Good morning and Happy Monday! As I mentioned in Saturday’s post that shared a final tour of our rental, I wanted to pop in today and share a bit more about our move. Although we have made a very intentional choice to share less and less of our personal lives over the years and keep our children’s lives private I also feel like it’s nice to at least share a little bit of information as we embark on a new adventure out of appreciation to so many of you readers who have made it possible for me to blog and design for a living.

Each of our moves over the years has been a decision we have made that we felt was best for our family at the time and although it has been great as a home blogger to have new canvases and projects to write about and share we have not ever moved for that reason. Last fall, that was particularly true. We sold our home and had planned on buying a smaller, older home down in the historical section of Williamsburg where we could walk to campus. We wanted to be close enough that the basketball players could come and go to our house from the gym and other places on campus and be steps from Colonial Williamsburg. We ended up with a quick close on our house and missed out on a house that we really liked and with no other ones on the market in the very specific area we were looking at we decided to rent while we waited. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise although we didn’t know it at the time!

My husband’s job as a college basketball coach makes it so there’s a certain window of time every year where there are a lot of coaching changes so I often find myself holding my breath a bit every spring wondering if we will have to move. We didn’t think there would any big changes for us this year though, so in late February when our dream house came on the market in Colonial Williamsburg we were thrilled. We met with the owners and discussed with them that if it was still available once basketball season was over we were planning on putting in an offer. Shortly after that though, we very unexpectedly found ourselves on the “coaching carousel” and my husband moved to North Carolina for a new coaching job. We decided to let the girls finish up school before we would join him. So last Sunday we moved out of our rental in VA and into a short term rental here in NC while we wait to close on a house here at the end of this month.

Now, a bit about our new house. As soon as we found out where we were moving our plan was to do something similar to what we had been planning on doing in Williamsburg. We hoped to find an older house right near campus. Well, after about five trips down here (which quickly got tiring – ha!) with no luck and our timeline growing shorter we ended up throwing that plan out the window and going for a new build that would be available at the end of this month. We decided that it made more sense for our family to be able to be together again and to get settled before starting school and this was just about the only option available so we grabbed it. Because it already has been built we didn’t get to choose any of the finishes so over time we will be making some changes and adding some character but we really love the layout of the house and it’s proximity to everything in our new town. And I am so incredibly excited to be able to paint walls and put up wallpaper and take on other projects again! We ended up selling the majority of our furniture about a month or so ago because at that point we hadn’t found anywhere to live yet and we didn’t want to pay to move all of our furniture, store it indefinitely and then not even have it end up fitting/working in whatever we ended up finding. We did keep some of the pieces that had sentimental value and lots of our lamps, artwork and other accessories but we sold the majority of our larger furniture pieces (tables, chairs, beds, etc.)

Because we are starting a bit more from scratch than usual I thought it would be fun to do some mood boards for us like I usually do for clients to help find a general direction. I don’t want to share any shots of the house until we have closed on it but I thought I would share the mood boards along the way. I am starting with the main living space which has an open concept and contains the kitchen, dining area and living area. Here are the three looks I am deciding between. There are a few items I am pretty sure we are going with regardless of color scheme like the counter stools, sofa (just debating the color), and some of the lighting although I haven’t pulled the trigger yet on anything. I am planning on starting to make purchases this week. I also probably won’t use all of the items shown because lots of them are splurge pieces so I probably will mix in some more affordable options as well, but it’s nice to have a starting point.

First up is this navy color scheme. I am leaning towards this one because it uses my favorite piece of artwork that we own (it was passed down from family so there is no source info on it). I also like that it goes with the overall feel of the house which is kind of open and airy. The kitchen island and cabinets are white but I plan on painting the island dark navy (and possibly the cabinets as well) if I go with this scheme. The only reason I am not positive I want to do this is because I feel like we’ve done a lot of blues in the past and it might be fun to do something different (and if so I will use this artwork as the focal point in our master bedroom).

WALLPAPER  /  COUNTER STOOL  / BEADED LIGHT FIXTURE  / OVAL LIGHT FIXTURE  /  DRAPERY PANELS  / SOFA  /  PILLOW WITH FRINGE  /  PILLOW WITH POM POM TRIM  /  TRAY  /  LARGE LIGHT FIXTURE  /  COFFEE TABLE  /  ARTWORK – NO SOURCE  /  RUG  /  BISTRO CHAIR  /  RATTAN CHAIR  / ARMCHAIR / NAVY PILLOW / PLAID PILLOW

Next up we have a black and white color scheme. I have always been drawn to black and white spaces. Especially if there is a lot of texture thrown in. I like them because you can mix things up and add in colored accents when you want to but also can keep it neutral as well. If I go this route I’ll paint the island black and make sure to use lots of texture and also will add in leather accents to keep it from feeling cold.

COUNTER STOOL  / DRUM PENDANT  / OVAL LIGHT FIXTURE  /  DRAPERY PANELS  / SOFA  /  BLACK AND WHITE PILLOW  /  PILLOWS WITH POM POM TRIM  /  LARGE LIGHT FIXTURE  /  COFFEE TABLE  /  ARTWORK  /  RUG  /  BLACK CHAIR  /  PILLOW / LEATHER CHAIR

And then lastly there this muted earth tones option. For this I would paint the island (and again, possibly all cabinetry) one of the darker greens from the rug or artwork. I like that this one has a different feel from anything we’ve done in our own home before. I am just not quite sure if I like it for the actual space we are moving into…If I did go this route though I think I would do a copper hood above the stove and I love that idea. Although those are really expensive so that may be wishful thinking – ha!

COUNTER STOOL  /  OVAL LIGHT FIXTURE  /  DRAPERY PANELS  / BEADED LIGHT FIXTURE  / SOFA  /  TAN PILLOW  /  STRIPED PILLOW WITH POM POMS  / SOLID LINEN PILLOW  / SQUARE STRIPED PILLOW WITH TASSELS  /  PILLOW WITH POM POM TRIM  /  DRUM PENDANT /  LEATHER TUFTED OTTOMAN  /  ARTWORK  /  RUG  /  RATTAN CHAIR  / LEATHER CHAIR

So that is it for today. Once I start making mood boards for the other rooms I will share those. I may not make them for all of the spaces but I think I probably at least will for our master bedroom, each of the girls’ bedrooms and possibly the office.

I hope you all have a fabulous week!

Warmly, Jenni