I reflect on these photos from the day we closed on our house and I can’t help but feel it was years, decades in the making. Before our hard work, saving and sacrifice are the efforts of our families who came here for a second chance. Johnny and I had dreams of owning our first home shortly after we started dating more than 10 years ago.

I filmed an empty house tour literally within the same hour we got the keys to our home! I’m pretty giddy through the whole thing but you can get a feel for our home and the flow of the house!

We love the idea of a classic home but personally lean more toward modern finishes. Say hello to our transitional home. I’m so excited to share all of the exterior and interior finishes we chose. This isn’t a custom home, however, our builder allows quite a bit of customization. Through this, we were able to really get almost everything we wanted.

THE BRICK & PAINT

From the start, we knew we wanted a painted white brick house with black trim. Our builder gave us a great price for painting the house, so we went with it. Picking the perfect white was a little difficult. There are so many different white paints we liked. Our interior designer, Toni, recommended Sherwin Williams Alabaster White. However, our builder doesn’t have that as an option. The design center representative suggested Toque White and upon seeing a sample we loved it. The swatch below makes it appear like it has more gray and yellow tones to it, but on our house it’s just perfect. We honestly couldn’t be happier with it!

For the trim, we actually wanted tricorn black, but there was a mess up and it’s actually Sealskin. I’m not too happy about it to be honest and from the beginning, I knew something was off. Let’s just say when there’s a hail storm that’s bad enough, we’ll be sure to get it right. In photos it looks pretty black but in person it does have more of a brownish tint to it.

THE WINDOWS

We really wanted black windows but our builder doesn’t offer them. We asked so many times but it sadly wasn’t an option. We went with white to get a clean look to blend in with our white painted brick. We kept the mullions on the front of our house and opted to nix them everywhere else. Our windows actually tilt inward for easy cleaning, which I appreciate it.

One of the biggest window upgrades we did was the picture windows flanking our fireplace. Originally, these windows are small squares lining up with where the top of the windows already are. We decided to go for this upgrade up front to maximize natural lighting in our house and love how it looks. It makes such a big difference. Since these are picture windows, they don’t actually open.

INTERIOR PAINT COLORS

When it comes to our transitional home, I wanted a neutral and clean palette. Picking our interior white paint was easy. I went with extra white for the walls and pure white for the trim to give it a bit of depth. Our kitchen cabinets are also pure white. I really love how there isn’t a yellow tint to our interior and it’s nice and clean. Plus, another reason I love these finishes for a transitional home is the white doesn’t look too sterile.

It’s truly the perfect white for us and looks simply beautiful in person and in photos! We may paint some rooms here and there but having everything white gives us the perfect place to start. We do have texture on our walls because we’re in the south. It’s just something you have to live with, unfortunately. Our fireplace wall is smooth though!

THE FLOORS

For all of our common living areas, we chose engineered hardwood. Similar to our interior paint colors, I wanted something bright and neutral for the finishes in our transitional home. After looking at tons of options, we chose Shaw Floors because they are Made in the USA. They have a beautiful maple engineered hardwood (also available in solid) and the Sanctuary color is exactly what we wanted. It’s not too brown, too gray or too yellow. It’s the perfect setting for any type of furniture or decor we add to our home.

THE DOOR

Johnny and I have dreamed of having an iron front door for quite a while. We’re working with Pinky’s Iron Doors and cannot wait to reveal the transformation to you soon! We currently have the builder-installed solid wood door painted in Sealskin but that’s about to change!