Our 2024 Project Line-Up

We (unintentionally) took a top-down approach to renovating this house, and I mean that literally. The first room we renovated was the attic playroom in October 2022, two months after moving in. With time, patience, and as savings has allowed, we’ve slowly moved down the attic stairs and front stairwell, renovating each room along the route. This order wasn’t totally intentional, but it’s actually made a lot of sense since I’m a strong believer that color must flow between spaces to create overall visual harmony.

Four months into living here, we also started on the downstairs dining room and then crossed the hallway to the living room. So essentially, the front of the house is decent but not finished. But the back of the house is totally uncharted land (which is why I dubbed this a mullet house). I’m happy to share that we’re gonna finally address the back this year. Here’s a breakdown of the spaces we hope to tackle and approximately when:

Guest Bedroom/Office
Estimated start date: February-March-ish

The house was built in 1946, but an addition was added to the back in the 80s. We think the current guest room used to be the back porch based on the step down you take from the main floor and the exterior door that accesses the backyard. It’s a pretty small bedroom, but perfectly sized for guests with its own full bath. But, like so many American homes, we have this full room sitting empty most of the year — which seems like a waste. We’d love to build a Murphy bed so that we can use it as an office most of the year. I currently work out of our bedroom, and it’s less than ideal. So the plan will be to pull up carpet and add wood flooring, install the Murphy bed + shelving around it, and then bring in wallpaper and paint to transform the space. I envision a desk will sit in the center of the room and then we’ll move it out when we pull down the bed.

The room today (basically zero change — just quickie addition of a bed + side tables + art)

Primary Bedroom
Estimated start date: April-ish

Our bedroom is honestly a space I can’t wait to tackle. We have great bones to work with: it’s large, gets fantastic light, and the current layout will remain. But the desk/vanity where I work is very dated, the blinds have got to go, and I can’t wait to do something with all of the bifold doors. I have a few ideas for how to transform the closets as well as window treatments that I think will be beautiful. So it’s really a matter of nailing down the palette and the textiles. I’d also love to potentially hire a closet company to tackle the closets because they really need master organization. I took some photos this morning (which means I threw everything from the floor into the closet and left the bedding all sloppy, so you’re welcome), and by mid-day the sun is really streaming in.

Home Gym
Estimated start date: Summer

Our basement space is a current dump zone for furniture we’re not using, random supplies, and a desk treadmill we both use. Andrew is a religious work-out person, while I’m much more sporadic. I prefer group classes when possible, but I also would use a dedicated space if it existed. So the current plan is to rip up the carpet and add flooring, remove the current built-in unit that doesn’t fit the scale of the room and replace it with new storage. Then we’ll paint, add a tv, a few key pieces of gym equipment and some mirrors. Overall it shouldn’t be too heavy of a lift (pun intended).

And then IF all of our ducks line up in a row we’ll tackle…

Kitchen!!! (most excited for this one)
Estimated start date: Fall

The second I stepped into this pitched roof back room during the open house, I saw our future kitchen. Without a doubt. And now that we’ve lived here for a full year + with a tiny kitchen (filled with cheap cabinetry poorly installed just before the sale), I’ve never been more sure. The original kitchen fit the scale of the original house. But when it changed in the 80s, the kitchen didn’t evolve with it. I can picture a large island beneath beautiful pendants and a row of cabinetry where the current built-ins sit. I see the breakfast table tucked against the picture window and striking new marble surrounding the existing fireplace (a fireplace in a kitchen! swooooon). It’s going to be beautiful, but we still need to find the right people to make it happen. We’d love to make it work this fall, and the REALLY awesome part is that we can use our current kitchen during the process (which almost never happens for people). And because we’re not moving walls etc, it shouldn’t be too complicated of a job (I will regret typing this later. Something is always complicated). Given our situation with contractors last time, we need to be cautious while also remaining optimistic.

Primary Bath (this too!!!)
Estimated start date: Fall

Our current primary bath is a total bore. It’s a single sink situation, the room has no character, and the tub resurfacing is peeling off in sheets. We’d love to have this tackled around the same time as the kitchen and have it come from the same bank loan (our plan to finance the fall renovations). Our bedroom actually has four closets, so we’re planning to sacrifice from my main closet to give us space in the bathroom. I’d love a double vanity, beautiful tile, bath, lighting. We’ll likely need to move some plumbing (ugh) but it will be worth it!

Jourdan FairchildJanuary 4, 2024