This house is an 1800-ish square foot single-story Cape Cod-style home aboard Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. It has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a detached two-car garage. This house is military base housing to the core: nothing special, nothing fancy. No architectural details, no fancy appliances, no high-end finishes, and not a lot of windows. It has builder basic bathrooms and kitchen, popcorn ceilings, worn carpet throughout, and fake and mis-matched flooring across four rooms. We weren't allowed to tear down walls or rip out carpet or tile back-splashes or paint cabinets...but with a ton of ambition and all renter-friendly ideas and DIYs, we transformed this boring and basic home into something truly special for the three years we lived there.
Early on, I was struggling to make this home feel fresh and vibrant. Although I hadn’t picked it in my original color palette, I found myself continuously gravitating toward bright turquoise over and over again. Instead of fighting it, I embraced it! Eventually, turquoise made its way into almost every nook of this home, acting as a continuous and unifying element throughout the entire house!
Our bright turquoise porch chairs and accessories greeted guests and set the tone for what was inside…
Let’s go on in!!! Since we never entered the house through the front door, our foyer was much more decorative than functional. A lemon-lime console table and gallery wall greeted visitors, while we stored our book collection in a nook behind the door.
Right inside the front door, off the small foyer, was a great room that we split into two different zones: the playroom and our family room. Turquoise quickly became the central color story in here thanks to its bright and happy vibe. IKEA bins, painted furniture and other turquoise accessories bring the whole space to life.
Our large blue sectional served as a room divider, creating distinct spaces that were unified through the consistent decor scheme. One of the very last elements to come into this space was the turquoise grasscloth-covered trunk, which is possibly one of my most favorite projects ever!
Toward the back of the house was our spacious dining room, easily one of my favorite spaces in our entire house. Although turquoise was not a main color in this room, it still punctuated different aspects of this space and connected the adjoining family room and kitchen together!
The kitchen was right off the dining room and had cabinets and appliances on the only three walls of the room. This space was high on storage and brown cabinets but very low on design and natural light. The turquoise backsplash (made with paint and vinyl decals!) and happy kitchen accessories were our version of making lemonade out of lemons!
Down the side hallway, you come across an alcove that we transformed into our family command center and drop zone. Since we always entered/exited through the side door that is further down this hallway, this turned out to be an awesome use of this awkward space! Just to the right of the command center was our hallway bathroom. It was basic and simple yet bright and cheerful.
Directly across from the command center was the first, large bedroom that we used as my craft room and office. As you walked in the door, the "office" side of the space was directly ahead, with the craft side off to the right. The far wall featured a workstation with a countertop while the fourth wall held my sewing desk fashioned from an old dresser. Turquoise and white were the primary palette for this room. Combined with black, white and gold accents, it became a fresh and invigorating space to work and create.
Right next to the craft room was my son's bedroom. A bright, fresh and really fun space that he was proud to call his own and show off to anyone who came to visit!
At the end of the hall was the master bedroom. It was a small and awkward room but thanks to a great paint job and glamorous finishes, it became a serene and comfortable retreat at the end of busy days!
When we moved in that house about 3.5 years ago, I thought it would maybe take me a year or so to “finish” off the entire home. Little did I know that I would literally spend our entire time stationed in North Carolina working on that house, only calling it done in the weeks before moving out. Looking back at these pictures, I'm filled with such emotion, amazement, satisfaction, and pride at how this shell of a military housing rental actually came together...one idea, one project at a time. I didn't really know where we’d end up when we started, and there were so many wrong turns as well as excited moments along the way. This was real life trial and error done for the pure enjoyment of creating homey, pretty and personal spaces for me and my family.
I sure miss that home and all the wonderful projects and spaces we created! But as is the case with us military folk, our next adventure was waiting…so we packed up our boxes, painted back the walls, peeled all the vinyl off the walls and said farewell to North Carolina home. We are now living in Leavenworth, Kansas, and I am busily making our current house a home for the one year we get to live here. I sure hope you’ll come by, say hi, and check out my latest decorating adventures!
Before scooting off, I want to give a big, warm thank you to Erin for having me here today! Like all of you, I sure love coming here each and every day for home and design inspiration and my daily turquoise fix! Erin sure knows how to serve up some amazing spaces, and I’m honored and privileged to be sharing my home with you all today!
Recent Turquoise Finds:
Love turquoise? Visit my shopping blog Everything Turquoise...updated several times throughout the day! Check out Decor by Color for even more color-themed shopping!
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