Sherry, Clara, Burger and I spent the past weekend on the road helping a few recently relocated family members in Northern Virginia with some much-needed home projects. Apparently moving season runs in the family — everyone seems to be settling into new places lately. First stop was my sister Carrie’s new rental apartment. We somehow managed to take no photos of her that day, so here’s a snapshot she sent later (the man on the left is her boyfriend Robert, who shows up again shortly).
Carrie moved into her Northern Virginia apartment last month. Back in February she hinted that she wanted help painting as a birthday gift, so Sherry and I turned that suggestion into a literal present: a painted stir stick with a paint-can opener attached that reads “Redeemable for 1 gallon of Olympic Premium Paint And Painting labor — may be exchanged for a Starbucks gift card at any time.” We gave Olympic Premium because it’s low-odor and VOC-free, which was especially important with the baby present for part of the day.
On Saturday morning we met Carrie at the apartment to choose paint colors. She wanted a taupe-tan with a touch of gray to complement the curtains she already owned. We landed on Benjamin Moore’s Ashen Tan, color-matched to zero-VOC Olympic Premium Paint. The shade warmed up the space nicely without feeling too dark — exactly what Carrie wanted for a soothing, classic bedroom look. Here’s the room before we started:
Robert and I tackled rolling while Sherry cut in and took turns watching the baby. Robert earned major points helping us finish the rolls while everyone else pitched in. The two coats the room needed took roughly two hours to apply — faster than our rainy-day trips to the nearby Lowe’s (conveniently next to a Starbucks).
When we returned the next morning to arrange the room once the paint had fully dried, the warmer walls already made the place feel a lot more like home:
Carrie still plans to hang art, pictures and curtains and to slowly swap out some of the Ikea pieces for less common finds, but even with a few boxes still around, the painted walls transformed the room from a generic rental into a cozy space. Small changes on the walls can make a huge difference.
She already has accessories that add pops of color, so the neutral walls allow those accents to shine. Sherry got a little carried away fluffing pillows and throws (the blue throw and bed pillows were instant mood lifters) before we shot any after photos — she can’t help herself.
Even Carrie’s cat Duncan seemed to appreciate the cozier vibe, although he was less thrilled about being confined to the bathroom while we worked (he kept trying to investigate the paint trays). Burger, on the other hand, happily camped out in his crate.
One of my favorite candid shots from the day was of Sherry adjusting a side table. I jokingly told her I was “white balancing” when I snapped the picture — I didn’t expect her to let me include that less-polished moment in the photos. Her reaction was classic: “oh why not, we’ll keep it real.”
Carrie’s living room paint will wait — the apartment didn’t allow us to clear two rooms at once — but she picked a cheerful artichoke-green shade for that space and we’ll help with it another day.
While Robert and I rolled, the ladies — including Clara — chose a green called Fennel Splash by Valspar for the living room. Clara took the paint-swatch task very seriously; she’s already got good taste.
After finishing up at Carrie’s, we drove about 15 minutes to my cousin Travis’ new house to visit him, his wife Cat, and their daughter Elsa. They also moved recently, needing a larger home since baby #2 is due very soon. Even though they’ve only been in the house a few weeks, their style already shines through — I loved their yellow-and-gray bedding and a cheerful yellow rug in one of the rooms.
On Sunday morning Sherry helped Cat hang a gallery of frames in a spare room. Leave it to her to happily swing a hammer in someone else’s house and walk away proud of a perfectly leveled display.
Because this was our last visit before the family grows from three to four, Sherry also brought a homemade baby book for the baby they’ve playfully called Myrtle. She created the book the same way she made Clara’s — colorful scrapbook paper slipped into a sleeved album with printed labels that prompt parents to record memorable firsts, trends and predictions for the baby. The template Sherry used makes it easy to customize pages for events, milestones and fun little trivia from the day the baby is born.
Since the baby isn’t born yet, Sherry included placeholders like little footprint cutouts that can later be replaced by the real thing. While Cat and Travis filled out parts of the book on the spot, we also talked about future milestones and the kinds of things they’ll want to remember.
The weekend was full of painting, picture-hanging, eating, baby-watching and competitive board-game playing, but one moment stood out: Elsa cuddling Clara while Clara leaned in and nuzzled her back. I happened to have the camera ready to capture that sweet interaction — a total parenting win and one of my favorite photos from the trip.
We also played Apples to Apples with a silly house rule we invented: each round we added a random extra red card from the deck for the judge to consider, calling the phantom player “The Computer.” The random card surprisingly won more than once and nearly took the whole game, creating a fun everyone-vs-the-computer rivalry and lots of “I can’t believe that was chosen” moments. Travis just barely beat The Computer in the end — it was a perfect low-key finish to a productive, cozy, and very family-focused weekend.