Renovations are fully underway in this sweet little bedroom at Sister Hill Inn! We added a bit of decorative frame molding, our new favorite paint color (it’s green!) and a gorgeous mural. With just these few changes, it already looks like a completely different space!
When we first purchased this house, there was carpet throughout the entire upper level. Unfortunately, even though no one had lived there for a number of years, it was not entirely unoccupied. There’s no saying what kind of animals called it their home but by the evidence they left behind, it looks like there were a lot of them! Luckily for us, the awesome family who lived there in the 80’s/90’s put down a great carpet pad that saved the 160 year old wood floors underneath.
Our initial renovation of this space gave it a complete overhaul. Along with refinishing the original wood floors, we also had to rewire all of the electrical and add forced heat and air. The bones of this house are strong but from centuries of settling, the plaster ceilings were pretty cracked up. A fresh coat of plaster and paint is all it needed to look like new again!
We initially chose to paint all the rooms in the house neutral colors. They just felt like they needed it. A fresh start. Brand new and clean. Or from the words of Outkast, so fresh and so clean, clean (tell me that song wasn’t already running through your head?). We used a color called Blanched Fuchsia, a Dutch Boy color for all of the trim upstairs and kept the walls a soft white. It was beautiful and bright and felt like new. But it’s been 5 years and she feels healthy again so it’s time to change all that and have a little bit of fun with these spaces!
Mom, Jeff and I have always called this room the green room. None of us are really sure why other than we had a light green comforter on the bed when we initially opened. Calling it that was definitely my inspiration for the update!
It’s no secret that I’m obsessed with wallpaper. But more than my love for a beautiful repeat pattern, I love a good mural even more! I have them all over my own house and Sister Hill. I will find almost any excuse to put one up. So, naturally, when I found this mural online and it became my inspiration for the whole design!
The color came next. No question. It had to be green. This color is called Cattails by Dutchboy. It is very similar to the cabinet color we put in Mom’s house. I guess when you find something you love, you surround yourself in it. In my opinion, it’s the perfect combination of blue and green! I honestly can’t say enough about it. It feels so good to walk into a space surrounded by this color and it changes as the sun moves. It’s kind of perfect.
There’s still lots to do but we have a good start! I’ve included our mood board with links below! I will continue to post and link as we go. Follow along for more updates as we finish this beautiful room!
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In 2016, we stumbled across this beautiful beast of a home begging to be brought back to life! We had just finished rehabbing our ranch style, fixer upper when this house came into our lives. Without Jeff even seeing the inside, he, my mom, sister and I started in on a new adventure. www.sisterhillinn.com
Left empty for years and inhabited by animals, we immediately fell in love with this giant Victorian built in the 1850’s. As a wedding photographer, walking into a space with such beautiful natural light was kind of a dream come true. It felt like ours the second we stepped inside with endless possibilities. Of course, after all of the paperwork was signed, reality set in…this wasn’t only the therapy project we all needed so badly at the time, this was going to be A LOT of work!
For nearly 2 years, we drove the 50 miles on most weekends and many weeknights working any spare minute we could find, painting, scraping and finishing floors. Our boys grew up in construction, almost as their second home. Keeping as much of the original character as we could salvage, we reveled in giving this house life again. And no matter how much work it was, every time we stepped back in there, it was like a breath of fresh air. It just always felt right. So we kept going.
In late 2017, we opened to the public as an Inn and small Event Venue www.sisterhillinn.com . Every weekend, the house is full of guests who get to love it just as much as we do.
Now that almost 5 years have past, it’s time for us to make some updates! Follow along as we refresh this space room by room with unique design and character! www.instagram.com/dearhomeblog
Cheers,
Jamie
And so, here it goes… WELCOME to Dear Home! A blog about DIY’s design, family and a whole bunch of trial and errors. We are a family team of design and project addicts. I am Jamie, the Mom, photographer, interior stylist and a shopaholic. It’s true, and I have no shame about it! I have a passion for pattern, color and natural light. I will wallpaper anything I can get my hands on and have a storage space in my house dedicated to my ridiculous collection of throw pillows and blankets. And while I love to collect beautiful creations from around the globe, I live for local artists & shops and finding unique treasures among them.
Jeff is the handyman. He loves his projects and loves his tools even more! Honestly, without him, we would not get anything done. He is the definition of a go-getter! On the days I would rather be lazy on the couch watching a movie or HGTV Jeff’s ambition kicks in and we end up doing an entire weekends worth of projects in a day. He is the best possible opposite that I could ask for! We’re best together when we’re working together.
Our two little guys are always included in our shenanigans. They draw floorplans with crayons and help pick paint colors. They try to be involved in as much as they can.
So how did we get started in all of this design madness? We bought our first house at the end of 2010. I was the Creative Director for an Event Management company in Chicago, working from home and expecting our first little man. Jeff just started a new job as the Environmental and Safety Director of a cabinet company and up until this point, had very little experience with power tools. The day after we got the keys, we started tearing down walls. We were hooked from there and spent the next 6 years renovating every inch of our first home!
A few short months after we finished renovating our ranch style fixer upper, we began a huge project restoring a 5,000 sq ft, 160(ish) year old house. This was a bigger project than we could’ve ever imagined but only fed into our love of projects. More on that later, but as our Sister Hill project was coming to an end, we were already dreaming of our next venture. That is how the 3 year process of our dream home began! And so, here we go! Follow along to watch as we built and designed our home from a simple drawing on scratch paper to dear HoME.
Cheers, Jamie
