Pivoting To House Renovation
Time to renovate our house. Working from home lesson learned – make things look nice. I didn’t realize how much our house needed some touch ups until I spent all day in it. Plus, our kids are getting bigger and need more room to play. Given the rise in housing values, and our goal of paying off our house next year, we are going to make do with what he have and improve it. I am pretty good at retrofit so I welcome the challenge.
Here is a list of projects we are undertaking in 2022 –
- Hardwood flooring – new upstairs hardwood floor in gray oak installed by neighbor (product in garage)
- Baseboard painting – chunks repaired, repainted white throughout house
- Kitchen remodeling – remove island, new countertops, new appliances (appliances stainless steel Bosch, already installed)
- Basement finishing – living room area, gaming area, kids play area, workout area, utility room (huge project and biggest bang)
- Garage painting – walls patched and painted (not necessary, personal project, just want it to look cool)
- Outdoor living space development – deck area privacy walls, pergola roofing, entertainment space
- Dining room expansion – new tables for more seating
- Living room furniture – new couches and chairs (no TV upstairs, only downstairs)
- Indoor lighting addition – fans in bedrooms, lighting in kitchen/dining area
- Shelving upgrades – for printer/router area (near walk in)
Lots of stuff to get done next year but very excited. I am a fan of curated, deliberate living. Everything with a purpose, in its correct place, and of good quality. Simple, clean, and modern. We don’t have much space, so thinking through our customization ideas takes a lot of forethought. I do not like clutter, my inner-ADD child sees it and gets overstimulated by it. I also want to reduce the time it takes to upkeep our house. Less stuff usually means less cleaning, and simpler cleaning for routine items like sweeping/polishing/dusting.
The theme we are going for is modern. Our house is fairly new, so it’s the only real style that I think fits. I do not like modern farmhouse. I like grays/blacks/steel/blues and well maintained structure. I did make the front match my dream scenario – white house/black roof/red door. I am surprised how much mine and my wife’s idea of a living space match. She did want the farmhouse look originally though, and she also likes that urban lead pipe look, but we don’t live in a loft, we live in a suburb with drywall and siding. I also talked her out of the shiplapping and wainscoting in favor of perfectly smooth painted walls.
My understanding of design is to work with what you got, not what you want it to be. But all of it should be a coherent theme that works with itself. I do not like lots of curves, I like clean precise squares. Our house is going to look awesome though when we are done and we’ll be really happy with it. It helps to have a plan for it, and I hope this is the last time we ever do this kind of work again.
