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House Progress

How Painting Our House Black Affected our Electricity Bill

From the moment we uttered the words, “we’re planning on painting our house black,” the questions and comments started rolling in. “I would love to go dark, but our electricty bill would be outrageous!” “You must live in a northern state where you don’t have hot summers.” “How high is your electricity bill going to be in the summer?” We took all of these things into account before we made our decision about painting the house black. We ultimately decided that it was worth it even if we ended up having to pay more for electricity in the summer. Texas summers can best be described as “hot as blazes for months on end,” so we definitely use our fair share of power in those hot summer months.

But I was curious. Even though we decided we didn’t care if we were using more energy, were we actually using more energy now that our house was black versus when the house was a pale yellow? I had to find out. I went back into the archives of our electricity bills and did some quick comparisons. This summer we’ve been dealing with record breaking heat, so I knew we would really be putting the black house to the test. Thankfully our electricity bill shows the average temperature that it was on any given month, so rather than doing a straight month to month comparison, I looked for months were the average temperature was as close to the same as possible. Unfortunately this year with our record breaking heat, I didn’t have quite an apples to apples comparison, but I still wanted to share the results of my findings.

You can see that in the first two side by side comparisons where the temperature was almost the same, the energy usage was relatively the same. The final month where our average was 101° we did use more kilowatts, but I think it is still pretty relative to the amount of kilowatts used during a month with an average temperature of 97°. So the short answer to the question of whether or not it’s costing us more to cool our house in the summer because our house is black is, nope. Not really.

Which is a welcome relief, seeing as how we had anticipated an increase and didn’t end up seeing one. But for anyone who might be considering painting their own house a dark color, I wanted to share our experience. I’m sure there are certain factors that would create differences, like how much shade your house gets (we have a lot of mature trees), or what direction it’s facing (ours is facing southwest) , or the quality of your insulation (ours is terrible). But this has been our experience, for what it’s worth.

I hope this was helpful to you, and maybe helps in your house painting decision making. Or, if you were just curious, now you know. That’s all for today friends, have a fabulous day!

August 16, 2022 by
House Progress, Room Tours

Shared Toddler Room Reveal! – Spring One Room Challenge Week Eight

I cannot believe this room is finished! It’s been eight weeks of super intense working on making over my son’s room for my son and daughter to share. Their gender neutral, English country inspired room is just what I envisioned and I can’t believe it’s come to life! Or that I did 90% of it by myself! As a quick reminder before we dive into it, let’s just take a look back just eight short weeks ago:

Boring and basic, the floors had been refinished when we first moved in, and the walls painted white, but that was about it. The room itself didn’t have a “design.” Now, hold on to your hats people, because I cannot believe this is the same room.

We added the beadboard, chair rail, and picture rail ourselves, and I used a stencil that was generously gifted by Stencil Revolution to give the upper portion of the wall a faux wallpaper look. The green is Equestrian Green, the tan upper portion is called Windswept Leaves, and the stenciled color is called Split Rail, all by Behr. The walls alone really make the space and give it the antique, English, equestrian vibe I was going for. The white was necessary for a quick move in timeline, but it’s time it got some character.

The beds were my launching off point for the rest of the design. I found them on Facebook Marketplace almost a year ago, and I’ve been storing them in my garage until now. I bought them from a sweet retired couple who used them when their children were small. They had bought them at an antique store in the 1980’s, but they believed they were from the turn of the century. It was meant to be because so is our house!


Most of the art and decor was found secondhand at estate sales and thrift stores. I reused but reworked the curtains by adding blackout liners and drapery pins. The dresser is also the same dresser that was in here before, but it looks much more fitting now. More on the dresser in this post.

Dresser Before

The pillow shams were from a basic set, but I had them embroidered locally. I had a hard time finding someone who could do exactly what I was looking for, but the ladies at The Perfect Pair were so helpful and worked with me to get exactly the look I was hoping for. I think the monogrammed pillows give it a touch of class (as classy as two beds made up for toddlers can be).

The light fixture was a $50 Amazon find (I know!) which worked well to replace the old shadeless ceiling fan that was there with something that looked like a cute vintage light but came with the ease of modern wiring and installation.

Because most of my items were found secondhand, they aren’t linkable, but what I did purchase new is linked below.

Thank you so much for stopping by and checking out the kids new space. This is a room that I’m really proud of, and is something that I truly feel is a reflection of our home style. I worked on this solely during naptimes and after bedtimes for the last two months, and every time my oldest woke up, he would immediately go to “the new room” and check on the progress. Both of the kids love the space, and they can’t wait to spend their first night in the newly made over space. I wanted to make the room feel sophisticated but also fun and whimsy, and I’m so pleased with how it all came together.

Now, remember this? This was the original moodboard for the design. I am so thrilled to see it in the flesh. It’s honestly the nicest room in our house now.

And last but not least, just one more for the road. I truly cannot believe this is the same room.

I would love to hear your thoughts! And after you’ve let me know what you think, be sure to go see some of the other great reveals happening today. That’s all for today, friends! Have a fabulous day!

May 25, 2022 by
House Progress

Spring One Room Challenge Week Five: Paint Diaries

Week One | Week Two | Week Three | Week Four

Another week, another post from the depths of paint despair. I always start off optimistic about a paint job, and then end up becoming slowly disenchanted with the work as time goes on. As I mentioned before, the paint in this room is pretty involved, and from the outset, I budgeted myself two weeks just to paint. As of the time of this writing, it’s been exactly two weeks since I put the first coat of paint on a surface, and I probably have one more day of painting before I’m officially done.

I have shown you guys the green paint that is the majority of the room, but I haven’t talked about here what my plans were for the upper portion of the wall. I am doing a faux wallpaper look (more on that later I promise!) using just paint. I’ve done it with a few different methods in the past, and so I’m lovingly referring to this “wallpaper” as Fake Wallpaper3.0. While I’m not ready to show you what the wallpaper is, I want to share what color I painted the wall as a base for Fake Wallpaper3.0. I’m going for a moody, English country style, and so I chose Windswept Leaves by Behr to help darken the space. It’s not transferring super well in the photo I snapped today, it’s a lovely camel shade and less of a gold, but I think it’ll serve as the perfect backdrop for what I’m hoping to achieve with the faux wallpaper.

Does it not bring some drama to the situation? I’m excited to show you what’s coming next, but I’ll have to leave you in some suspense! Be sure to check out the other ORC guests this week as they reveal their progress too. That’s all for today, have a fabulous day!

May 4, 2022 by