Our Home Renovation

my homeowner’s note

This project was my dream, truly!! I went to school for interior design and spent 4 years in the commercial design industry. I have a strong eye for design and with the help of Pinterest, the execution is better than I imagined. I love being in our home together. I am so content and utterly relaxed. It’s such a blissful feeling.

After living in rental properties since college together, it’s really special for my husband and I to call this OUR home. I can’t wait to spend the first years of our married life together here after intentionally crafting every detail.

Every selection was purposefully made; what we loved but also with future resale in mind as this is probably a max. 2 kid house.

A special Thank you

Personally, I’d like to thank my Dad who spent so much of his summer & fall at our house. For all of the late nights and long weekends, he was laying subfloor or demoing tile or adding everything to his plate when the quotes came in too high…his time and his knowledge are something I’m SO grateful for.

It’s always special for me to have one-on-one Dad time and this project was just that. Dad – thank you will never be enough. I love you! Thanks for helping us turn our house into a home.

To be fair, for every quote I received and my Dad thought the price was too high, it was work he added to his plate. At one point, it looked like he had 4 FULL thanksgiving plates. We chipped away at the big things and as I type this, we have like 3 outstanding punch items left to tackle – always something, right?!! (YAY) Anyway, I’m sure he’s happy to not receive an itemized checklist each week from his oldest daughter!

Disclaimer: this entire home and renovation was self-funded. We purchased everything and are incredibly thankful for some of our family friends who stepped in to help us do the job right! None of this is sponsored, but gosh wouldn’t of that been nice.

Links & My Amazon Storefront

If you’re here for quick links, head over to my Amazon Storefront where I have saved everything we’ve purchased for the house over the last few months (even the stuff you don’t think of…light switch covers, rug pads, you name it, it’s there).

I also have a ShopMy highlight saved of home items not from Amazon. My go-to spots were Wayfair, Etsy, and a few Target/Walmart finds. As always, I’ve documented the entire process and saved it to an Instagram Highlight.

Buying our first home

We started casually looking in September of 2023 when we knew our lease would be up the following summer. It was helpful for us to familiarize ourselves with the inventory early on. In February 2024, we began to look more seriously, attending a few open houses near where we currently lived.

We made the mistake of signing up for open houses on Zillow and it was game over for our phones. Jack started to receive numerous calls from real estate agencies over the next couple months LOL. April 2024, we committed to working with a realtor. Signed up for OneHome, the email notification service that notifies you when a new listing is on the market. A full time job within itself, honestly.

As everyone says, you look back on the house(s) that your offer wasn’t accepted on with 20/20 vision. Where you end up is exactly where you’re meant to be & we’re so happy with the home we purchased. We only put an offer on one other house in May 2024 before we found our now home.

I was flying home from California and actually moved up my flight to be able meet Jack at our now house with the realtor.

There were 7 other offers on our house. After being outbid by the house we didn’t get in May, we went well over asking and our offer was accepted. 3 days later, we had the inspection and knowing the condition, we asked for a few thousand in concession.

Because there were many offers on the table, we also knew that we wouldn’t be able to get that much (they could just go with another offer). Together, we decided we wanted the house regardless if any concession was accepted. They gave us half of what we asked for in concessions and that was that. IT WAS OURS!

Overall, our plan & timeline

We closed on our house the second to last week of June 2024. With a little under 10 weeks to get the renovations livable (notice how I didn’t say complete😉), I created a detailed spreadsheet that broke down our plans by room.

Our townhome lease was ending July 31st, 2024, and quickly we realized that we needed to extend until August 31st. With our wedding in mid September (yes, it was a lot lol), we wanted to have the move behind us before the wedding.

We’re really happy we did it this way, but woof, we had some tough moments. Let’s just call it a great pre-marital exercise as a renovation while planning a wedding, moving, owning your own business, and living life – it’s a lot on the plate!

OK, so we close the second to last weekend in June. I leave for my family vacation abroad 5 days later for 2 1/2 weeks. I spent those days lining up contractors to receive quotes and getting people in play. This also gave us a clear vision of how to spend the first part of our allotted budget – what we could hire out, what we would do ourselves, and what our dad’s agreed to help us with. The work ranged from immediate priority to minor updates that could wait until later (after we moved in).

In addition to the master spreadsheet, I also created a shared note with our family members helping and each week, tasks would be assigned (that they agreed too – we didn’t assume anything). It gave everyone purpose and direction while they were at the house, as well as let everyone know who was doing what.

The biggest part to managing a home renovation is working backwards with other people’s timelines. The design & trade industry is a grind. Each contractor worked at their own pace, so it was up to me to ensure everyone got their work done as needed.

As I started rolling the renovation ball, it was a like a domino effect. Before X could happen, Y needed to be done. Before Y was done, Z needed to prep. A constant cycle. I do think my industry experience helped with this as I project managed it, but as long as you’re organized, I think anyone can do it. I believe in you!

Let’s break it down by room and get into the specific details there. As I mentioned before, I have documented this entire process on my Instagram Stories and saved to a Highlight. Feel free to dm me/comment any questions!

Flooring, Subfloor & Trim

Two main things that remain constant between rooms: the flooring and trim work throughout. We selected a LVT Floor to be laid on top of the existing hardwood floors. Gasp! Yes, we covered up hardwood and it was the best thing we did. Read that again if you need convincing.

We wanted the same floor throughout and the old floor pattern had interesting transitions: blue carpet in the hallway up to the entry, tile in the entryway and bathrooms throughout…they were choppy transitions. You get the idea: it didn’t make sense to piece together old hardwood with newer floors elsewhere.

Spec: a beautiful wide plank material called Hatfield Maple by Coretec. We worked with Perfect Floors in Shelby Twp. and we paid for them to install it as well (a chunk of the budget went here ~$14k)

The subcontractor who installed the LVT was the one who replaced all of the trim in the house to 6″ primed base board. He also added casing around all of the entryways and windows to make the space feel more grand. He did this in one weekend and it transformed the house! We are SO happy we did this.

As far as the subfloor throughout the house goes, we had to add subfloor in the rooms that hard carpet and the hallways to build the floor up to be even with the existing hardwood. It needed to be flush for the LVT.

All trim throughout is painted Sherwin Williams Westhighland White (semi-gloss). All ceilings are painted Sherwin Williams Westhighland White (flat).

Kitchen

The heart of every home! Especially in my case, it’s also my office 😉 When we walked into the kitchen upon touring it, Jack stood at the island and said “This feels like a family kitchen“.

Overall, the bones of this room were really good, and also where about 1/3 of the total budget went as I had a specific vision. The cabinets are LaFata, a high quality cabinet designer in metro Detroit. Great storage and cabinet layout/quality, recessed lighting, good natural light, and a pantry (many houses we toured many homes that didn’t not have any pantry or kitchen storage).

PLAN: We decided that we’d have the existing cabinets professional painted (aka sprayed) and we’d cosmetically update everything else. Unseen renovations included expanding the gas line to the future range, running the range ventilation through the roof instead of the wall as it didn’t line up with the existing hole, replacing the waterline to the refrigerator, new garbage disposable, moving all of the electrical outlets to wires to accommodate LED under-cabinet lighting and electrical strips instead of the existing outlets.

Demo required: remove all existing appliances (sell on Facebook marketplace), remove the laminate countertops & laminate 4″ wallsplash, remove pantry door and light fixture that looked like it belonged in Applebees. We also wanted to put in a gas range, so we needed to remove the microwave above the oven as well as the small cabinet to accommodate the change. I was insistent on adding undercabinet lighting and moving the existing electrical to under the cabinet as well. The demo for this needed to be done before the tile backsplash went in.

The original owners had a fridge leak over time that seeped into the wood floor and through the subfloor. Found during inspection, we knew we needed to rip out the floor under the fridge, remove the water damaged subfloor and repair. We paid a handyman to do this for us.

Unseen Renovations: expanding the gas line to the future range; we needed to extend it roughly 40 feet in the basement to be able to run it to the spot of the new range. Rerouting the vent hood exhaust through the roof instead of the wall (existing spot didn’t line up with our new vent hood), upgrading the waterline to the refrigerator as the original created the leak in the subfloor and wasn’t up to industry code. We installed a new garbage disposable, moving all of the electrical outlets to accommodate LED under-cabinet lighting and electrical strips instead of the existing outlets. Adding power to the pantry so the microwave could be moved from above the previous electric range to the pantry.

Selections & Finishes

• Appliance Suite: KitchenAid appliances. My best friend works for Whirlpool and gave us a friends & family discount. We saved 53% with her discount as they stack sales and we ordered during a holiday sale. If you are thinking of purchasing and want a discount link, please comment and I’ll connect you two. She’s very generous and has offered her code to APOP friends!
• Kitchen Cabinets: existing LaFata cabinets, professionally painted by a local company. Cabinet color is Sherwin Williams Accessible Beige.
• Kitchen Hardware: Knobs are from Wayfair, Pulls are from Amazon. The pantry door hardware is from Wayfair as well. Craftsman style pantry door from Home Depot.
• Countertops: we used Diamond Granite in Macomb Twp. Very happy with their prices and quality! It’s Quartz and color: Calcutta Gold.
• Tile Backsplash: ordered from Virginia Tile. Spec: WOW USA Mestizaje White Zellige Gloss 5×5 (WOWMZWH55GN)
• Electrical: we hired an electrician to move the existing wall outlets out of the wall and into an electrical strip that sits underneath the cabinet. I wanted a smooth backsplash look without being interrupted by outlets. He also installed LED undercabinet strip lights and put the entire kitchen on dimmers.
• Kitchen Nook Light fixture is from Amazon.
• Paint: Walls are Sherwin Williams Alabaster (Matte), Trim is Sherwin Williams Westhighland White (semi-gloss) and the ceiling is Sherwin Williams Alabaster (flat).
• Faucet: Speakman in Brushed Bronze finish.
• Sink is Eklay and I LOVE IT! No partition and it matches the countertops beautifully!
• Every kitchen needs operable Fire Extinguishers! It was our first time cooking and I realized we didn’t have any. I immediately ordered.

Our kitchen is incredibly homey and I’m so happy with it. The ambient lighting, natural light, peaceful color scheme…it’s everything I think of when I think of my husband saying: “this feels like a family kitchen”.

Transparently, I do think that our existing painted cabinets are going to get beat up over time (they already are showing some wear). We’ll just say that’ll have to be the next owners problem.

Living Room

With it’s one and a half story ceiling height, Jack and I were immediately drawn into this space. We’re tall people and most homes we toured prior made us feel like we were giants. A blank canvas room with lots of natural light, minimal work needed to be done here.

PLAN: We envisioned this space as cozy, casual, and the place we’d want to spend time in after work and on the weekends. We’d say: “imagine after this wild year: we’re parked here on football Sundays, enjoying the home we just renovated.” Jack and I were aligned with putting carpet in the living room. Sure, does LVT with a rug look better? Sure. We wanted functional though; a space where we could play with our dog on the carpet and a soft landing space for future kids.

Demo required: remove the blue shag carpet, remove the existing ceiling fan, cut the cable cords that came up through the subfloor AND removing the existing fireplace surround: tile and mantle.

The fireplace story: Essentially, I came across this stunning fireplace inspiration and really wanted to implement it in our house. It took a bit of convincing to my husband as this was one of the things not in our initial budget (about a $7k investment). It was more of a “if not now, then when?!”

What sold us? The subcontractor who installed our floors (and did the new trim) said he could build it within a week and also agreed the old needed to go. I selected tile from Virginia Tile, he sourced his tile guy to repair the fireplace surround before putting on the new tile and within a week (while we were traveling), we had a new, grand fireplace surround installed.

Though he built it, he didn’t finish it. It needed a lot of prepping and priming. It took me another 4 months to find someone who could do it the right way (I was stood up a few times throughout the process AND it’s a small job; whereas most contractors prefer bigger jobs). Alas, January 2025, it was one of the last things to wrap up.

A special shout out to our friend Tod Arnold. He coordinated and recommended his tile guy, cabinet guy, and painter who did our fireplace for us! These were key contractors that I’d recommend to anyone local. Sometimes sourcing the job is the hardest part!

Unseen renovations: Adding the subfloor! This was needed as the living room was getting carpet and the rest of the spaces in the main area was going to be LVT. Because we built up the hallways with subfloor, we needed to build up the living room slightly so the transition wasn’t as steep.

Selections & Finishes

• Carpet Spec purchased from Perfect Floors. Shaw Floors Style Canvas Comfort Blue 5E660 color: 00546 Sunday Stroll
• The new ceiling fan is from Amazon
• Fireplace tile surround is from Virginia Tile. Spec Crossville Portugal Velho White 12×24 (CRVPTG011224R)
• Paint: Walls are Sherwin Williams Crushed Ice, Fireplace is Sherwin Williams Urban Bronze in Matte
• Sofa is from Pottery Barn, Coffee Table from Arhaus Loft, Console TV Table is custom, TV linked & I ordered these Patterned Ottomans for in front of the fireplace
• I love the Curtains we selected (Curtain Rod also very durable)!

The fireplace is the first thing you see when you walk into our home from the front door and it’s a show stopper! I’m SO happy with how it turned out. I ordered some large frames and long drapes for the space, our custom tv console matches perfectly and just like that, we have ourselves a family room very conducive for playing with G and watching our favorite shows!

Dining Room

An actual formal dining room! What a concept. I joke about this because it’s our first one we’ve had. For the last 5ish years, we’ve been eating around the kitchen island or at a petite sized apartment table.

It feels so formal to have a kitchen table and a dining room table! The bones of this room were similar to the living room. It needed fresh paint, trim, a new light fixture and that did it for this dining room transformation.

PLAN: The new LVT would be placed on top of the existing hardwood floors. A new light fixture to replace the old. Fresh paint on all of the walls and new casing around the the two entryways.

Though I feel like this room had the minimal work, the transformation is impressive to me (similar to the office & guest room). It’s true: fresh paint & trim with new floors go a long way.

Demo required: Remove the shoe molding in this room before the LVT went in. Patch and sand the walls as the previous owner had many photos hanging in this room.

Unseen renovations: None (!!)

Selections & Finishes

• Wall Paint Sherwin Williams Anew Grey (matte), Trim Paint Sherwin Williams West Highland White (semi-gloss)
• Light fixture is from Amazon
• Dining Table purchased off Facebook Marketplace (Bernhardt); Dining Chairs are Pottery Barn. Side board table is Studio McGee x Target and Lamp is Amazon. Rug is Loloi but purchased from Amazon.

Entryway

Welcome to our home! The entryway is the first thing people absorb when they step into your home. From our entryway, you can see the one-in-a-half story living room with grand fireplace, you can also see into the dining room and the office door greets you on the right.

PLAN: Remove the floor tile. Add new subfloor to match the evenness of the dining room & hallway floor. New casing around the dining room entryway to match the front door casing. Fresh paint and a new light fixture.

Demo required: Like I said, we removed the floor tile in the entryway. We took out the 9’x9′ tile flooring (and I’m sooo happy we did). Removing tile is a b*tch. It’s messy and it’s kind of dangerous! We wore long-sleeves and pants and eye goggles the entire time (it’s SO sharp, despite the size of the piece). Also, we removed another Applebee’s looking light fixture.

Unseen renovations: Courtney buying and returning at least 3 front door hardware sets since none of them fit our existing. That can be unseen, right?!

Selections & Finishes

• Entry Chandelier is from…Amazon. It’s a cutie and I really like it.
• Indoor/Outdoor rug is from Walmart. I purposely selected this material and a pattern so it would hide dirt and be durable for the winter months.
• Wall Paint color is Sherwin Williams Alabaster and trim paint is Sherwin Williams West Highland White
• We replaced the outlet covers and light switches in the entire house too.

I want to find some wall art for one of the small walls I think, but right now I’m enjoying the cleanliness of it all.

Office

Buying a 3 bedroom house when both spouses work from home means you’re turning one of the bedrooms into a home office. Though my desk is in the office with my husband’s, he uses it daily while I bounce between the kitchen and the basement where my photography studio is set up!

PLAN: To make the space feel like WeWork. No, I’m kidding. But it needed a few coats of paint and new window coverings and little things to make the space say: we work from home but this could be a kids bedroom one day if it needed to be! This room is functional and once I clean / organize my desk, I’ll update photos of this room.

Demo required: Remove the dated window covers (wooden blinds & floral curtains), rip out the blue shag carpet & boob light fixture. Patch and sand walls prior to paint.

Unseen renovations: Oh, my sweet father-in-law I’m sure loves me for this. We put new ceiling fans into every bedroom/office. However, I didn’t know that ceilings had to be prepped to hang a ceiling fan. So, my FIL was in our attic in the heat of summer adding 2x4s between our ceiling trusses to support the new ceiling fans.

His efforts & sweat are the unseen heroes for every ceiling fan that hangs in our house. We also put subfloor into this space too to make the slope/transition less steep from the LVT entryway.

Selections & Finishes

• Carpet Spec purchased from Perfect Floors. Shaw Floors Style Canvas Comfort Blue 5E660 color: 00546 Sunday Stroll
• Walls are painted Sherwin Williams Alpaca and trim is painted Sherwin Williams West highland White
• Hunter Ceiling Fan purchased from Amazon
• New door hardware also purchased from Amazon
• Our home office consists of 2 standing desks, 2 desk chairs, a chair lounger and some black framed artwork. It’s very clean and pretty.
• New room darkening drapes and drapery rod is from Amazon.
• Blinds ordered from Blinds.com during their Black Friday sale

We hung two black frames in this room, one with a large poster of our Alma Mater’s football stadium and another of APOP’s trademark! Paired with a cozy lounge chair I scored at HomeGoods a few years ago, this room is complete.

Primary Bedroom

When we moved from Atlanta back to Michigan, the townhome we moved into had a huge primary bedroom. Our apartment sized furniture felt like Barbie sized furniture in the space. Quickly, I realized that we would want to refurnish the bedroom to make it feel cozy and scale-wise, fit the room.

I’m a huge believer in your environment reflects your inner state. We upgraded from our queen size mattress to a new king and as a 5′-9″ woman who has a 6′-0″ husband and a 30lb goldendoodle who all sleep together, it is a TREAT!

Our primary bedroom furniture is some of my favorite we’ve purchased. I feel like everything coordinates so nicely, but it’s not apart of a collection so it doesn’t feel too matchy (such designer lingo here).

I recommend our bed frame to literally anyone who sees it. It’s a Pottery Barn dupe and I’m very impressed with the quality! The Dean Upholstered headboard from Living Spaces.

PLAN: To make it the coziest room in the house!

Demo required: Remove the old shag carpet (again), remove the window treatments and existing light fixture, patch and sand walls where needed. Minimal demo required here. Even though this was the case, our room was often a mess of tools and debris because of the bathroom demo.

Unseen renovations: None (!!)

Closet: After we closed, I knew pretty quickly that the 2 shelves in the Master Bedroom closet were NOT going to cut it for my husband and I. Because I was selling a lot of the old appliances and fixtures on Facebook Marketplace, I saw a local carpenter who builds custom closet solutions. Cannot recommend Roger and his services enough; Cabinets R Us on Marketplace.

It’s some of the best money we spent. Every time I walk into the closet, I feel an overwhelming sense of organization and tidiness! It’s a great feeling.

Selections & Finishes

• Carpet Spec purchased from Perfect Floors. Shaw Floors Style Canvas Comfort Blue 5E660 color: 00128 Shoreline Haze
• Walls are painted Sherwin Williams Accessible Beige and trim is painted Sherwin Williams West highland White
• Hunter Ceiling Fan
• New door hardware throughout
• New room darkening drapes and drapery rod (excellent quality of both!)
• Custom curtains from Amazon (I love this product!! It’s not room darkening, but I’m very happy with its quality and the customization offered)
• Upholstered bedframe, nightstands, matching lamps, Flatscreen TV, Bed throw blanket…
• Blinds ordered from Blinds.com during their Black Friday sale

Primary Bathroom

This section might be the most fun to write as this was a TOTAL GUT & DEMO!! The only room in the house that we knocked down drywall. And we didn’t even move any room walls; there was a small linen closet inside the primary bath and we wanted to replace it with cabinetry.

When we were selecting the rest of our home finishes, I had a very clear idea what I wanted it to look like. For the master bathroom though, the blank canvas made it more difficult for me to nail down the design.

Two things I considered heavily but didn’t implement: stained cabinets (opposed to painted) and wallcovering. All of our cabinets are painted in our house so I wanted some wood elements to tie together the LVT we selected. But the wood vanity was more money and so I switched to painted cabinet doors (which I do love). And wallcovering is detailed, but makes a space look custom. My husband wasn’t on board with the idea. Paint is easier to change and safe for resale! Plus we were eager to get this bathroom done so we could actually use it and paint again was faster.

PLAN: To hire out the entire project other than demo itself. As my Dad said: demo is the easy part. Putting things back together, especially during a renovation not new build, is much more difficult.

Demo required: HAHAH the whole freaking thing. With the help of both of our dads, we demoed the entire bathroom in about 4 days. It required a large dumpster in the driveway (shout out to Bedient Construction who gifted us one during our renovation) and an electric jackhammer. A lot of sweat (no tears) went into this demo.

I’ve said this on social many times, but it’s so crazy to me how my Dad just knows how to do everything when it came to our home renovation. We started to remove the existing vanity; he capped the plumbing. We removed the toilet; he stuffed the existing pipe and cautioned me about the wax sealant. Don’t even get me started with the 2004 Kohler Jacuzzi Tub that occupied 1/3 of the bathroom. It had CONCRETE cemented to the bottom of it upon remove and he’s just whacking the shit off with a hammer while hauling the thing out. Right before removing, he ran downstairs, turned off the breaker and cut the electrical to it. Maybe its a dad’s intuition, maybe it’s not living in a 20-something year old girl brain who over thinks everything and googles a video on how to do it. We had fun while taking this room down to it’s studs.

Unseen renovations: Electrical & Plumbing. Both of these needed eyes of a professional to be updated. As far as electrical, we added in (4) new GFI outlets near the sinks, capped the original vanity electrical and split it into 2 mounted and centered over the sinks, old jacuzzi tub electrical needed to be capped and removed, and then the existing ceiling fan needed a refresh. With the help of plumbers, they moved the toilet plumbing to the opposite side of the bathroom, changed the single mount vanity plumbing into two and again, capped the tub plumbing as it was no longer needed.

The key to the coordination of electrical and plumbing was with our cabinet designer, Randy. Randy came over many times throughout the process to ensure that the work being done aligned with the cabinets that would be put in afterwards.

Selections & Finishes

• Cabinet color: Sherwin Williams Urban Bronze
• Countertops & Shower Sill/Bench: we used Diamond Granite in Macomb Twp. Very happy with their prices and quality! It’s Quartz and color: Calcutta Gold.
• Tile Floor: ordered from Virginia Tile. Spec: Chalmbers Pearl Metalbrick 2X9
• Shower Floor Tile: ordered from Virginia Tile. Spec: Stoneways Sky 2×2 Mosaic Matte (it’s much more grey in person!)
• Shower Wall Tile: ordered from Virginia Tile. Spec: Stoneways Sky 12×24 Field Tile Rectified
• Plumbing Suite selection: Speakman Faucets, Rain Head, Shower Head
• Vanity Light Fixtures from Peared Creation
• Thin Mirrors from Pottery Barn (very easy to hang!)
• Shower Glass & Hardware installed by Butcher & Butcher Glass
• Wall paint color: Sherwin Williams Crushed Ice, trim paint color: Sherwin Williams Westhighland White
• New puck lights and fan installed as well
• Door ordered from Rochester Boulyard & Lumber, Door hardware found on sale at Lowes
• Blinds ordered from Blinds.com during their Black Friday sale

Guest Bathroom

The room that wasn’t supposed to get touched. Oh, how that works in a renovation! It really started with our painter who included the guest bathroom in the quote for the kitchen. It was functional as is; but the plumbing needed updating.

It was our only usable bathroom for about 2 months after moving in. The powder bathroom wall plumbing had to be replaced and our primary was under construction until early December. I’m so happy we updated this bathroom as it’s quite warm and welcoming now!

PLAN: Cosmetically refresh the bathroom! Patch, sand, and paint the walls. Replace the existing shower plumbing to something more updated, purchase a new mirror and vanity light, new

Demo required: Remove the existing countertop, sink and faucet, as well as the mirror and vanity light. Update the plumbing as well.

Unseen renovations: None that I remember.

Selections & Finishes

• Wall paint Sherwin Williams Anew Grey
• Cabinet paint Sherwin Williams Settlement
• Mirror from Wayfair (I love this mirror and it’s quality!)
• New 4-light overhead vanity light We actually hung this the opposite way as pictured
• Countertops: we used Diamond Granite in Macomb Twp. Very happy with their prices and quality! I reallllyyy wanted to use the trendy Taj Mahal quartz in our house. I found a remnant of it at the granite yard and it was perfect for this space.
• Plumbing is Speakman

Powder Bathroom

Powder bathrooms are fun to design (IMO)! It’s the room you had have fun with; they’re smaller, easier to jazz up, and full of potential! Ours came together really nicely. We’re not looking for any more work after this renovation; but if the time comes, I might incorporate some wall molding detail or wallpaper.

PLAN: Get rid of the orange formica countertops and yellow walls. There are thousands of photos on Pinterest for inspiration. I picked a few and rocked with the design. The biggest thing I wanted to incorporate was a vessel sink. The counters are 34″ AFF and being almost 6 feet tall, it feels a little short. So the vessel sink makes the counter feel taller than it is.

Demo required: Similar to the entryway tile, this bathroom had the same. The tile itself was easier to remove that the concrete substrate underneath it. We also had to cut and glue new subfloor in the bathroom as we put LVT in the powder bathroom. The baseboard went as new base would replace it. Remove the existing countertop and sink, light fixture, temporarily the toilet as the floor would be redone. Hence, the dumpster filled with all of this shit.

Unseen renovations: We needed a Plumber to replace the toilet wall valve and my Dad updated the under the sink plumbing as the old one was GROSS.

Selections & Finishes

• Cabinet paint color Sherwin Williams Accessible Beige
• Wall paint color Sherwin Williams Accessible Beige
• Vanity light from Amazon
• I tried a LOT of mirrors and nothing was looking good. The Circle Mirror was the way to go. It looks great in the space!
• Vessel Sink ordered from Etsy – I ordered this and the first one arrived completely shattered. The seller made another one and shipped it to us at no additional charge. Note: when we placed the sink on the countertop, it wasn’t sitting evenly (there was a glimmer of light that poked through it — we couldn’t have that). My dad purchased clear silicone caulk, caulked it on the base of it, added 2 boxes of leftover kitchen backsplash tile (for weight) and let it dry so it stuck to the countertop. This was important so no water seeped through and could damage it in the future
• 2’x3′ Floor run in my favorite Loloi Pattern
• Speakman Tall Gold Faucet
• Etsy painting of our favorite girl: Goldendoodle Painting & I put it in this Gold Frame

Guest Room

This room got similar attention to the Office. Eventually, it will be a nursery so we kept it simple with fresh coats of paint, new carpet, and a ceiling fan. Fresh and clean!

PLAN: Cosmetically just update it. Give it a fresh coat of paint, add a ceiling fan, new carpet, and new blinds.

Demo required: Remove the old shag carpet (again), remove the window treatments, patch and sand walls where needed. Minimal demo required here.

Unseen renovations: Another round of applause for my FIL who installed the Hunter Ceiling Fans that I wanted in every bedroom (even though the ceiling was not prepped for that).

Selections & Finishes

• Wall paint Sherwin Williams Accessible Beige
• Carpet Spec purchased from Perfect Floors. Shaw Floors Style Canvas Comfort Blue 5E660 color: 00128 Shoreline Haze
• Hunter Ceiling Fan
• Blinds ordered from Blinds.com during their Black Friday sale

Overall Style & Cohesion

I’d say we have a sophisticated, yet comfortable look. Very inviting and welcoming, but also clean. A mix of light warm neutrals and a grounded color palette pair together quite nicely.

The biggest thing I tried to incorporate were selections or decisions that felt elevated and not “builder grade”. That term in general drove me away from a lot of streamlined selections if you will. Leave it to Pinterest to inspire you, but up to you to create it!

Renovation Costs

Always the part people are most curious about and I get it – when I read posts like these, it’s my first thought. It happened to be that our house was at the very low end of our budget, giving us a lot of room to make it our own. Originally, we planned to be at $50k for what we wanted to do. During the thick of demo, gutting, and getting quotes, we were around $65k.

All in, we’re going to be north of $85k. This includes but not limited to new furnishings and decor, landscaping, additional contract labor we hired out towards the end, full redo of the primary bathroom, etc (all of it)! We saved a lot of money on contractors where our Dad’s graciously helped us.

• Painting every wall, ceiling, and piece of trim in the house, all demo (this a broad umbrella — old carpet, appliances, countertops, endless tile, plumbing/hardware, etc), installing new gas and waterline to appliances, hanging every ceiling fan (when the ceilings were not prepped for), installing new smoke detectors, new furnace & AC unit, new plumbing throughout our entire home, assistance hanging every new light fixture, every drapery system & artwork, received weekly text messages from their daughter/daughter-in-law giving them more tasks to accomplish, waived dumpster fee from a family friend, the list really goes on and on…

Shout out to the Dad’s who know how to do it all?! It’s impressive and after walking through this together, Jack and I are better equipped for our next one (HA – Jack is shaking his head at that comment). The next one most likely be more move-in-ready.

Lessons Learned & Tips

Like all good things...it takes time. And this get-it-done, slightly impatient, puts the cart before the horse gal, it was challenging at times.

Also, you get what you pay for. I know that’s annoying to read, but here are 3 considering factors when you’re going to hire someone: how quickly can they do it? What is the quality like? And how much do they charge? More often than not, you’re going to get 2/3 on every contractor. Anyone who does a job really well, really quick, and really cheap is hard to find. Period.

I wouldn’t consider our renovation a DIY project by any means as we did hire a lot of professionals to help bring our vision to life. But I am proud of the things we did with assistance from family & friends. With anything, it was a great learning experience and now we have more appreciation, knowledge, and understanding of home ownership.

Here are some random tips:

• INITIAL MOMENTUM IS A REAL THING! If you’re in a position to knock out the projects you want to do before moving in, do it!
• If you are currently in a rental or have the option to live with family (aka not live through the actually renovation), highly recommend!
• All of our lighting came from Amazon. Most people don’t touch light fixtures so the durability can be less than say something like a faucet.
• If you can dream it, you can demo it!
• Keep plastic utensils, bottled water, and toilet paper at the house during renovation
• If it’s something you keep putting off, get quotes for it. See what it would be to have it professionally done.
• Just because it’s faster in the short term, doesn’t mean its the better option long term (cough cough: our fireplace, new baseboards throughout, and kitchen quartz sill). My dad had to reiterate that to me frequently. Once it was done and I stood in awe of the result, I mumbled, “yeah, you were right”.
• NORMALIZE RETURNS (even though we all hate them). If you don’t like something, return it and get something better. If it’s not what you thought or the quality isn’t there, don’t force it. For me, I returned so many door hardware specs. It was a challenge for me to find stuff that worked with our existing doors (mainly bifold doors and more craftsman style hardware that I wanted so badly to use, but didn’t work with the existing holes).

And a note to my incredible husband – I love the life we’ve built and everything we did in this house to make it feel like ours. Thank you for understanding my design ideas and being open to a renovation. It’s ours and it’s d o n e! Cheers to many relaxing evenings at home together.

If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading and allowing me to share my life with you all. This Paige would not be possible without the support of all of you. It’s no different with any life event or update I’ve shared throughout the years.

I love to look at these posts as a little scrapbook in time. Feel free to drop any comments or questions you have; happy to answer in detail 😜

XX, Courtney Paige