Thursday, February 13, 2014

Embarking on Another Renovation

   We've been talking a lot around here about how to make our much smaller house into our permanent home.  We go back and forth on the subject so much.

    If you remember, we made some large scale decisions two years ago to right-size our life.  We sold our large old home (which I often miss, hard) and bought a smaller ranch. It was the right decision for our family and I don't have any regrets about reducing... most of the time.

   It took us a really long time to find a house in the neighborhood we were looking to live in.  There wasn't much on the market, and as a result, we bought a home that wasn't ideal.  We wanted smaller but maybe not this small.  But moving is an enormous, expensive undertaking.  That's why we've been going back and forth about moving in a couple of years versus staying and adding on.

  The thing is, this decision has to be made now because we will either renovate this house to stay put or we will renovate it to sell.  We've done that plenty of times and we know how to do it.  But these are two very different kinds of renovations.

We're currently thinking that we will add on to the house and stay. I'm excited about the idea of increasing the home's footprint to include a larger kitchen and dining area with lots of windows on the back of the house.

perfect casual/traditional kitchen
via
Long banquette in eat in kitchen, of course the black windows too
via

We would also be able to re-configure the bedrooms to include a larger closet and built-in desk for Audrey, a walk-in dressing room for us and a generous front hall closet.

In closet desk_storage.
via


And finally, the main bathroom could be expanded to include a separate bathtub and walk-in shower (and an exhaust fan but don't even get me started on that!).
House of Turquoise: Lauren Liess Interiors
House of Turquoise: Lauren Liess Interiors
these two via
   So you see, lots of decisions to make.  I'm leaning towards staying now that I have a vision of what could be added to the house.
  This week the plumber and electrician are here to work on the basement bathroom and laundry. I'm looking forward to sharing some progress on that work soon.
xo meg

4 comments:

  1. Those are tough decisions, but it sounds like you have really thought them thru! I think you will be glad you stayed and made the home totally yours.

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  2. That is a big decision. But you do renovations well so I know whatever you decide it is gonna look good. :)

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  3. Very tough decision indeed.

    We also just moved January 16 and it's been really hard. Like you, we felt this move was the right decision, especially long-term. However, it doesn't make the transition any easier. It's been a month, and we are *just* starting to breathe. Moving is chaos. I can totally understand your dilemma. And I miss my old house too. I still think this was the right decision for us, and it's a matter time before we feel home again, but yea, a very hard process.

    Best of luck with your decision. Whatever you decide, it will all work out :)

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  4. A truly tough decision and I think it will result to big changes! Through the living room, kitchen and rooms are another way of expressing your ideas. Good luck and will be back to see the changes!

    Sebastian of
    Granny Flat Super Store

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