Dining Room

When I first started making plans for the renovation, I thought I would have room for the dining table next to the kitchen in front of that big window (next to where the piano is now) 

After the demo was done and I started really drawing things out it became clear that there just wouldn't be enough room to fit a table there if I made the kitchen as big as I wanted. So what was the "bonus room" was made into the dining room. 

With all the windows in here I wanted it to feel almost like an outdoor room. I went with the black stone floor to tie in to the black granite and also just because the texture of it brought the outdoor feeling inside. The cable stair railing was the final finishing touch and I'm in love. 

I had to make a spot in the dining room for my computer! It's also kind of the dog area since my OUTDOOR dog is now an inside dog. Doggie door and everything!

I need to add some finishing touches to this room still!

Master Bathroom

The master bathroom was super scary to deal with. This is the room I actually questioned the most as to if I could actually make good. I think this bathroom measures 5 X 13. It's tiny. Originally it had one sink and a very scary shower. 

I am very proud of this bathroom makeover! I never thought I could love such a small master bath as much as I do! And the best part is it takes like 5 minutes to clean. It's perfect.

Master bedroom

When we first bought the house the master bedroom felt like such a downer. Our previous house had a HUGE oversize bedroom and master bathroom with a walk in closet. The new house had a comparatively small bedroom, tiny bathroom, and a TINY closet with sliding glass doors. Admittedly, the closet was my biggest concern. I mean look at it!

The solution we ended up with works beautifully and is even better than I ever really imagined it would be! We framed out a new closet opening it up as big as we could. Then Sean built a base and we basically built around some Ikea Pax wardrobes to make it look like a custom built in closet for a fraction of the cost. I love these closets. They are HUGE and we have plenty of space for all our things. 

It also turns out the room is not really that small after all! It's the perfect size and has the best view in the house!

Kids Bathroom

I am in love with how the kids bathroom turned out! The tile was a splurge and I think it was worth it! I'm still a little nervous about doing marble floors, but they are tumbled marble so hopefully that rustic look with make any new etches/ chips less noticeable! 

Sean put up the board and batten and he did a really great job. I caulked, filled holes, sanded, and painted and I did not do a really great job haha! Seriously, after caulking, filling, sanding, and painting the bathrooms and all the baseboards and doors in the house I have a newfound hatred for all of those tasks. 

Remember that post a while back where I got the opinion of everyone for which light to put in here? Welllll, we had a little mishap. The light box accidentally got cut for a can light, which meant we either had to: do a can light, try to ghetto rig the light box to work, or pick a flush mount light that would cover the huge can light hole. I picked the third option. I'm still bitter about it.

Originally we wanted to do custom glass shower doors but after getting a couple quotes we decided to go with this pre-made less expensive option! I love it because the door swings all the way open so you can easily give your kids a bath. 

Family Room

After ripping that ginormous fireplace out of the family room it felt SO much bigger! Once it came down we could really start envisioning what we could really do in the space. Originally I wanted Sean to build me an entertainment center to fit in between the the two skinny windows, but after finalizing the drawings on the kitchen I decided that it would be too much competing too close to each other. So I came up with the idea for the window seat and bookcases instead and I'm so glad I did. I love how it turned out!

I'm still trying to decide what window treatments to do here. If you have suggestions let me know!

Kitchen

The kitchen was the biggest undertaking for us in this whole project. It was the very first thing I designed ALL the way back in October ... and it was the very LAST thing to be finished. Sean says he never wants to install another kitchen again! 

Designing this kitchen was tricky because I knew I wanted to take out the drop ceiling and extend the kitchen out bigger, but then I would have that little tiny off centered window to deal with!

The sink was also centered in an awkward spot with no way of centering it under the window which is just weird. I came really close to bricking up that window and having a windowless kitchen. I'm so glad I didn't do that! That dumb little window has a view to the lake so I think that would have been a mistake. Ultimately, I think the design worked out so the window didn't look too awkward in the end. 

My kitchen designer was awesome! She basically took my sketch and adapted it perfectly to what I envisioned. Here is her rendering:

Originally I wanted a custom wood range hood. Then I found out how much a custom wood range hood would cost. So I ended up with a stainless steel hood but I actually really like it!

I was also planning to have more open shelves like I did in my last kitchen, but I ended up just putting two.

That rolling ladder is pretty much the best thing ever!! Sean pretty much fought me the entire way on that thing, but it was NON NEGOTIABLE! haha

The island counter top is a leather finish quartzite (not quartz). Quartzite is a natural stone that is *supposed* to be more durable and heat resistant than granite (we'll see about that!) The quartzite is beautiful but you almost have to see it and touch it in person to fully appreciate it. The black counter is a leather finish black granite.

I put the microwave down low so my kiddos can get to it easier and because I just didn't have a better spot for it! I actually love it there!

After installing the big farm house sink in our last kitchen I will never go back to a double sink! I went with stainless this time instead of white. I think this one is even bigger than the last one! Not complaining!!

All in all I LOVE my new kitchen. I was slightly worried about the layout and how it would be functionally but it is actually perfect and I love cooking in it!

Before and AFTER!!!!

It turns out there is a reason people pay so much money for a real estate photographer when listing their house for sale. It's hard to photograph houses! You need a special lens... which I don't have. So this is the best I could do working with what I got!

Welcome to our home :)