The beginning of August marked one whole year in this new/old tudor of ours. Shortly after moving in, I shared all of the renovation projects we hoped to tackle through our first year. It was pretty interesting to look back at that seemingly short list (but actually pretty lofty in reality) – through our first year here, it turns out we didn’t actually finish even one of those projects (though thankfully we did get a start on our primary suite at least). Instead, we focused more on making our main living spaces more functional and feel more like home for our family. Then, we moved our efforts outdoors, doing the same around our yard. I shared a look back at our first year here, including tons of before + after photos, you can catch up with it all here if you missed it.
I found it so interesting how quickly and drastically our renovation priorities changed as we spent more time in our new home. We put together that list of our first reno project ideas just days after moving in and I have to say, we’ve definitely got some new ideas on the docket for year two that I’m super excited to share. Let me tell you all about our renovation plans for year two in this new/old house of ours.
ONE: FINISH THE STUDY
Our study will be the first room in the house that we actually complete (as much as a room is ever “finished” I guess). After months of back and forth, we’ve finalized all of the plans for this space, you can read all about them here. As you can see in the photo above, things are well under way in here – next up we’ll be re-drywalling and tiling this old fireplace, swapping out the carpet and finally, filling this space back up with new window treatments and furniture. Stay tuned my friends!
TWO: NEW FLOORING ON THE STAIRCASES
While we’re having the carpet installed in the study, we’re planning to run the same carpet on both of our staircases as well (you can see which one we’re going with in this study design post). Also, like in our study, I think we’ve also landed on not painting any of the oak in our front entry area, which means our staircases will effectively be “finished” once that carpet is installed.
THREE: A FEW MORE UPDATES TO OUR LIVING ROOM
This space has already come such a long way with just a bit of paint (notice our new black built-ins!!!). There are still so many things I can’t wait to change about this space (and let’s be honest, every other in this house too) – the floors (I’m not sure I’ve ever hated anything more), the fireplace tile, the layout of the room. While we can’t do much about the floors and layout until we’re ready to take on the bigger renovation of our main floor, we do have plans to swap out the tile on our fireplace (spot our new tile up on the fireplace mantel) and perhaps even some of the furniture in here through the months ahead. Can’t wait to watch this space take shape!
FOUR: FINISH OUR PRIMARY BEDROOM, ENSUITE AND CLOSET
I mean, this is a pretty big task all rolled into one. Especially considering the current state of these spaces and all of the work that will be involved in bringing them from bare plywood (or lack there of) to finished spaces. There is a TON of work to be done in here, but I know it’s going to be SO GOOD when we finally get to the other side of it all.
FIVE: FINISH CARSON’S BEDROOM
Building out Carson’s new bedroom, complete with a brand new walk-in closet, will go hand-in-hand with finishing up our own since they’ll share the new wall that we’ll be adding to create our new closet. You can take a peek at our proposed layout changes here if you’re curious. Carson has been having so much fun dreaming up all sorts of ideas for his new bedroom, we’ve been pinning as many examples as we can here. Another space that will be a ton of work, but so worth it in the end.
SIX: CHANGE FLOORING THROUGHOUT THE REST OF OUR SECOND FLOOR
While we’re laying new flooring in our primary suite and Carson’s new bedroom, we plan to swap out the flooring throughout the rest of our second floor (aside from the two remaining bathrooms that is, which will have to wait until we’re ready to take on those spaces). That means the old stained carpet through our hallway, bedrooms and the pyramid room (bonus room above our garage) will finally be ripped out and replaced. While we’re sure about hardwood in our primary suite and the main hallway, we’re still debating between hardwood and carpet for the bedrooms and pyramid room. What do you think? Should we go with hardwood or carpet?
BONUS: PHASE ONE KITCHEN RENO OR PYRAMID ROOM BATH
We’ve been toying around with the idea of taking part in the One Room Challenge this Fall – a pledge to renovate one room on our home over just eight weeks. We’ve actually taken on the One Room Challenge several times now and I love the motivation it provides to work through a room from start to finish with a quick turnaround (read more about our past ORC spaces here). This time around we’re debating between the kitchen or the bathroom right next to our pyramid room (which we currently don’t use at all because it’s in such rough shape).
The kitchen would be a quick phase one, something to help us love it more until we’re more ready to take on a bigger renovation. Think painted cabinets and new hardware, paneling on the island, new lighting, new appliances, a new backsplash and likely a cover for that range hood – while we can’t do much about the layout until we’re ready to make some more permanent decisions in here, a few simple projects could really go a long way in here.
The pyramid room bathroom on the other hand would be a more permanent reno. We’d gut the space and totally renovate it from top to bottom, bringing in a built in shower, new vanity, lighting and fixtures as well as some fun new tile and maybe even some wallpaper. It doesn’t feel nearly as exciting as working on the kitchen, but I like that working on this space would be bringing us closer to our end goal with more permanent renovations to this old house.
What do you think? Which space would you renovate first?
Seven renovation goals doesn’t seem like it should be a big deal, especially when we’ve got a whole year to plow through them, but I know these are not little projects. Considering how much our plans changed through our first year in this new/old house, I’m really curious and excited to see how this all works out through year two. I’d love to hear about what you’re most excited to follow along with through this year ahead.
Wishing you SUCH a lovely day my friends!
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I can't wait to hear your thoughts!