But unfortunately, before Mary and her husband bought the house, “Home flippers bought it and made literally everything gray. Gray walls, gray carpet, gray fake wood floors. And that’s how it was when we bought the house.” 

The first three years the couple lived with all the gray everything. “The biggest challenge was money,” Mary begins. “My budget was basically nonexistent. But I was doing everything myself, which took time, so it worked out!”

“I would save money while I was completing a task and then when I had completed it, I’d have a little bit of money to use on the next project. And anything that I really wanted that could be made by hand I would just figure out how to make it myself.”

She says she started her home’s de-graying by painting every wall with Behr’s “Bit of Sugar” white to create a blank canvas. “Then the first room I changed was the guest room/craft/junk room. I found the loudest floral wallpaper I could find on Spoonflower and I made one whole wall floral. And I loved it! I wanted the feeling I had when I looked in that room to be the feeling I had throughout the house!”

Now, six years later, there are still some white walls in the home — but most of the gray is gone. And Mary says the whole home “is colorful with retro-patterned wallpaper, full walls of solid color, and bright, cheerful, colorful vintage pieces around every corner.”

• Kitchen — 1/2 Grape Hyacinth mixed with 1/2 White
• Bathroom — Sweet Melon
• “Turquoise Tint” — Lowe’s
• “Beach Blanket” — Lowe’s
• “Sweet Mustard” — Lowe’s
• “Darling Pink” — My own creation  

• Pink wall is my “Darling Pink” color (see above)
• The console is from IKEA and it’s called Stockholm, which is no longer available. 

• Sofa — Joybird, Royale Blush color
• Green wallpaper — Spoonflower
• Green sectional — Apt 2B

• Tulip table — IKEA
• Poly and Bark pink dining chairs — Amazon
• Orange contact paper put on the shelf — Amazon
• Shelf — Amazon
• Orange rug — Rugs

• Grape Hyacinth paint — Home Depot
• Counters — IKEA
• Apron sink — Home Depot
• Masking tape — Amazon

• Bedframe — Amazon
• Duvet cover — IKEA
• Wallpaper — Spoonflower

• Wallpaper — Spoonflower
• Paint — Sweet Melon
• Paint — Turquoise Tint
• Paint — Beach Blanket
• Paint — Sweet Mustard 

Thanks, Mary!

This tour’s responses and photos were edited for length/size and clarity.

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