Home Renovation Process update

AN UPDATE ON OUR HOME RENOVATION PROCESS AND THINGS I’VE LEARNED SO FAR.

So far our house renovation journey has been as exciting as it is challenging. It has tested my patience, creativity, and sometimes my sanity.

That said, while this renovation process has taken us longer than most, we feel incredibly grateful to have the opportunity to do this! It’s been a dream of mine for a very long time to renovate a whole house.

Back in September, I shared with you guys that we are moving, with the back story of how we ended up buying this house and how even getting to that point took over a year. Construction began in late October and has been a slow go. Today, I want to share the progress we’ve made so far.

Constructing the addition

The original house was about 950 square feet, so our top priority was to make it larger. We worked with an architect on plans to add a kitchen, sunroom, and bedroom That became the first project our builder tackled.

After the addition, the house will be approximately 1550 square feet. For us, that’s a very nice size. To some, it may be too small, and to others, it may seem huge.

We put a lot of effort into researching and choosing the right builder, relying on personal referrals. This was a lesson I learned during my husband’s health challenges when finding the right doctors was essential. Having the right person for the job is critical.

First, the foundation was poured and it seemed like forever to complete that step. But once the crew moved on to framing, my husband and I could hardly contain our excitement!

When the crew would leave for the day we would walk around and imagine the room done. After all the delays we encountered, it felt unbelievable that it was finally happening.

This room is going to be the kitchen.

The backyard is beautiful as you can see from the view here.

kitchen/dining room

The old kitchen (shown below) had a bay window that overlooked the yard. We added the new kitchen behind that room, which will now be a dining room. However, I wanted to keep windows facing the back for that view.

Ironically, the new kitchen layout came to me in a dream. I had this dream before we even closed on the house when everything was up in the air.

I dreamt I was standing in the old kitchen (which wasn’t a kitchen anymore) looking out into a new kitchen with a wall of windows facing the yard. When I woke up I knew if we ended up buying the house that was exactly what I would do.

The crazy thing is, I had forgotten about that until recently when I was standing in that exact spot looking at the kitchen addition.

When I remembered, it all seemed a little surreal!

My idea for the dining room came from an old house my husband and I had looked at to buy. One of the many features I loved about it was a window seat in the dining room.

I decided to combine that with my love for old books and design a dining room/library combination.

It doesn’t look like much right now. But try to imagine this.

I could have bookshelves like this in every room and never get tired of them! I will likely have the dining table pulled out from this wall so that we can access the shelves. The other option would be to have a smaller dining table and use the window seat instead of chairs on that side.

Those are details I will figure out after the shelves are built.

Waiting on Windows

The biggest delay in construction so far was waiting on the windows. They took well over a month to arrive. During the wait, I realized that there had been a miscommunication (I’m being polite here) and the builder had ordered the wrong windows for the sunroom (aka enclosed porch).

Initially we were calling this a porch but the way everything progressed it’s more of a sunroom. Now we use both terms for the room.

The window mix-up was quite a big issue but the correct windows were ordered. All the windows are now in except for those.

French Doors

Before any windows arrived, the exterior doors came in. Even though those were ordered weeks after.

For the sunroom, I picked a set of skinny French doors. I’ve always loved the look of these. The architect added sidelight-type windows next to the doors to take advantage of the view. Those windows came in with the initial batch.

Here’s where I had an issue. The height of these side windows doesn’t line up with the window part of the doors. I mentioned this and my husband, the builder, and the carpenter all told me this is fine, the trim will line up. (sometimes it’s like having 3 husbands at the site).

But when the window grids are installed, they won’t line up with the door grids. So this is still under debate (at least in my mind) even though they’ve now installed the siding outside.

As far as the doors, I ordered all matching doorknobs for the exterior and interior doors. My current house has doorknobs from the same brand. Once I’ve had these, I could not go back to regular doorknobs!

These stunning doorknobs are more elaborate than my current doorknobs and I just love them! My goal for the house is to have a classic/cozy/vintage vibe and I think these fit with the style of all three of those categories.

Sunroom Flooring

One thing I’ve had in mind since the beginning is the idea to have brick flooring in this room. Even though it’s more of a sunroom than a porch now, I am sticking with that plan.

And you guys, the amount of brick floors I looked at is crazy.

Picking the right brick tile color is like Goldilocks finding the perfect porridge—not too dark, not too light, but just right. Darker shades felt too heavy for my style and the lighter ones lacked the warmth I was looking for.

Finding the perfect color brick is hard! Here are some of the samples I looked at. All are beautiful but none are quite what I was looking for.

I looked at everything from traditional red brick to grays, to an almost white neutral and none of them felt right.

Then I found this mid-colored brick at a tile store. And it was just right!

It’s a classic brick color but looks almost as if the color has weathered a bit over time. It has the warmth without being too red or too neutral. The perfect balance!

Exterior Back of House

For months, the entire house was boarded up while waiting on the windows, so when the doors came in we were so happy to see some progress. This is the back of the house.

And now that most of the windows are in, the siding has begun. Here’s a sneak peek at that and the colors I chose. Selecting siding, shingles and exterior color schemes is a whole story for another day.

I’ll also share more about what we are doing off the back of the house soon. What the architect originally designed was the one thing I didn’t like that I let slide. The reason for that is because I had to have him adjust SO many things from his original plan, I had to let some things go.

But after speaking with the builder, that is going to be adjusted to something my husband and I will both be happier with. I would prefer a back porch but my husband prefers a back deck.

Construction Tips For Homeowners

I’ve learned a lot so far in this renovation process about working with architects and with builders. Here I’ll share some of my main takeaways so far. Keep these in mind if you plan on doing your own renovations.

• Go with your gut, don’t deviate from your original plan unless cost or size is a factor.
• Speak up if you aren’t happy with something.
• Do your research.
• Visit the site as often as possible.
• Communicate clearly what you want, and use photos or drawings to convey it.
• Try to stay a step ahead of what you’ll need to select so you’re not rushed.
• It’s a full-time job to keep up with everything.
• Pick your contractor wisely, and use referrals from people who have worked with them personally. (We have been happy with ours so far, even with the window mix-up).
• See also: how to pick the right builder.

One last thing to note is that architects and builders are not interior designers. You can hire an architect who is a designer but be prepared to spend big on that.

I wanted to hire an architect I follow on Instagram for our house. I initially contacted their office, not realizing they handled both architecture and design. The quote I received was more than our ENTIRE renovation budget!

Needless to say, we didn’t use them and I’m doing the designing, lol.

In summary, we are happy to see the renovation process moving along now. Interior sheetrock has begun and is moving faster than I expected. Next, hopefully, we get to the pretty interior stuff!