Come take a tour of a classic colonial house, with fresh upgrades on the interior and exterior both.

I always loved the saying “fashion over function”, but why can’t you have both in a home? I feel they blend well, when thought out. I believe in designing a home that celebrates life.

Greige painted brick on traditional Colonial home
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I heard through the grapevine that someone was surprised how quickly our house sold and how much it sold for. They mentioned that they thought we had a small living room.

At first it hurt my feelings. Our living room was one of my favorite rooms in the house that we made a home. We chose deep sofas and used a lot of furniture to make it feel “cozy”. To us, it was.

It had more than enough room for a dance party with my girls, but remained intimate, which was everything I wanted our home to be. Bigger is not always better {in my personal opinion}. However, we were able to seat 11 comfortably, which also fits our entertaining lifestyle.

I know our house was not perfect, but it was perfect for us. I started this blog to share little tidbits to help you design a life and home you love that suits your lifestyle.

The Perfect Home for Us

Going back to one of my favorite quotes, “What I love most about my home is who I share it with” by Tad Carpenter, size, doesn’t really matter, it’s who you share it with – both family and guests, that counts. I encourage you to welcome guests into your home without worry of what they may think. The most beautiful element of a home are the memories you make in it.

As a blogger, it’s easy to get caught up in “likes” and comments, but I try to remain true to our style and lifestyle and create for my family, not the blog. It may not result in a significant Instagram following, but it has resulted in a happy heart. When decorating, I encourage you to do the same – follow your heart and create for you.

Just before our move, Rose of Paper Crane Photography created a tour of our home through photographs. Enjoy the latest home tour of our traditional Colonial and follow through the links for additional details and sources!

To see our current home in St. Louis, check out our Tudor Paint Colors and the full Before and After Tour.

If you’re researching exterior paint palettes, don’t skip this charming White Brick House!

Gorgeous front porch with envelope mailbox, cottage lighting & a front door with windows

The exterior

traditional entryway full of light

The entryway

A traditional dining room that blends new & old

The dining room

A living room filled with furniture and a large window
A bookshelf
A living room filled with furniture and a fire place

The living room

Custom wood floors that blend rustic with traditional

Custom wood floors

See the before and after of this DIY half bath on a budget filled with tips for a small bathroom

Half bath

A casual white black & grey kitchen
A gorgeous traditional white kitchen with white subway tile, stainless appliances & rustic wood floors
Lifestyle blogger Julie Blanner shares a tour of her traditional Colonial home full of DIY details & clever storage solutions!

The kitchen with White Kitchen Cabinets

pretty sunroom that is multi-functional

Beautiful sunroom makeover | creating a multi-purpose space to fit your lifestyleDesigning a room to fit your lifestyle | a sunroom breakfast area & office
A multi purpose sunroom that is used for coffee, an office & access to the flower & herb gardens
sunroom office that doubles as a coffee nook
A multi purpose sunroom that is used for coffee, an office & access to the flower & herb gardens

The sunroom

A traditional mudroom laundry room combo with unique storage solutions

The mudroom

Pretty basement remodel with simple do it yourself solutions
Pretty basement remodel with simple do it yourself solutions

The basement – living room | wet bar | bathroom

A dark & dreary basement space was converted to a bright & beautiful bedroom for just $300!

Basement guest bedroom

A traditional stairwell makeover, exposing the treads & risers

Stairwell makeover

Pretty, pink & playful bedroom for a little girl

Adalyn’s bedroom

Playful & pretty nursery for a baby girl

Isla’s bedroom

Ani’s bedroom

Pairing wood with neutrals - a traditional master bedroom

Our bedroom

A simple built-in closet tutorial - unbelievably easy to turn a step in closet to a walk in closet!

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45 Comments

  1. Your home is beautiful, Julie!
    Thanks so much for sharing photos with us.
    Suzanne
    PS I smiled when I saw your accordion side table. I just bought one for our sitting room . . . and love its style.

  2. Hi Julie!
    I love this post and your blog! I couldn’t agree more about keeping your home “cozy” and finding your own style! I’m a new blogger and just found your blog and noticed that you were from KC and then now St Louis. We used to live in Joplin, Mo before the tornado and then relocated to Rogers AR which is still close! I just wanted to reach out and say Hi! Many of the bloggers that I am following are on the east coast so I was so excited to find you live in the good ole Midwest!

  3. Your house is absolutely GORGEOUS. If it popped up in St Louis when we were looking to buy, this would have been my #1 pick.

    I’m going to take a guess and say that the person who was surprised your house sold so quickly isn’t from St Louis. Property just flies around here! I’m in one of those desirable suburbs (you know the one), and houses never come up for sale..you just talk to a realtor and before you even start the process of selling, she already has offers for you! I think it’s a good thing. And I think your house is perfection 🙂

  4. Your home is simply lovely. I love reading blogs about home decor, and yours is one of my favorites. Posts like yours inspire me to be excited about decorating a home someday, and make the most of the places my husband and I will live until we settle down. Thank you for sharing!

    1. Hi! I had a question of whether or not to paint all of our wood trim white (it would be the baseboards, closets, doors, door grams and windows/window frames). We just moved it and already looked at hiring someone to paint it all and it’s really expensive. Thoughts? I can post pictures of the house to get your opinion.