What We Love and What We’d Do Differently

When we first moved to BHH in June of 2014, the amount of work to do was daunting. Crippled by the fact that we had two mortgages at the time, we worried that something significant would happen, and we would not have the money to fix it. I had real nightmares that the stone foundation crumbled or the HVAC system stopped working altogether. Even after we sold our house in California, which reduced our mortgages to one, the anxiety only partially lessened.

As for how to approach our project, everyone had an idea and an opinion. The purists thought it should look like a time capsule from the 1880s. The modern renovators felt that everything was fair game. That chatter crept into my thoughts, and suddenly, I felt paralyzed to move forward with confidence. It felt safer to do nothing than to proceed and risk ruining BHH forever. I remained in this state of what the heck am I doing? until one day, I read a comment in an online forum.

For context, I read the comment in a forum where everyone owns old houses, and they are passionate people. I cannot remember how it all went down, but the gist of the comment was Anything that you do to repair something broken in your house will be an improvement over what was there before because it won’t be broken anymore. For whatever reason, that comment jolted me out of my cycle of anxiety, and I was able to move forward. And move forward we did!

Now that we have four years worth of projects under our belts, it is safe to say that we have had some hits and some misses too.

What We Love

Sometimes, I just know when we’ve nailed a project. The DIY or contractor’s work looks professional, and the big reveal matches what I envisioned in my head during the planning stage. These types of successful projects also complement BHH instead of looking like modern additions.

All Hail! Hale Navy

I love this color by Benjamin Moore. Love it. Love it. Love it. I feel nothing but happiness when I pull up to BHH and see the house decked out in red, white, and blue. It is hard to believe that BHH was so very green once upon a time.

Sources: Hale Navy | Heritage Red | Monterey White

The Kitchen

Hands down, the kitchen renovation has made the most impact on our daily life. If you never saw the kitchen before, please be sure to read this post: The Kitchen – Before

This room now has function, form, and it is mostly rodent-free. The kitchen borders a bit on sterility, and there are still a few details to finish, (Ugh! That last 10% always gets us.) but we love this room.

We hired out most of the kitchen project to Lowe’s remodeling services. The DIY projects were the tile backsplash, refinishing the floors, and sealing the top of the kitchen island. If you are interested in reading about the project from start to finish, I chronicled the whole remodel in these posts: The Kitchen

The Library

The kids use this room every single day. The library was our 2017 spring ORC project. We love the casual yet pulled-together vibe. There’s a little something for everyone in this room.

The Kitchen Pantry

We finished the pantry the spring before the kitchen remodel, and I am so glad we did not wait. Nearly two years later, it still stays tidy, and everything is within reach. The organizational plan worked!

The Basement

Pretty much no one but us ever sees the basement, but tidying up was our most cost-effective project. Since we know where everything is, we always shop at home first before we head to the hardware store. We save time and money on nearly every DIY task because we do not overbuy.

The Breakfast Nook

The breakfast nook is another room that makes me happy every day. It is hard to believe that this tiny eating area has such a huge impact. Completing this room felt like a turning point in my proficiency with general carpentry and our ability to design something with function and character.

Our So-So Projects (AKA We Could Do Better)

Not everything we have done here has been a hit. We have made some mistakes along the way, and we do not have this whole thoughtful renovation thing completely figured out.

The Living Room

2018

2015

While I feel like this room is moving in the right direction, there is something off about the wall color, and the massive scale of this room has been problematic. One of my primary house goals this year is to pull the living room together. It is not a cozy room, and I rarely ever go in there except to clean.

The Butler’s Pantry Stenciled Wall

First, I am happy with the idea of this accent wall, and I enjoyed our collaboration with Cutting Edge Stencils. I have no regrets about stenciling. However, since we finished the breakfast nook, I feel like this house is finally headed in a particular design direction, and the green and coral peonies don’t fit that vision. I have some grand plans for the entryway adjacent to this room, and the colors and pattern of the stenciled wall of the butler’s pantry are going to clash. I think a more subtle stencil pattern will improve the situation. There is no timetable for this change. I’m in no hurry.

The Dining Room

The picture above makes the dining room look pretty decent, but those plants are long dead, and the room now feels a little cold and unwelcoming. Once again, I think we could make some low-cost changes that would help. When we renovated the dining room for the fall 2016 ORC, we were in such a time crunch. We didn’t cut corners, but the dining room still feels unfinished to me.

Landscaping

The yard is one of those areas that I feel like we keep sinking money into, yet it still doesn’t look much better.  Sure, those perennials we planted take a few years to flourish, but in the interim, our curb appeal is not very appealing at all. The good news is that BHH is massive, and it distracts everyone from the fact that the flower beds look like rubbish.

The Ceiling in our Teen’s Room

The ceiling in our teen’s room was one of the very first projects we tackled, so it’s no surprise that it is not our best work. If I had to nail (pun intended) the problem down to one specific thing, I would say it was our method. I was determined to cut the beadboard so we could stagger the pieces instead of using full sheets. I was concerned that having one noticeable seam in the ceiling would look bad. Because we used smaller sections of beadboard, we have seams all over, and it looks amateurish. I did caulk all of the joints, but that caulk has shrunk, and the joints are visible again. It’s a hot mess.

If we were doing it again, we would use single plank tongue-and-groove or use full sheets of beadboard to create the fewest amount of seams possible.

I am sure we will make plenty of mistakes in the future, but we learn a little something each time we do. Four years in, we are feeling competent and determined to keep doing the work instead of letting fear hold us back.

Reflecting on all of these past projects makes me feel even more excited to move forward with the upstairs bathroom remodel. I am impatiently waiting.