if you give a house a renovation

Barbara wrote us a little line and asked, “I’m kind of new to you and curious about your house. Can you tell me what all you have done to it?” 

before

We’ve done it all. ::laughs in delirium:: A friend asked me the other day what we’re currently up to at our house. Because we’re always doing something. It took us two years to complete the finishing touches since our final addition kind of affected everything. And I do mean everything. Also, cobbler’s kids have no shoes. So I happily answered with “Nothing.” While I absolutely love working with clients, I also ADORE having my very own projects, {trust me, I have plans up my sleeves for “next”}; it feels really good to focus on other things right now. In short, it just feels really good to breathe. 

after 

If you give a house a renovation is very much likened to “If You Give a Mouse A Cookie.” You know, that beloved children’s book where the little mouse asks for things, and the boy grants his requests because one thing is affected by another. That’s what all renovations feel like since everything is connected. So here’s a brief history of our home with a little focus on our latest: If you give a house an addition. It’s nice to have everything in one place.

What to know: We purchased this little house in 2016 for the yard + school + pool. It needed a ton of work and was a little neglected. Since then, we’ve quadrupled our value. Taking it from 1650 square feet to over 3700. We’re on septic, and if you’re familiar with that, the codes in your area can be a little limiting. And by a little limiting, I mean absolutely ridiculous. We currently have clients who have been waiting for two years JUST to get started, but we have some fresh updates on this project coming soon. We initially moved in with dreams of completing the renovation on our own house with a primary suite just off the kitchen. It kind of grew from there because, at first, we were told no by local septic. {Pssst… if you’re curious about what we do, check it out here!} 

A few things to remember before we begin this not-so-little recap:

• I tried to keep it succinct, which is impossible because it’s a seven-year journey. I didn’t necessarily go in chronological order but tried to explain when. I left out all the musical bedroom parts and the wondering-if-we-can-do-this-parts.

• Good things take time. They don’t happen in a commercial break with twenty bucks like TV would like you to believe. It takes patience, time, blood, sweat, and tears. 

• Once I photograph my house, it doesn’t stay photo-ready. Things change. Real people live here. My toxic trait is pretending they don’t. So the next time you get frustrated over your home, remember it’s real life and nothing is perfect. That’s more than okay. 

before – small foyer and small formal living room

Phase 1: So while we waited on permission to take on the basement, we initially tackled the Main Floor, changing four smaller rooms into the Great Room, which includes the kitchen. 

And here’s what those views look like now!

You can see a little bit of an updated tour, here. 

We also took on the upstairs three bedrooms. Initially, all three kids slept in one room {they were still elementary ages} and we took the old primary bedroom. We also used one bedroom as an office since we work from home. Then when we finished the basement, the younger two took one shared space. While our oldest moved into his own room. After our final addition, they were able to all spread out circa 2022. Here are their rooms now: {Except our oldests’ floors are different – here’s a glimpse of them now, and I’ll explain while we changed them below.} 

before

Check out more of it here. 

Our youngest’s space is here so click over for all these details, as well. Once upon a time, we started with this. 

Then after the kids spread out, it became this. 

One of my favorite features in the house, is their shared closet. Total E.T. vibes, but we knocked out two tiny spaces that were back to back, and gave them more space with the redo, along with connecting closets. In an older house, this was a game changer. 

And our middle is here. We were able to spread out once our primary was finally done. We joke that she pulled a mean girls. “It was my parent’s room but I made them trade me.” 

Byeee, weird grease spots on the walls. Here’s what we started with, and check it out here. 

This wall and bathroom configuration before. 

And here’s the after – it made much more sense to bump out the space and lose the “hallway” for a larger closet + slightly larger bathroom. Check out her bathroom here. 

And the boys’ shared hallway bath, which now looks like this. 

before

This shower change over is still my favorite part. 

Somewhere after this craziness, that fall we were able to move in. The following spring, we built the handmade hideaway for the kiddos. 

Phase 2: After that, we were granted permission to do our basement. Initially, this also included our temporary laundry corner, but that also changed with the primary addition. It also holds my office. Here’s a quick tour, including our new updates. That old space is now a closet! Again, a big deal for an older home with limited storage.

before

The perfect spot for teenage gatherings, slumber parties {those sofas double as fold out beds}, movie nights + more. 

This odd garage had death doors that would slam down along with a weird side door. So we lost the door, and finished off this space to work hard for us with all our comings and goings. 

This open space here also makes for a great makeshift home gym, as we learned very quickly in the 2020 apocalypse.

Again, this was our laundry corner in the meantime. I ran away from some serious spiders in between laundry changeups before it was finished since this was our only option. We went tankless with our water heater to save on space – something we always recommend for our clients. Also a game changer with teens. This closet holds camera gear, samples + supplies galore. An essential in our house. 

And my little “cave” office has come a long way. It really was so crusty before.

Phase 3: While this was going on, we took on a {much-needed} outside makeover with window world. I’ll come back to that below, but this was also a game-changer for how our house looks. We have a fun project coming up with them this spring, but you can see the before and after above. 

Phase 4: After that, we decided we hadn’t had enough of the chaos, and built a pool room. This idea evolved from a screened-in porch to a full-on addition, and we adore the extra square space it’s given us for entertaining, a studio space for me {again, I have more plans for that one} and a makeshift dining room. See the initial reveal here, but once we added the primary suite, it definitely changed this wall. 

 pool room addition before the primary addition

after the primary addition, we added this deck – the outside is an ongoing project.

This leads back into our great room.

Phase 5: After this, we took a breather, starting the process of building our primary suite. Then Covid happened, and we all know how that went. We’re not known to sit still for long, so since we’d initially restored our pool yet not done nothing beyond that, we decided it was time to spruce up the back. {More on that coming this spring.}

First, we added a much-needed side patio + privacy wall. – This links to the initial post, but the updated version is here. 

Then, we tore down the sad old fence, and expanded into our acre yard with a new larger fence. We also added 75 new shrubs and trees for added privacy around the perimeter. Our {mixed breed herding} dogs were so grateful. Clearly, we thought we were going to go crazy, but we were also grateful for this time to dive back into our own home. We also saved about 8k by doing it ourselves.

Quick overhead view of the before limiting fence vs our plans + how it all turned out.

And while that was going on… we decided we needed more of a dedicated area on the back for entertaining. A Covid Cabana was born. I guess you could say since the kids are all teenagers now, this ended up being the perfect choice for their space. And also for Jamin, who likes to watch a lot of football in the fall. 

Before we restored the pool or did anything to the back

After

Our youngest was a young 6 when we moved here. He doesn’t remember many of the befores other than his red room, and was a bit appalled when I showed him the before shots. He just said, “You did good!” Mission accomplished. 

We stayed busy in 2020. 

Phase 6: Then, about a year later, we were given actual permission to build our primary suite. So we busted through this wall, and everyone was finally able to spread out. 

This addition was a fresh build, and we worked closely with our architect to include quite a few things. That means it was built {cleverly because you really can’t tell} on an angle. We were very limited in our abilities but we’re grateful for the chance to spread out. See more details in the posts. OH! AND as if we’re not gluttons for punishment enough, we redid the floors while all the rest was going on. That’s because of a leak we had in the kitchen the winter before, but it also gave us an opportunity to match up everything minus the back room + basement, where we are still glad to have tile. We literally moved out and then moved back in. The great summer adventure of 2022. We get a lot of questions about that finish, so be sure to check it out here. 

People really don’t understand. This is why I say NOTHING when people ask us what we’re doing. ::Laughs more in exhaustion::

Walking through the hallway, you’ll see our butler’s pantry + laundry space. 

Truly one of my favorite parts about the house. You can see more about our primary bedroom here. 

Which leads to a small hallway where you’ll find both our closets. 

Here’s a brief tour of mine. It’s truly the little things. And our bath, here. 

Because we finally have a bathroom connected to the pool {it’s so very nice due to our previous limitations!} we built a deck with Yellawood to connect both additions on the back. 

And… we finally brought major curb appeal to the front with a makeover via Yellawood + Glen-Gery Bricks as well. It brought some much-needed attention to our Window World makeover, and changed the way our front yard feels. Here’s an update from this fall with a round-up of what we did. 

This one blows my mind. He’s taller than me now. 

We truly love this little house that we aptly named the money pit, and the literal blood, sweat, and tears that have gone into it. If you’re still with us, we hope this gives you a little idea of what we’ve taken on in our own home! We’ve been there ourselves, so we truly know what it feels like when working with clients for the best solution in their own homes. If you wish to go more in-depth, check out the entire series here.

Let us know if we can help you in any way, and check out more of what we do, here. Have an inspired day!