When we bought our home in 2015, it was stuck in the Tuscan trend. With its brown walls, brown cabinets, brown floors, and heavy drapes, it was the opposite of the light and bright space I had in mind. The heavy drapes and window film were designed to block all natural light, and the red and green accents were hard to see beyond.
However, we loved so much about the home, including the open layout, tall ceilings, beautiful moldings, and location. Not to mention the price was right.
Shortly after we moved in, I repainted the walls in a creamy white, but the trim was still beige. Also, the entire house had a soft gold on the ceilings. This really limited the colors I could use in our home and was not the bright, clean look I love. However, if you have a home with beige trim, this is a great look to use. Funny that now it’s becoming a trendy thing to do. Guess I was ahead of my time!
The limited color palette issue was resolved in 2016 when our home flooded, along with many others in our community. It was a catastrophic thousand-year event, surpassing previous flood records by more than six feet.
It was a heartbreaking experience. Thankfully, we were able to save much of our furniture and all of our cabinets. We had to pull them out from the walls and dry out behind them, but none of our cabinetry was damaged. Although we were lucky with the cabinets, all of our hardwood floors, interior doors and baseboards, and 12 inches of drywall around the house had to be replaced. We used the opportunity to take up the tile in our kitchen, so the new lighter floors would run continuous in the open floor plan. We also updated the foyer tiles and fireplace surround. We also decided to have the entire house painted (again!), including the ceilings.
There were many other updates I would have loved to make, but our budget was tight. We didn’t have flood insurance. We were not in a flood zone, and we still aren’t required to have flood insurance. Of course we do now!
We received a small amount of help from FEMA, but most of the remodel came out of our savings account. We had just moved into the house, and we didn’t plan to do so much so soon.
It’s been quite a road to making this house our home. My husband and I have asked ourselves if we would buy this house again, if we knew then what we know now. The answer for me is yes, but we would get the flood insurance!
Truthfully, I don’t like to look back on choices in the past. I love where we are now, and if those decisions led us here, they were the right decisions. Sure, I’ll use my experience going forward, but I’m happy where I am now.
We would love to build a house one day and create something from the ground up. However, this is the home my kids have grown up in, and they love their school, our church, and their friends. We also have the best neighbors.
Instead, we have chosen to update it slowly over time. We also choose projects carefully based on our budget and how we live in the house. We love to cook and entertain, so creating a larger pantry took precedence over other projects. Our master bath is in need of a major overhaul, but that big budget item will have to come later.
Thanks for stopping by today and reading about our home journey! How do you approach remodel projects?
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