Who doesn't love a little home refresh?! I do! I have lived in the same house for so long but my style has changed quite a bit over the last few years and I've always had roommates, but now I have a husband! SO it's definitely time to make some home updates. Of course, home updates take time, especially since I'm going the DIY route for a lot of the smaller updates, and I need to narrow down my decor style - right now it's all over the place! For now, I'm working through a few projects that I started during quarantine but haven't finished, then we'll begin some fun new things!

If you follow me on Instagram, you might be wondering why I've been so focused on home projects and plants lately- WELL, we are doing a decor refresh now that my husband has moved in and we can make it OURS; we are deciding what furniture to keep, what to sell, and what style we want our house to be! SO that means, I only have a couple weeks to get a few more projects done before we start "decorating." I want to get as many painting and DIY projects done now as possible, so I don't have to move a ton of furniture to paint down the road. Empty rooms are always easier to work on than ones that are full of furniture. AND I want to focus on the interior right now because in a couple months I'll be full steam ahead on landscaping and plant life!

So what's my first project to work on? Hint: I've been up to my elbows in paint all day! Remember when I painted my kitchen window frames (the "muntins," actually!) black?! You probably don't remember a time that they weren't black because I never showed photos of my kitchen because I didn't love it! The window transformation made such a huge impact that I'm recreating it in my bedrooms! You can see a shot of one of the windows below, and my patio doors, which I painted to match after I saw how great it looked! I was actually planning to paint the doors white, but once I saw the windows, I knew I needed to go black instead!

SO now that I am refreshing everything, I decided to paint the windows black in the master bedroom, the guest bedroom, and the third bedroom, which will become a home office. It's a BIG project, but since I've done it before, I knew exactly what needed to be done.

I taped the windows all day yesterday (so time consuming, but I'm getting faster!), then today was paint day! I also want to paint the window in the laundry room, but I didn't want to mess with moving the washer and dryer so I can get to it...so that will have to wait until a day that Adam is home to help. ;) 

I completed two coats of paint on the windows today and am leaving them overnight to dry, then will touch up tomorrow with black on any areas that didn't end up with smooth coverage. Then I'll remove the tape, see what it looks like, and touch up with white paint where needed. Even though I spend so long taping, paint still bleeds or splatters and I go back and clean up with white. I'm taking some video footage of the process and will be sharing a video when complete! Then I'll be able to share decor as we buy furniture, etc., and you'll be able to see the whole process!

I'm working HARD on completing one project at a time before moving onto the next one. I'm notorious for getting distracted during a project and starting something new! For example, I was looking for my painters tape, and stopped to clean out and organize a drawer yesterday! It looks great now, but I "wasted" 30 minutes on it! I'm trying to FOCUS! I'm proud of myself today because I resisted starting a new project while I was painting! I got distracted for about 10 minutes and researched the potential new project, but then ultimately had a meeting with myself and went back to painting the windows. I wanted to paint the master bathroom window black also, BUT there is currently wallpaper in the bathroom and it needs to be removed before painting the window. I thought about just removing it so I could paint, but since I don't currently have a plan for what will replace it, I knew it would be a huge mess and eye sore for a while, so I made myself wait! (HOORAY FOR ME - SO PROUD!!)

WHAT NEXT? 

After the windows are complete, I'm finishing up the patio door exterior, and the bar top! We did a concrete overlay on the bar top, but I never sealed it! The concrete was SO messy, I didn't want to deal with it, but now I'm ready to knock it out and check that project off the list for good! 

Then, we'll tackle painting our brown brick fireplace WHITE! I'm so so excited for this project because I know it will make such a difference in the whole vibe of the room. The den has light coming from windows/doors on one side of the room, but the room is so big it still feels dark. After painting the fireplace, we'll see what kind of lighting updates we need to make, then look for a new light-colored sectional for the room.

I'm good at the DIY projects, but not as good at decorating! I've never allocated much budget toward furniture and decor since I had roommates, but now I'm excited to invest in pieces that we love and grab a few cute pieces from Target too. I'm all about the high/low mix and match!

As you can see, we have a lot coming up! Be on the lookout for updates, and I'll be sharing more of the process along the way on Instagram!