What We’d Do Differently In The First House

Psst- We simply learned about another excellent way to raise money for the relief fund for the Sandy Hook tragedy thanks to some generous Etsy artists who are donating money that they make this week from their Etsy shops to the cause. Check it out here.

We are putting the finishing touches on Clara’s DIYed Christmas present, so we will be back with a ton of pictures and details for you tomorrow (ahhhhhicantwait) but in the meantime, plenty of folks have requested a post about what we’d do differently if we were decorating our first house now, instead of 2-6 years ago. See, back in this video we mentioned that when we look at old pics we enjoy it, but there is consistently at least one or two things we’d change if we were living there now – and you folks have been asking for more details. Sing it with me “if I could turn back tahhhhhhhm.” So without further ado, here is the room by room lowdown.

The Living Room

What we’d change: We truly did not use the living area of this room as much as we would have liked, especially in such a small house (it was only 1250 square feet). So anything to make it more functional/enticing might have made the difference. Like a round coffee table like this to use for games as opposed to our fairly glass table that was consistently full of props (our current padded ottoman never has anything on it so it is consistently ready for Clara’s toys or game night). We also would have brought in more color, so from sofa and chair cushions with pops of glad color (like this) to patterned curtains or lamp shades and even brighter art, we certainly would have punched up the tone-on-tone look.

Wait, this would be more lively with a moodboard. Whoop, here it is. This is not a moodboard for one room, it is a mish-mash of whole-house items that we think would add interest and color everywhere (I swiftly linked to sources here and then explained where they’d go in the copy along with each room/picture).

1. This fabric is from here 2. This chair is from here (that price is for two, but still a little high so perhaps a craigslist/thrift makeover could get the look for less) 3. This fabric is from here 4. This rug is from here 5. This sconce is from here (the outlet near our house carries them for 60% off sometimes).

6. This ottoman is from here 7. This pillow is from here 8. This coffee table is from here 9. This fabric is from here 10. This rug is from here 11. This chair is from here 12. This pillow is from here 13. This fabric is from here 14. This rug is from here 15. This mirror is from here.

The Kitchen

What we’d change: We enjoyed that little kitchen of ours, even if it was narrow sufficient to touch both sides of the counter while standing in the middle. One thing we consistently wished we could change about it was to have a window that looks into the backyard (instead of looking into the sunroom, which the kitchen window in our current house does too!) but since that is not a quite straightforward change (moving a sunroom and detached basement) we likely would not have done that no matter how long we lived there. I certainly think things like the area rug and the wall color would have been switched out after a while, simply to keep things feeling fresh. Perhaps a colorful striped Dash & Albert rug like this with dark and moody chocolate or navy walls like this could have been a lively alternate kitchen universe!

The Nursery

What we’d change: Since we did this room a few years after some of the other rooms that we have looked at so far, it is pleasant and glad and bright, which is more our jam these days than the more neutral tone-on-tone thing we had going on in the living room. So perhaps simply for lively we’d change out accessories like the rug (perhaps for this cool one?), but in general we still enjoy – and miss! – that sweet first nursery that we made for Clara nearly three years ago.

Our Bedroom

What we’d change: Our bed was consistently on the low side, so I’d enjoy to have built it up to have storage under it (that room was compact so it would have been truly functional too). I think I also would have changed out the bedding over time, likely with a fluffy white duvet and a bunch of patterned pillows like this. Oh and switching out the tan curtains on either side of the window for some patterned fabric like this could have been interesting. The neutral jute rug also worked simply fine, but something plush and shaggy like this would have been an extra luxurious upgrade.

Our Bathroom

What we’d change: This room was also something we did more towards the end of our life at that house (about a year before we moved, as opposed to 3-4 years before) so I think it feels more like our aesthetic now since there is some color on the walls, some contrast with the dark mirror and the dark floors and the homemade vanity. Although I think if we lived there now I would have chosen a printed fabric like this for a roman shade in the window (sort of like the one in our current hall bathroom’s window), simply to inject a little more print/interest into the room.

The Office/Guest Bedroom/Playroom

What we’d change: I was afraid to put floor length curtains in here with the sofa in front of the window, but I think we could have popped the sofa out from the wall a little (like we did with the floor length curtains that ran behind the sofa in the living room) and it would have been fine. Do not you think long dramatic curtains in like this would have been excellent hung high and wide on both windows? I think it would have made the room feel taller and more airy (it was quite quite compact in real life). And as for those sad desk chairs (we reused table chairs with little seat cushions from World Market) I think today we’d totally go for chairs like this (perhaps found on craigslist and then self-reupholstered to keep costs down?). Oh and this larger and wider (more storage!) ottoman would be excellent in the place of the little thimble-ish one we had.

The Den

What we’d change: The addition of that sweet Clara rug helped to wake up the room (here is where we began moving towards pops of color and prints in rooms to add interest since the old jute rug that was in there was a little too tone-on-tone and washed out for us). And I can see how in taking this photo I even tried to get other pops of bright color into the room (the pillow on the chair, the bowls on the round table to the left, the tray on the ottoman, etc) so I think we would simply take that further if it were our room today. One giant piece of colorful art above the whole sofa (like this, which has meaning since it is a map of NYC – where we met and fell in love) would have been excellent along with brighter pillows and perhaps even subtly patterned curtains.

What we’d change: I also think switching out the desk chair with something less traditional and more lively, like this (and adding a bold patterned lampshade on the desk) would have been excellent. And to balance things out I’d hang a brighter scarf or bag on the coat rack on the right for balance (there was consistently in-rotation stuff as well as I-simply-hung-it-there-because-it is-fairly stuff up there). Your house should make you smile, right?

The Laundry Nook

What we’d change: This was in fact a truly functional and fitting space for us (we still miss it, in fact) so we truly liked that we could watch TV in the adjoined living room while doing laundry and shove a whole bunch of ugly stuff up into the shelves above the counter, which were hidden by bamboo blinds. Other than switching out some of the art leaning along the back wall for things with a few more pops of color, and perhaps changing out some things on the counter for bolder and happier items, I do not think we’d change much. Oh but you know I’d ORB the gold doorknob in a hot minute.

The Half Bathroom

What we’d change: We truly liked the stripes, so hmm… what would we change? I certainly think the sconces could have been more lively, perhaps something like this (the lighting outlet near our house has plenty of discounted Shades of Light sconces like this)? And the mirror could have been a lot cooler – like this guy (who I have been obsessed with for years) perhaps? And then we could bring in some brighter and more playful art and a patterned fabric shade made from this fabric (not sure I could get John on board with it, but a gal can dream) on that crisp white window frame would have looked excellent.

The Sunroom

 What we’d change: We’d get a bigger rug I think, perhaps jute and a few feet wider and longer so both daybeds could sit on it a lot more and feel nicely defined by the larger rug (which would ground the room). I also think the floor cushions could have been a lot more lively if they were covered in this fabric. And these pillows could live on the daybeds instead of the mostly-tan ones that were there before. And as for the stenciled floor, with a larger jute rug I think we might have been tempted to paint it all chocolate brown again and let the textiles in the room be the focus (as well as the view). We also enjoyed the blue ceiling but if we were going to be there for years longer we likely would have manned up and painted the walls (so. much. cutting. in.) bright white to play off of the color in the daybeds and the other furnishings in the room (instead of leaving them tan like they were when we picked up the house).

The Patio

What we’d change: More color! Planters in lime and teal and even tangerine full of flowering plants would have been excellent along with some bright outdoor cushions like these for the chairs and loungers. And I think we’d plant more colorful plants around the perimeter too.

The Basement

What we’d change: This basement upgrade was in fact a truly lively project for us, so I think we’d do a lot of things the same way. I do not think we’d have chairs down there (we did not truly sit much, although we did use the desk area to take tupperware bins out of storage and open them up to find certain things). I likely would have painted the door bright red like the front door, simply for lively. And I certainly think we would have outgrown that paint storage method (we have about 50% more cans now) so we’d have to add another shelf or two for more can storage.

The Front Yard

What we’d change: Well, this might be the boring answer, but not much. Haha. We hated the light-colored worn-down roof that you see in this picture but we got a pleasant new one about a year before we moved (no idea why we never updated the pic!) and the new roof seemed to assist with resale as well as general curb appeal. We still miss this cute little facade and the big green lawn. Although one thing we’d likely change about that lot if we could would be to have less to mow and rake (there was much more to mow/rake out front, on the side, and out back then we right now have to mow here since more of our property is woodsy and wild). So perhaps we’d turn the side yard and more of the back yard into a wooded space by adding trees, bushes, and mulch over time.

The Front Porch

What we’d change: For some reason the outside spaces are harder for us to say “that is not truly our style anymore” (as opposed to the rooms inside), but I think we would have enjoyed to build big planter boxes for all the front windows, which might have meant moving the rocker and the glider a bit (along with the potted planters too).

The Backyard

What we’d change: As I mentioned in the front yard blurb, I think having less to mow would have been pleasant, so perhaps naturalizing more of the yard so it was half the size (still large sufficient for kid & dog pursuits) and adding more trees and bushes and other wild no-need-to-mow items would have been pleasant. I am not going to lie though, we enjoyed this lot. It was so private and sweet. We still miss it all the time!

So there you have it. A brain dump of what we might do differently if we were to decorate our first house now instead of 2-6 years ago. Do you folks look at photos of your previous homes (or even rooms in your current house) and think about what you might do differently now? It is so funny how our style seems quite similar in some ways (we still enjoy wood floors, white cabinets, textures like jute and faux sheepskin, dark wood and white furnishings, floor to ceiling curtains, and white frames) yet our current house seems a lot more colorful, playful, and glad to us (simply click here and scroll down to see what I mean).