A Cookie-Cutter, Boring Basic House Is Successfully De-Beiged

Name: Courtney Equall, husband, three little kids, and a cat
Location: Bend, Oregon
Size: 1,817 square feet
Years lived in: 1 year, owned

Our family moved back to Oregon last year after spending a few years in Texas for my husband’s work, and we bought our house before we had even seen the property in person! The house was in our dream location and is on the river, which we didn’t even think we would be able to find in our price range so we just went for it. We are less than thirty minutes from Mt. Bachelor so our kids swim and kayak all summer and ski all winter!

Before we bought the house, it had only been used as a vacation property so it had never been landscaped and lacked any sort of character or personality. That’s our mission: to make this house feel like a young family lives there and loves it! It’s a very builder-grade house and we’ve had a lot of fun the last year trying to de-beige our cookie cutter. We’ve done all the work ourselves and have painted, installed wood floors, remodeled the kitchen, and added a ton of landscaping so far.

Describe your home’s style in 5 words or less: Sunny fun labor of love

What is your favorite room and why? Definitely the kitchen. We just finished it! It took us six months but we did all the work and even poured concrete countertops, added tile, and open shelving. The space finally feels like us.

If you could magically change something about your home, what would it be? We have a tricky floor plan where the living room is too small to have a dining room unless we remove a wall to enlarge the space. But we have been going back and forth on whether or not to pull the trigger. So if I could magically change something… I would love to see what the layout would feel like with that wall down.

What’s the last thing you bought (or found!) for your home? I found a mid-century dresser that was a fifteen dollar thrift store find. I ended up painting it because it was in rough shape but I love how it turned out and now lives happily in the baby’s room.

Any advice for creating a home you love? Just do it! Sounds kinda funny, but I talk to people all the time that become frozen with indecision so they never make any progress at all. We try to just go for it and we’ve yet to regret any of our choices.

Just last month when we were laying our wood floors upstairs I asked my husband if he thought we should take down all the half-walls that surround our stairwell. Now, our stairs are totally ripped apart and there aren’t any walls but I just know we will come up with a solution and we’ll end up with something beautiful. Fingers crossed!

Thanks, Courtney! Find Courtney on her blog Girl & Grey.

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