After closing on our first home I knew exactly what our first order of business would be: PAINT. Everyone always says get the paint done then move in. Moving in after painting your house sounds like a nightmare and I’m glad I listened. The walls weren’t terrible, but grey just isn’t my color. Also, there were a lot of patched holes that were poorly covered from the previous owner (see before photos below). I knew I wanted a bright white all throughout the house but definitely wanted to throw something a little funky and outside the box in the kitchen. When it came to paint I knew I would need some assistance (one time I painted a room that I thought was white and it turned out to be 50 shades of yellow LOL). That’s the hard thing with paint, it may look white in the sample but then having it projected onto an entire room, BOOM YELLOW.

When I heard of The Project Color™ App by Home Depot my prayers were answered. ProjectColor makes it easy. It automatically scans thousands of color options and finds similar and coordinating colors for you, before you ever pick up a paintbrush.

My Favorite part of The Project Color™ App is that you can view your color choice in different rooms! I was debating between a warm green or a charcoal color for the kitchen island. Being able to upload a picture of my actual kitchen island and see those color options virtually made the decision very easy! I ended up choosing Behr’s Russian Olive for the island and Polar Bear for the cabinets. I love, love, love the color! I knew either polished nickel or warm antique brass cabinet knobs and pulls would compliment those colors. I ended up choosing the polished nickel as I felt it was more timeless.

You can also match the colors of your furniture or anything that inspires you. Just take a picture or upload one from your camera roll to find the closest The Home Depot paint color.

After the painting was complete we knew the backsplash had to go. Probably my least favorite part of the house. I wanted to keep it simple and somewhat inexpensive, this is a townhome that we won’t be living in forever so a few little updates that would be some aesthetic improvements were all that was really needed!! I choose a textured subway tile here. I honestly thought the only way to lay these were straight across. Then my friends at Karlin + Kari Interiors suggested these multiple ways to lay tile (who knew lol). I chose the herringbone pattern and I love it!

Next up were the barstools. The amount of space from the kitchen island to the wall where it meets the stairs was leaning on the smaller side. I wanted to get something that was a little more sleek and could slide easily under the island and not be too intrusive. I had seen these ghost stools on Pinterest but prob 100x the price of the ones I found at Home Depot (bless you). They came fully assembled and are VERY sturdy and comfortable contrary to my other halfs preconceived notions.