Clean Slate

CLEAN SLATE

Today, I’m sharing more about our decision to paint our home before moving in & why we wanted a clean slate. I’m also sharing about how we chose our paint color, a few before & after photos, a home update, & more.

FIRST THINGS FIRST

When we bought our home, we knew we wanted to paint the entire thing (both inside & out) before moving in. We didn’t have a ton of time to do a lot of updates before moving in, so we were limited on what we could do. We prioritized painting because I knew it would make such a huge impact on the home.

Something I think I am really good at is being able to visualize potential. Whether that is in a person at my day job in School Psychology, with an outfit, or with spaces. I can see what something can be with some TLC. I did this the first time we walked into our (now) home. I instantly saw what a little paint in one room, some new crown molding, & the removal of some paneling would be able to transform this space. These little things would make a big impact until we could move on to some bigger projects after getting somewhat settled.

CHOOSING OUR PAINT COLOR

I love white. It’s one of my favorite colors in fashion & in home decor. I don’t like white that is uninviting or cold, but rather that is a blank slate. When wearing a white top, I love that it allows you to play with the accessories to elevate the look & make it feel different with a few small changes. I view home decor the same way & absolutely love  home painted mostly all white because I think it makes it calm, clean, & allows for furniture & art to accessorize + elevate the space.

You’d think you would decide on white & be done. If you’ve ever painted a home white, then you know it’s not quite that simple. Choosing our paint color was quite the process. There are thousands and thousands shades of white paint! Just when you find one you think you like, you see it in a certain space or under certain light & it looks totally different.

Instead of scouring the Internet or the aisles of a store for EVERY possible white paint, we decided we’d narrow it down up front by deciding the brand of paint we wanted to paint our interior & go from there. We decided on Benjamin Moore & were able to start narrowing down our paint color more from there.

BENJAMIN MOORE

We had heard amazing things from so many people about Benjamin Moore. Once we started doing research & looking up reviews, it sealed the deal that we wanted to use BM paint in our home. They have over 3,500 paint colors & are known for quality at a good price, which is what we were looking for.

Our research showed us that a lot of lower priced paints often required more coats of paint to finish the job. This makes it less economical for a few reasons. First, It’s going to take longer & therefore cost you more in labor, which seems to be the most expensive part of almost any home update. You will also need more paint to get it to cover as it should. Benjamin Moore covers in just two coats. Finally, cheaper paint won’t be as vibrant or won’t last as long. Benjamin Moore paints have special, high-tech pigmentation technology that will give you long-lasting color that won’t fade. It’s also durable! Hello, you’re living in this space. You need it to last for years through a lot of phases of life.

We also loved that there were so many choices within Benjamin Moore’s paint. They have several different lines of paint that there really is something for everyone & at so many different price points.

BENJAMIN MOORE’S TOP WHITE PAINTS

Once we decided on using Benjamin Moore, we had since narrowed it down from countless white paint options to a few hundred. Progress! Haha We decided to start with the top ten most used paints, as we figured that if they were really popular, they probably worked in a ton of different spaces & we’d be able to find one that would work for us. The top ten list we found included: 1) Cloud White 2) Chantilly Lace 3) Simply White 4) Dove Wing 5) White Dove 6) Decorator’s White 7) Oxford White 8) Intense White 9) Paper White & 10) Pure White.

We spent hours looking online & in-store. We used Pinterest to look at examples of rooms painted each respective color. We also turned to you all on Instagram to ask your favorite white paints. One thing that really helped us was the Personal Color Viewer on the Benjamin Moore website. You can upload a picture of a room in your home & get a visual of what the different paint colors would look like in it.

Keep in mind that the way your home faces & how the light comes into a room can really impact the way a color reads! Both natural & in-home light makes such a difference in how paint colors read, so while the online tools are so helpful, there is no comparison to seeing it in real life!

WINNER, WINNER

After a lot of time looking for our perfect shade of white, we finally narrowed it down to Chantilly Lace & White Dove. We loved both & felt like we couldn’t go wrong. I put up a poll on Instagram and got your votes on which one we should pick & the results were SO close it was seriously within a few votes of being 50/50. I personally kept leaning towards to White Dove, which I feel like is one of the reasons I fell in love with Benjamin Moore in the first place, so my gut said to just go for it.

Ultimately, we went with White Dove. Our walls, trim, & ceiling are all White Dove in different finishes. We absolutely LOVE how it turned out. It’s the perfect white for our home & it looks great in each room at all times of day with the light it gets. We were worried any white would either read too blue & cold or too warm & creamy. This one seriously feels perfect for our home & we are so happy with our choice!

BEFORE & AFTER

I wanted to share a few before & after photos so you all could see the impact that paint can make in your home! The before photos are from the online listing of our home that the previous owners took for the listing. I’m sharing a side by side of a few of the same rooms (although I apologize, the angle is 100% the same) so you can see how new paint transformed the spaces! We also got all new crown molding, added recessed lighting, retextured the ceiling, & took some paneling off the walls.

Couch // Coffee Table // Media Console // Record Player //  Bookcase 

Bed Frame // Rug // Duvet // Throw // Side Table 

Table // Chairs // Chandelier // Table Runner // Mirror 

A LO ABODE UPDATE

I hope you all have loved following along with our home progress so far. I started another Instagram account called @alo_abode dedicated to all things home where I share tons of details & additional photos of our home that you won’t see on my main Instagram account. You can read more about our process of buying a home (which includes some very personal details) & see our home mood board to catch up on my home posts. I’ve also already shared about my closet design process & my office furniture. I will be sharing a full Cloffice (closet + office) reveal on the blog very, very soon & am planning to do a video tour of it as well. I’m working on putting some final touches on our guest room & that will be the next space I share.

We are getting new windows any day now & are about to start redoing one of our bathrooms. Then, I’ll be focusing on redecorating our master bedroom next! We have SO many projects & have already put so much work into making this house a home. I hope you all are enjoying following along with the process as much as I am love sharing it with you all. XO

Photos by Vanessa Christina Photography

This post was brought to you in collaboration with Benjamin Moore. They provided me with the paint for our home in exchange for a review & social shares of our home. As always, all opinions are my own.