I've provided real estate photography for clients on occasion. I'm always super jazzed to experience the home and take photos which show off its greatest features. But, it was a bit surreal to photograph my own house when I put it up for sale this past summer. One of the most difficult things to do was strip everything down; as I did that, I began to feel like the house was no longer mine. That I had not accomplished everything that I hoped to and now I was actually moving through the home design in reverse to make someone else feel like it could be THEIR home.

One advantage to photographing my own house — I could do it over a period of time, and I could shoot at times of day that best captured the light and mood of the rooms. Even though my home, overall, still felt a little bit like a work on progress, the entire process has given me time to reflect on the 2016-2017 design changes that were made. To read more about that, scroll down.

When I first designed the color scheme of the exterior and interior back in 2016, I chose the Cypress Green siding because it felt like more of a part of the environment of this wooded cul-de-sac. From there, I wanted to bring some of those earth tones into the living room, to enhance the feeling of the living room being a visual extension of the outdoors. I also wanted to bring in shades that triggered memories of sunrises and sunsets, and colors I associated with the seacoast. 

The front door opened up into a living room with Benjamin Moore Putnam Ivory, a color that was pulled through the second floor hall and rooms as a neutral base. This gave a more warm, sandy feel, all around. It also has a bit of a green undertone. Originally, I planned to bring more greens and a woodsier feel into the living room than I did. One way that I intentionally brought more green in was to shoot a photo of a salt marsh at sunrise and to display that over the fireplace. Warm wood and various earthy touches brought some of the outdoor ambiance inside. 

For the dining room, I used Benjamin Moore Peach Sorbet, which picked up the sunrise feels from the living room canvas. I ran this in through the kitchen, which helped pop the white cabinets.

Working off the Putnam Ivory upstairs, I used Breath of Fresh Air Blue, Peach Sorbet, and Santorini Blue for wall colors, and I used Flint, a dark gray, for the bookcases. A table and chairs I refinished for the dining room also made use of the Flint color.

Going downstairs to a small room and office, I carried in a light gray color, Graytint, which had blue undertones. I also used Santorini Blue downstairs. The peach in the first floor dining room and kitchen helped make a smooth transition from the ivory used on the first and second floor down to the gray used in the stairwell and office.