January 26, 2022
Our previous house was an adorable 1960’s Cape Cod style house that we bought after much deliberation. When we bought it, we downsized by about 1,000 square feet but we did this to decrease our commute times and it was the BEST decision! In the new neighborhood we met some amazing lifelong friends and our lives felt more full because we weren’t exhausted (mentally and emotionally) from sitting in traffic for 1.5-2 hours per day EACH WAY! The kitchen was MUCH smaller than our previous one but it was cute and pretty functional for a while. But as our kids grew older, it was hard not to have much food storage space (or much storage space at all). For years we dreamed about how we’d update the house to make it more functional for us. We’d literally go out on our screened in porch with drinks and spend imaginary money coming up with options. We didn’t want to commit to anything though because we were thinking my husband might be transferred to another state so we didn’t want to “lose” that investment. After a while, it became clear he wasn’t being transferred so we decided to take the plunge. We’d thought about this for years so we pretty much knew what we wanted to do. With our renovation, we wanted to build onto the back of the house, closing in an underutilized screened patio area under our previous screened in deck. We’d build a proper laundry room in the additional space under our kitchen. Then we’d rebuild the deck on the other side of the kitchen. With the renovation, we’d also be building a small panty in the space that was our old range. Strap in, it’s fun!
We had quite the adventure trying to get barn doors. We first ordered them from Etsy but the seller ran into trouble because they couldn’t get them to square up or find lumber that wasn’t warped. Instead, we ended up ordering from a big box store but when we went to pick up the doors, the box was damaged and there was a huge gouge in one of the door panels. So we had to order them again. It all worked out in the end but it meant the doors weren’t ready when the kitchen was. No big deal, our contractor came back to finish the install when they were ready. The doors were unfinished and we finished them ourselves. You can’t see in this picture but the shelves inside were also finished with this same color.
Here is one of the listing photos from when we sold our house. See how big, open, and bright it was?! Quite a change from the previous layout! The couch and chairs were a few years old from Arhaus and honestly, we haven’t been pleased with how they’ve held up, the chairs have worn better than the couch. More on that at a later time.
Another listing photo – it broke my heart to leave that house – I loved it so much. If we’d stayed longer, we would have converted that wood burning fireplace (which we didn’t use even once) to gas and given it a makeover. That turquoise beast you see in the dining room — oh boy. One day I saw some beautiful turquoise paint for $3 and I snagged it with no real plan in mind for it. Then I held onto it for YEARS before I decided to paint my grandmother’s cabinet. The turquoise clashed with the blue wall so the cabinet definitely would have gotten another makeover.
Oh you thought I was done? Hahahaha. I could drag this project out over several posts but my brain doesn’t work like that. To me, it was all one project so it gets one post. So let’s talk about what we did downstairs.
The prior owner dropped a pretty penny on having a flagstone walkway/stairs and retaining wall built on the side of the house going down into the back yard. The retaining wall formed part of the wall of an enclosed patio below our deck that really was just storage for us. Like I said, our house didn’t have much storage space and there was no unfinished storage. We built a shed but it held things like our lawn mower, tools, and other durable items that could be stored in the elements. So when we decided to build the kitchen out over this space, we wanted to close it in and create an office. I would have LOVED to keep the flagstone exposed somehow but we couldn’t because of the requirements for insulation. I also asked about dismantling the wall so we could preserve the materials but the time/cost to do that would have killed our budget.
The new office – the retaining wall was on the left side. Rather than closing in the whole wall, we decided to make a level bank of windows for some additional light in the room. You can’t see it in this photo but we chose glass French doors so the room wouldn’t feel like a closed-off addition or afterthought.
Besides the kitchen, this might have been my favorite part of the house. Prior to our renovation, we had a laundry alley that barely had enough room to open the dryer door. Plus, it had terribly fitting bifold doors that did nothing to block sound so it was impossible to watch TV down in the basement if laundry was going. With the addition we gained a mud room/laundry room. And would you just look at that tile?! Oh my goodness – LOVE!
So, I hope you enjoyed my trip down memory lane. While I love our current home and neighborhood, I still REALLY miss this house and our old ‘hood. We were (are) so blessed we found such a wonderful community. But I’m looking forward to morphing our current home into one that is comfortable, inviting, cozy, and works hard for us and how we use it.
Dont Should on Me 