there are 2 gray siding samples at left + 1 green sample at right.

Even 5 years before my green obsession developed,

I was seriously considering green siding!

Too late now, of course, but for fun, here’s a close up of the green:

I forget the name of the siding company,  but we bought it from Menards.

Shall we look at some green houses + wonder “what if”?

Found on Pinterest — source unknown

Check out the stunning details on this next beautiful home!

The Adirondack chair + container of blue hydrangeas are so “me”!

Domino magazine — I must subscribe!

And, saving the best for last, this cottage charmer.

Looks like they used the same colors as we did in our bathroom!

Extra points for painting the front door + the window sashes

with the same (beautiful) darker color!

Disclaimer: I would totally fall on those steps!

Found on Pinterest — source unknown

I still love our white house with the gray gables, though.

I think it’s timeless, + the white first story + contrasting color second story

is definitely a “thing” when it comes to Dutch colonials.

Our Bathroom’s Green/Now What?

I’ve gone way out of my comfort zone,

+ we’re painting our upstairs bathroom sage green.

It’s one of many sage greens from Sherwin-Williams!

I chose Unusual Gray (at the bottom, above) for the walls,

with Contented (3rd from the top), lightened by 50%, for the ceiling.

Here they are, side by side in our bathroom.

I think they look more green + less gray, on the walls + ceilings.

It looks good, but it needs a white crown molding at the ceiling

to make it look crisp + neat.

Something like this:

The Contented ceiling pops nicely against the white subway tiles,

so I have faith it will look great with that white crown.

There wasn’t enough of the original woodwork for this room,

so G.O. bought some new baseboards that are just as tall as the old ones:

He brought in his compound miter saw from the garage:

Soon, he’ll add some quarter-round molding at the floor.

I am relieved that I like actually like the colors . . .

. . . because let’s face it: greens can go so wrong, so easily.

The Unusual Gray is a tad darker than I anticipated,

but that might be because of all the dark + cloudy days we’re having.

Soon enough, we will be adding all the finishing touches.

Help!  What goes with green?

Stay tuned!

Will I Have Painter’s Remorse?

Yesterday I mentioned my quest

to find the perfect gray-green paint for our upstairs bathroom.

I found this list of sage greens on Pinterest.

We’d be living in our car if there was no Pinterest.

I had chosen my front runner last night,

but I had to wait to see the paint chips in our bathroom in the day.

We started eliminating the ones that were clearly wrong —

maybe too dark or too yellow to make the cut.

Our paint mustn’t be too green, either, as I wanted a gray-green.

We finally ruled out the rest of the unwanted colors,

settling on this pair, for both the wall + the ceiling.

Unusual Gray, left, + Contentment, slightly lighter for the ceiling.

Not so fast.

Soon I had myself fearing that Contentment was too dark on the ceiling

+ wouldn’t provide enough contrast with the walls.

Here’s where it gets a little crazy.

I told G.O. to ask the paint guy at Sherwin-Williams to lighten it by 50%.

He was not on board, but I assured him that this was a thing,

+ that the popular bloggers do it!

To ease his mind (+ mine), I called Sherwin-Williams to confirm.

Yes, they do it.

See for yourself:

Here are the cans, waiting for their thumbs up or down by me:

Disclaimer: as greens tend to do,

Unusual Gray looked more gray in the light of the kitchen (below)

+ more green in the bathroom.

Here’s the first bit of Contentment on the ceiling:

It’s a dark + gloomy day,  so I’m sure the colors will change

when/if the sun finally opts to shine again.

That bathroom is super bright

because of a solar tube that G.O. installed in the ceiling.

Excuse the unusually bad photo, but here ’tis:

He needs to install the panel thing, of course.

When the sun’s shining, that room is so bright —

the kind of bright that has you reaching for the light switch!

I’ll have to ask G.O. about the solar tube

so that I can share with the class.

Promise.

Meanwhile,  here are a couple of additional photos of our bathroom.

Our white vanity from is from IKEA:

I forget its Swedish name, but it has 2 drawers.

I super love its vanity top, which is similar to this:

The black + white tiles are period-appropriate to our house:

I think Lowe’s has them in stock,

but we got ours from Tile Outlet in Chicago.

Anyway, it’s time to climb those stairs again

+ inspect G.O.’s progress.

Stay tuned for more ‘after’ updates!

My Quest For The Perfect Gray-Green

G.O. is working on the upstairs bathroom,

so I’ve been busy thinking about paint colors, etc.

I was all set to get Glidden’s Prairie Sage (bottom right),

since it was described as a neutral alternative to gray.

Trust me, we have enough gray walls downstairs.

 I am ready for a change but want to stay neutral-ish.

Besides, green is a thing now.

Anyway, off we drive to Home Depot for a gallon of Glidden Prairie Sage.

Long story short — neither of us liked it.

I thought it looked too bright + too mint.

The minute we got home, I headed to Pinterest,

where I began a furtive search for green-gray paint.

When I saw these being described as matches to

Restoration Hardware paint, my search was officially ovah!

I mean, people.

Everything from Restoration Hardware is exquisite, is it not?

Sadly, it’s almost 5 bells, so I shall have to wait until manana

to drive to our (brand new + local) Sherwin-Williams.

Keep your fingers crossed!

Meanwhile, earlier today I casually suggested we do this

to the bathrooms walls:

I mean, how cool!  Plus, isn’t it easy to install?  I hope?

Oops.  I think that’s where I lost him.

Wish me luck with the paint, though.

  I’ll report back — so stay tuned.

 

Kitchen Windows + Door

Last Christmas we had wreaths like this in every window.

I wanted to hang them on the windows outside this year.

Like this:

Or this:

How charming is that?

G.O. wasn’t on board, sadly, so maybe next year.

Meanwhile, the wreaths do look good on windows inside the house,

don’t you think?

The cute, little trees were from IKEA a few years ago,

+ my favorite Guy Wolff pots were from Smith + Hawken.  RIP

Those sweet red checked curtains started their lives as a bed skirt

from when Martha Stewart still sold stuff at K-Mart.  RIP

Watch here to see a K-Mart commercial starring Martha Stewart.

F U N !

Awwwww!  That cute Dachsie card was sent to me by cousin, Gwen.

Those red light fixtures were from Ballard Designs.

We hung another wreath on our kitchen door:

How adorable!

But now I must ask for your opinions.

We painted all of our interior doors Black Magic by Pittsburgh Paints.

Here’s the door to the powder room:

Here’s our bedroom closet doors:

We just assumed that the kitchen door

would receive its own coat of Black Magic paint someday.

But wait.

My friends were here for brunch a few days ago,

+ they both thought the door looked good, as is!

I had never thought to do that!

Of course, I am now kind of obsessing about it.

See Exhibits A + B:

What do you think?

Black Magic?

Or chippy white?

 

Time will tell, so stay tuned!