Home renovations, pt. 1

Hard to believe it’s been since April that I’ve posted here. My entire summer, except for one glorious week of vacation on the Oregon coast, has been consumed by home renovation projects. Like 50 of them going on simultaneously. And, as I’m sure any of you know who have renovated your homes yourselves, it has not exactly been fun, although I have enjoyed certain parts of it. We’re coming up on October here real quick and we still have projects left to finish and a couple, mainly one massive one, that we haven’t even started yet. Anxiety? Yes. Some doubt that we’re really going to pull it off? Yes. Sleepless nights and some avoidance of reality? Check and check!

Entry/Kitchen BEFORE

Entry/Kitchen DURING

Entry/Kitchen DURING

Entry/Kitchen AFTER

This process has provided me with a lot of “opportunities for growth” in the areas of patience, acceptance, compromise, and letting go. Let me just say that my default when things do not go as planned is denial, blame, and negativity. I have to fight real hard not to let those things overtake me, and I’ve been up and down with this a lot lately.

When we started planning for these renovations back in December we were relying on misinformation from a moron at the bank who over promised on some things. Like WAY over promised. By the time everything was finalized, I had already had to let go of my dream bathroom remodel with a soaker tub, my hardwood floors, my cedar hot tub on the back deck, and later my new kitchen appliances. And as projects started to run over budget, I’ve had to let go of a few more things I had planned to get done. And while I may sound somewhat ungrateful, I really do love what we’ve been able to do so far. It’s kind of amazing to scribble plans out on paper and then see them come to life. There is just a part of me that revolts against having something I want taken away. Maybe that just means I’m a big baby. HOWEVER, I CAN actually reason like an adult, it just takes me a beat or two. So basically, starting in the Spring, I have been going through a cycle of 1. Outrageous excitement 2. Disappointment 3. Acceptance 4. Gratitude. I guess the universe just thought I could use some practice at this? Thanks, universe. Now leave my remodel the f*#% alone!

Living Room BEFORE

Living Room DURING

Living Room DURING

Living Room AFTER (for now)

What we have been able to do so far is:

• Install new wood-look laminate flooring and new custom baseboards throughout the common areas upstairs
• Replace carpet on the stairs and in the downstairs bedrooms
• Modify cabinetry in the kitchen to make it more open
• Install quartz countertops in the kitchen along with new kitchen sink, faucet, and light fixtures
• Remove walls in the kitchen and entry and reconfigure closet in the kitchen
• Tear off and rebuild a new deck and staircase on the front of the house
• Stain front deck and stairs
• Order custom metal railings for deck and staircase
• Modify cabinetry in the living room
• Install new French door from living room to back yard
• Tile master bathroom, paint existing cabinetry, install new hardware and accessories
• Tile new backsplash in the kitchen
• Remove shrubs in front of house and replace with pavers
• New area rug in the living room
• New ceramic planters for front stairs
• New baseboard heaters in living room and kitchen

So yeah, really does seem I’m an ingrate when I look at that list!

Like I said, there’s still more to do, but the inside of the house is basically done and that’s a giant relief for me. No more microwaving shit in the living room. No more having to hang out in my bedroom because it’s the only place we have furniture. And most importantly, no more sharing a bathroom with boys!

Stay tuned for home renovations part two…….

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The Remodel

So, I can’t even tell you how many years I have fantasized about walking into an appliance store and picking out new appliances for my kitchen. It’s kind of a nerdy thing to fantasize about, but I have honestly spent countless hours doing it.

Right before my birthday in December, my husband and I were driving home from “town” when he looked over at me from the driver’s seat and said, in a very serious tone, “I have to tell you something”. My first thought was, “This is gonna be bad”. My second thought was, “Shit, he’s gonna tell me he actually voted for Trump instead of just teasing me that he was going to and now we’re getting a divorce”. In my head, I had already gone to “Where am I going to live? My life is over.” He quickly brought me back to reality by telling me that he’d been talking to the bank, and starting in the spring we are going to build the master bathroom we have been talking about since we moved in to our house. AND we’re getting new kitchen appliances. AND we’re rebuilding the front deck and stairs. AND we’re painting the exterior of the house. AND we’re getting new windows. AND we’re getting new flooring upstairs. AND, if we can make it work, we’re getting a spa out on the back deck. Needless to say, I did not believe him. I really thought he was messing with me, and I thought it was really mean. As the shock and disbelief subsided and it finally set in that he was telling me the truth, I started screaming, and I may have cried a little. If you guys have read my other blog post about my home, you know how important my home is to me. How long and how often I have dreamed about the projects I want to do to the house, and how unlikely it would be for my husband to be telling me we were going to do ALL of the projects. ALL OF THEM!

Just for the record, my husband did not vote for Trump (nor would he ever).

Since December, we have been planning and planning and re-planning various arrangements for the bathroom, the kitchen, the living room, the front deck and stairs. It’s kind of become our Saturday morning ritual. He gets up at 5 am, stokes the fire, plows the driveway, goes on a 2 mile snowshoe walk with the dog, comes inside and brings me coffee in bed as I’m waking up and we spend the next hour or so penciling out different designs and ideas. It’s been the best winter of my life so far, guys. Also, how amazing is my husband?

Everything has not been finalized with the bank yet, so we have not financially committed to anything, but we have gotten a bid on the windows we need to replace or add, and we’ve priced out the kitchen appliances. I’ve also priced out some soaker tubs for the master bath, though I’m hoping to find a vintage cast iron claw foot. Those are pretty much the only solid costs we have nailed down so far. We’ve looked at different flooring options for upstairs, but have not made a decision yet. I’m leaning towards engineered wood, but we’ll see. A lot of the design decisions will depend on the cost of the projects as we start to bid them out and add them up. What’s very important to us both is to plan the projects with the environment in mind. That will mean buying energy efficient appliances, eco friendly materials wherever possible, and buying things of quality that will last. If doing so means that we have to wait on one or more of the projects, I’m okay with that. Luckily, my husband is very handy and his dad is a contractor. We’re planning to do a fair amount of the work ourselves which will help us save on labor costs.

exterior inspiration board

Since we’re in a holding pattern right now until everything is finalized with the bank and the funds come in, I’m trying to restrain my excitement. That doesn’t mean I haven’t been pinning things to my Remodel board on Pinterest multiple times a day, though. What’s been most interesting to me through this process so far is that, even though I’m super excited about these projects, I also know that I’m totally going to be okay if, for some reason, it doesn’t end up working out. There’s an underlying calm to it all. A healthy detachment. For that, I am most grateful.

My ideas for the design aesthetic of my remodeled home are mostly in line with the design we already have going on in the interior of the house. I have a mid century modern thing going on, mixed with 70’s bohemian and some rustic elements as well. I guess I would call it “mid century bohemian cabin in the woods”. We’re going very dark for the exterior paint (like almost black) and will have natural wood elements from the deck/porch and front door. The upstairs will most likely have continuos flooring throughout (with the exception of the bedrooms, which we had re-carpeted when we moved in – I like carpet in the bedroom since it’s so cold here in the winter). The sunroom will get tiled and the walls will be painted. We’re opening up the kitchen some by removing the L-shape in the counter and taking some walls down. My plan at this point is to do stainless steel Kitchen Aid appliances, white subway tile, keep the original wood cabinets, and build some bench seating for the breakfast nook. If the budget allows we will switch out the pink Corian countertops for white. The pink is definitely going, though. We’ll also be getting a new sink and faucet. Probably a stainless under mount, although I’m toying with the idea of copper.

kitchen inspiration board

The master bath is veering off a little from the rest of the house, as I’m leaning towards a black and white color scheme. I’m hoping that with the natural elements of the cabinetry (or countertop) and wood door leading outside, it won’t look too modern. I feel like the vision has been in my head for so long that the design elements have been relatively easy to put together. The hard part is all of the details that you don’t think about until you’re actually measuring and planning the layout of the space. We had originally wanted to put the washer and dryer in the master bathroom (they’re currently downstairs in a laundry room that you can only get to through the garage), but as we started penciling it out, it was just too cramped with a stand up shower and a soaker tub. I have not been able to enjoy a bath since we moved here, so I’m not willing to compromise on my dream bath. It’s something I used a lot in our Portland home and I really miss it. Now that we know the washer and dryer are not going in the bathroom, we are still debating where the best place is to put them. No final decision yet, but we’re leaning towards building a closet for them in the hallway behind the kitchen. My only concern is how much space it will end up cutting from the kitchen.

master bath inspiration board

I’m cautiously optimistic about the entire project and will be posting updates as the remodeling begins.

If you’d like to check out my Remodel board on Pinterest, have a look here. And if you have any tips or advice from your own remodeling projects, please feel free to share!