Touraine Project | Great Room Reveal

Hey strangers! My blogging game has been weak lately, but now that we’re (semi) settled into our new house, I really want to get back in a groove with it. What better way to ease in than finally revealing our previous house, aka The Touraine Project?! I’ve shared plenty of glimpses of it over on Instagram (are you following us yet?!) but wanted to dive a little deeper and share it here on the blog too. First up is the biggest - some may even say greatest - room in the house…the Great Room! Which is the catchall term I’m using for our open concept kitchen, living, and dining room area.

Let me take you all the way back to the year… 2016. When Ryan and I first walked into this (not so) great room, here’s the magic that greeted us:

That may or may not be a pee-soaked mattress on the left there… charming right?!

As you can see, you walked right into a wall, which I’m pretty sure is universally frowned upon. Ready for some afters?!

I’m currently sitting in that chair up there writing this blog post. I got two of them off of Craigslist for 60 bucks, and Ryan HATED them. I think they’ve grown on him a bit though… they’ve obviously made the move with us and are #heretostay! ;) You can also see a blurry peak into the dining room, so let’s jump over to that area. Here are a few of the scary before photos…

We had a lot of walls, a lot of brown, and a LOT of extremely dusty ceiling fans on our hands. Ready for the afters?

I could not love this space more and am obsessed with how the photographs turned out, thanks to Sarah’s mad skills! I chose to mix a more farmhouse style dining room table with modern copper chairs for contrast. It’s one of my favorite things to do with design - it just adds so much interest! I added sheep skins to the chairs for texture and comfort. Although we sold both the table and chairs to the new homeowners, the sheep skins made the move with us, and are looking mighty fine draped over our new dining chairs.

Painting the brick on the fireplace and adding a distressed wood mantel really lightened things up in here.. We added shiplap on the walls next to the fireplace and after living with those walls painted white for a bit, ended up painting them Benjamin Moore Cheating Heart. I’m so glad we did! It was looking (dare I say) TOO white in there, and there’s nothing I love more than balancing bright and airy with moody! The dark walls accomplish that and ground the space.

And the room everyone really wants to see… the kitchen!

There was a huge wall dividing the kitchen from the dining area, making the kitchen into a tight, galley-style layout. The cabinets were falling apart and everything was dirty as all get out. After a few minor changes (ha!) here are the afters:

So much better without all those walls! We gained so much space in the kitchen, and got to add an 8 foot island that made me feel like I was on a cooking show when I stood behind it. My darling husband tiled that whole backsplash (and may or may not have wanted to kill me for making it go all the way to the ceiling…), installed the open shelving, and added the cabinet hardware. Talk about pressure - there’s really no room for error when you’re drilling into your brand new tile/cabinets.

When I look at the before photos of the kitchen remodel, I can hardly believe it’s the same space. It took a lot of blood, sweat, and tears (and, let’s be honest - money) to take this space from the before to the after, but it was well worth it. There’s not much that’s more satisfying as a designer - taking a space that’s rundown and scary and turning into something beautiful and functional.

Stay tuned for more Touraine Project reveals! And if you have your own Orlando renovation project to tackle, don’t hesitate to reach out - I’d love to help you design the space of your dreams!

Pssst - if you’re interested in sources for anything, you can now shop our house! I am slowly but surely getting everything possible up there - if it’s not on there, it’s probably from Craigslist or Homegoods! ;)

Homespo Reno - Weeks 8&9

I know I say it every week, but I can't believe we're done with week 9 of our renovation! We painted, we nailed, and we had some pretty great mail days over the past 2 weeks! So without further ado...

Finished Installing Baseboards

We managed to get all of our new baseboards cut, placed, and nailed. Ryan did the majority of the work on this one - after a foreign object flew into my eye while I was nailing a board in our closet, I tapped out! Good times. We still have to caulk everything and then touch up the paint, but that seems to keep getting pushed down our list. Our new motto seems to be "if it doesn't have to be done before we move in - we ain't doin' it!" 

Our Dining Chairs & Rug Arrived

Having packages arrive is the fun part amidst all the stress and frustration. Our dining room chairs and rug got delivered last week, and we are in loooove! Of course I had to set it all up immediately, even though we're pretty much still in a construction zone. What can I say - my patience only extends so far. 

Painted Front Window Trim

Since I wasn't helping Ryan with baseboards after the eye fiasco, I bit the bullet and tackled the trim around our front door/windows. It was the last (ugly, poop brown) trim standing, and holy cow we can't believe what a difference painting it white made! The front looks a million times lighter, and I'm happy to have that task crossed off the list!

Hung Our First Light

I swear we've been trying to hang a fixture in our house for weeks, but our efforts keep getting thwarted. It started with the fans... we were gung-ho to hang them, until we couldn't find the blades and hardware. Minor details. Next, we went to hang the closet light... but there are about 12 wires coming out where there should be 3? So until we get the electrician back in there.. no closet light for us! Then there was the overly-gigantic pendant lights I bought for the kitchen. They hung about half way to the floor...Return! Oooof!

Anyway, we finally got ONE lone light fixture hung - one of our flush mount hallway lights. And it only took us about 3 times longer than we anticipated - victory! ;)

Hung Our First Door

I guess we were on a hanging roll this week, because we got our first door hung as well! Ryan successfully got one of our hall closet doors functioning, so that's one down, only about a dozen more to go! 

Worked on Guest Bathroom

You know our new motto I told you about? Well, the guest bathroom is something that has to get done before we move in. We currently have zero functioning bathrooms (unless you want to count the portapotty out front... which I totally don't!)

Ryan repaired the drywall that needed it, and we picked up the planks that we'll be covering the bottom half of the walls with. Shiplap FTW! We're hoping to make major progress on the bathroom front this weekend. 

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That's what's been happening over here lately - what do you think? Are you as in love with our dining room setup as we are? Insert Heart Eyes Emoji Here! 

I'm hoping that the next progress pictures I share will have some kitchen cabinets in them! They were delayed, but are supposed to be here at the end of this week (although it's already Thursday, so I don't feel all that hopeful...) That'll be a game changer when they arrive, and I can't wait to show you! 

Rustic Industrial Dining Room Mood Board

Now that we're in the home stretch of the renovation phase of our fixer upper, I'm getting super excited about the next phase (which just so happens to be my favorite) - decorating!

While I'm patiently (ha) waiting for the real-life decorating to begin, I'm plotting and planning and online shopping! I'm finally finished with the mood board for our dining room, and I wanted to share it with you guys. It's a bit rustic, a bit industrial, and hopefully a whole lot of comfy and cozy. I'll link to the source of each product (if I have it) below.   

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Industrial Chandelier // Chair // Farmhouse Table // Flooring // Rug // Faux Sheep Skin

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What do you think? What's your favorite element of our soon-to-be rustic industrial dining room?