A few weeks ago I was looking through some old photos and came across photos of our house when we bought it. Hard to believe, but it was seven years ago. Today, I thought I would walk through the renovations we did and show you some photos of the main living space. Plus, I will share some of the changes we are still happy with today and the ones I wish we would have done differently.
There were some major things we had to do throughout the house. The floors were not in good condition, so we replaced them and went with a dark wood throughout the main living area. We also added what I would call a “modern Craftsman” trim details throughout. We trimmed out the windows, door frames, changed the doors and added baseboards. I still love those details and am very happy that we did them. It set up a good “canvas” for us.
Foyer/entrance: The french doors that you see on the right led into a little office. Since I work from home, we closed up the doorway and opened a door from inside our master bedroom to access the office from there. I am still glad we did this. It allowed us to create an official foyer, and just a little anteroom before coming into the house. It’s not big, but it is big enough.
Living room: Here, we added built-ins around the fireplace. I really like that they serve as a focal point, and there is definitely a ton of storage, which is where we keep board games and photo albums. I am a little conflicted about what I would do differently here. Only because the size of the mantle is such a large scale, anything we put up there is dwarfed in size. But I do love how it ties in with all the other trim work in the house. Part of that wall you see on the right came down to open the kitchen up to the living room.
Front sitting area. This was formerly a dining room immediately to the right when you came in. We currently use it as a seating area. This is where Brian drinks his coffee in the morning and reads….whatever he reads 🙂 You might be thinking this area needs drapes, and when I see the head-on photo, I do too. But I always waffle back and forth on that because I also like the feeling of it being clean and simple. Plus I love the window trim and drapes would hide that.
Kitchen & breakfast nook. We opened up the walls from the old dining room (our current sitting area) and into the living room. The old breakfast nook turned into our main dining space now. You’ll see from the new photos below how it opens up into the living area. I do like how it is open to the living area. I still love the color of the cabinets, and the countertops. If I could go back though, I would choose a simple white subway tile for a backsplash. Even though I do not hate the backsplash, but do I feel like it limits us a bit with decor because of the open concept space. Also, I would do less cabinetry. We do not have stuff for all these cabinets! If I could do it again, I would have less uppers and include more open shelving.
After the renovation process was over, furnishing the house has felt like a slow-as-molasses process. It’s probably due to my love of home design and getting all sorts of ideas bouncing around in this crazy head of mine. There are things that constantly nag at me that I want to get on. I would love to update the lighting in many of the rooms. We need more side tables to put drinks down and such. The boys are on the verge of outgrowing the shared space they sleep in, yada yada…
However, taking the time to see the progress we have made in these 7 years helps to know we have made progress, just not all in one fell swoop. And that’s okay. I’ve found taking an attitude of gratitude when impatience sets in is a great way to counterbalance the impatience. We absolutely love living here. We use every inch of our house every day. There is no wasted space. We adore our street, our park and our neighbors. Living here has brought us so much joy, that all it takes is a few minutes of contemplating on that to put side tables and lighting on the back burner for a bit longer.
How about you? Has your space changed a lot since you moved in?
Samantha
I can’t believe the transformation!!! Was that picture in your dining room in your parent’s house when you were young? It looks familiar!
Ale Post author
No, that is a piece by Sugarboo that makes me so happy.
Samantha
Maybe it looks familiar because I’ve seen it in your house……