Guys, this is my first time writing on my new format site. Woot woot! I want to redirect the blog to focus on home and lifestyle ideas. So, to kick things off, I will start with my own home and the inspiration behind our decisions.

We moved from Urban Portland across the Columbia to the state of Washington. We have been living in our new house since the end of August 2016 and it feels like the best decision we made in a long time. Our house was built in 1970 and is a mid century style bi-level ranch home. The moment we walked in, we knew this was where we wanted to be “adulting” for a long time. It’s surrounded by trees and the forest, we have a garden and yes, we now live at the end of a cul de sac. It’s been an adjustment to go from urban to suburban, but I am embracing it one day at a time.

We are slowly making changes and everyday it starts feeling more and more like “us”. For awhile, it was feeling like we were living in someone else’s home, but now, I can finally see the light.

First things first, we needed to remove the popcorn ceilings. I told my husband, we can not buy this house if we don’t remove that stuff. So, with that kind of ultimatum, its now gone and we are “all” happy. This is not an easy process. Some people choose to do themselves, but we hired professionals as we were concerned there may be asbestos. Turns out it was free from that, but it is better to be safe than sorry. And the results are priceless.

Here is the before:

Popcorn Ceiling Before

Here is the after:

Summer Wick Camas Home

Pretty big difference right? It instantly makes the home feel lighter and I felt like I could just breathe better in the space. And this stuff, was everywhere. Not just in our living room, but hallways, bedrooms, basement… you get the idea. It was a big project, but worth every penny.

We painted the ceiling and walls in Simply White by Benjamin Moore.

Next, we decided to make a bold move and paint our fireplace black. Yup, you heard me. We painted over that red brick with a smile on our face. It looks so amazing and we have never once said, “man we should have kept the red brick”. We chose to use Deep Onyx in a flat/matte finish made with Behr Ultra.

Dans le Lakehouse was my go to inspiration that pushed me over the edge to do it. Check out these insane images from her blog, it’s hard not to get inspired :)

With all of this inspiration, we felt confident in our decision. I mean black is the new black right?! And here is what it looks like now:

Black Fireplace

Black Fireplace

Black Fireplace

Black Fireplace

We are in love with our fireplace and interestingly enough, it softens up the room. We instantly modernized our space with a little paint (and a lot of popcorn removal).

Stay tuned for more updates and join along as the Wicks take Camas by storm!

Summer Wick

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My First Post on the New format (pun intended)