In a weird twist, I’m having a hard time adjusting to the style of our new home. It is exactly the style and era of home we were looking for–even in the location I’d dreamt of–but this is a house built in the ‘90s and I’m used to some very old homes.
The home I grew up in was built in 1907. It had all the charm of that era meaning a double staircase, creaky floors and door frames, ancient doorknobs, radiators, beautiful woodwork, and tons of little nooks and crannies to hide toys/play. That was the first place I considered home.
Post-college, I lived in an apartment in Sherman Hill that was 98 or 99 years old at the time (I remember because I was sad to move out before having the opportunity to throw a centennial birthday party 😂). It had similar charm—pretty hardwood floors, a phone nook, radiators, three floors of creaky wood stairs to climb up, and a toilet without a back!! I loved it, which led me to buy an older home.
Our first home, with a red door (👏🏻), was built in 1937 and had the bonus room, closet, and first floor bathroom added on at some point along the way. It was a Cape Cod style house and I took a lot of pride in our spacious galley kitchen, the beat up hardwood floors, old and pretty doorknobs that weren’t all that reliable, arched doorways, and our creaky wood stairs. I LOVE OLD SCHOOL CHARM, people.
When we set out to buy this house or a house in this area in general, we knew we were leaving the land of older homes full of history and entering a world of homes that have backyards that back right up to each other (for the most part) and that all popped up together sometime in the ‘90s. Even though we knew that, I’m on entirely new ground design-wise and need to retrain my brain in a lot of ways.
This house, built in 1995, already has pretty built-ins in the family room, lots of beautiful woodwork in a creamy white, and wainscoting/paneling in different areas. It has plantation shutters everywhere but the basement and beefy trim that we really love. Our new home is full of new-school charm, but I’m struggling with the style of it all—probably because I AM NOT FOLLOWING THE RIGHT PEOPLE ON INSTAGRAM/PINTEREST TO INSPIRE ME TO MAKE THIS WONDERFUL HOUSE A STUNNER.
I only own two of those pretty coffee table interior design books–mostly because they’re expensive–but both of the ones I have start out by talking about the importance of defining your home style. I think I’ve decided that this home’s style is modern traditional. The struggle I have is that our old home was nothing like this one in terms of style! My brain gravitates toward a different color palette and to mid-century style pieces that (in my opinion) would not be the right choices for these spaces. Inevitably, that inclination toward a different style leads me to second guess myself on every. single. design choice.
Probably the most challenging part of trying to envision our home’s design is that I follow so many home bloggers that have homes with mostly all white walls. That is not something I have. I have immaculate white woodwork detail, but my walls are freshly painted gray and I need to figure out how to incorporate wood tones and warmth with them, now.
I’m not complaining in the slightest. The roomie, Penny, and I love this house and have had about a million hours to feel at home in it since we moved right before being quarantined here. This is absolutely home. I’m just sharing my latest home design struggles and the source of my admittedly probably hormonal panic attack the other night in an effort to be as transparent about the process of making your home a haven. I’ve just got to get used to being the girl with the gray walls. 🙃