I’m learning that when designing your home, or remodeling, you need to have a vision. Otherwise you get stuck in the land of Where We Are Now. For us, it’s too dark, a lot of travertine, 90s beigey walls, old carpet, some odd design choices (Faux paint, anyone? Bazillions of recessed lights? Change in flooring in the middle of a room? Yes, yes and yes!) and about 400 square feet smaller than we desire. Blegh. So let me show you what the house looked like when we bought it. These pictures are from inspection day so you can see it exactly as it was when we bought it. 

Powder room complete with sage green faux paint. 😳

No offense to anyone with this flooring style, but dark hardwood is not for me. Neither is travertine. And why the mysterious change in flooring in the entry way? It’s bizarre. All of this will be gone in favor of light, bright and airy. And see where the dining and living rooms are? We are building a bedroom and loft space on the second floor above those rooms! 

Strange flooring change line again. This is my grandiose foyer. And that wall where the piano is? That will be opened up completely so you’ll see into the kitchen and back yard. 


Kitchen. Meh. It’s fine. More travertine. (And see how many recessed lights there are!? Why?!! Lol) Granite is a dated yucky color. The whole layout is set to be redesigned since this wall will be gone. Vision: custom white Shaker style cabinets, white slab counters, huge center island… ahhh. 

Staircase. We will be putting in wrought iron railings in place of this. 

This is the family room. The window above the couch is the wall we are pushing out into the back yard. This will give us quite a bit more space in here.  And we are putting awesome folding doors that extend the length of the wall there instead. So the kitchen will seamlessly flow into the entertaining space.  Anyone want those sweet wall sconces? 😉

I wake up every day to more travertine than anyone I know! It’s honestly evvverywhere in this house! Time to bring my master bath up to date. I’m thinking stand-alone tub, gray marble, and white vanity with a gray slab counter. 


Dark, gloomy kids’ bathroom before we recently gutted it. It looks fabulous now. Stay tuned for my post on this room soon!

I have several pictures I’ve found online that drive a lot of my choices in designing the various rooms of the house. We’re about two weeks away from starting on “the big stuff” in the house: kitchen overhaul, pushing out walls, taking down the huge wall, and adding a bedroom and loft space. I know, it’s a lot, right? And we just moved in two months ago! (Literally my garage is floor to ceiling still with boxes and furniture, you guys. I panic when I have to go in there! But why unpack when we are doing all this remodeling?! Sigh.) So, make sure to stay tuned for all the changes well be making very soon! 

Xx

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