Yes, the weather has been unusually cold and rainy…and yet the lettuce has found the energy to thrive. 

Little hands (and mouths) rejoice!

Our new house is a 1900 Colonial Revival, which I have learned is essentially a mixture of styles all uniquely American. 

It is a blank slate for us to work with to create a new home – both exhilarating and overwhelming all at once.

We have a lot of work planned, update windows, improve front curb appeal, new kitchen, new bathrooms, rip up wall to wall carpet and lay hardwood floors…we will attempt to live in the house through most of it. 

One of the most important first steps will be to get the third floor bedrooms move in ready – which we hope to do with minimal work. 

We peeled back to wall to wall carpet to find the original oak floors, that appear to be painted, likely with lead based paint. Our options are a.) tear out and replace with new hardwood, or b.) repaint to contain the lead.

We are going to try option “b” first. It will likely be the least expensive and most timely option, plus, it will be in keeping with the original style. 

The first question then, is what color? My initial thought was either a light off white to give an airy feeling, something like this room done by Rafe Churchill (I love his work):

Another option would be a light grey blue/green, like you might see on a paint d covered porch. We had one like this in the Vermont farmhouse I grew up in:

The existing floor color is a dark green. I might not have considered this unless it was already there, but I’m kind of loving the idea of a dark hunter green floor.

Here is the idea board with my thoughts – hunter green with brass accents, simple cotton striped rug, crisp black border duvet, chartreuse velvet headboard:

Shop this look:

1. Headboard/2. Brass Flushmount/3. Duvet/4. Ikat Pillow/5. Dresser/6. Rattan Side Table/7. Cotton Stripe Rug

Sitting at the doctor’s this morning, enjoying an excuse to spend 30minutes flipping through trashy magazines…

… and I came across this page. It struck me. Her hair, unapologetically short and turning gray.

I have been thinking about gray hair more and more recently, as my own seem to multiply every day. I’m “lucky” in a sense that mine blend in well with my light hair…but why does that make me lucky? 

Who decided that it’s better to dye? Who decided gray is the worse choice?

 I wish we could change that perception, reclaim the hours spent in a chair getting highlights, reclaim the comfort in our natural state. And stepping back further, I wish we as a society could reclaim the grace in aging. 

This topic deserves way more than a blog post – there is so much to discuss that I’m struggling as to where to start. 

For today, I’ll start with some images of women who have chosen to embrace their gray.  

Another shot of Steevie Van der Veen – the model pictured above. So raw compared to the typical images we see. Stunning.

Dr. Jane Goodall, known for her work with chimpanzees.

And of course my beautiful mom, who taught me to look for, embrace and celebrate what is real.