For my son, Locke’s, 9th birthday we finally gave in to his years of requests to have his own room. Truth be told, it was mostly our own laziness with bed time routines to keep the two boys together, who have a 2 1/2 year age difference. Locke’s pleas of bedtimes stories have been slowly dwindling down as he has his head in a book 90% of his waking hours at home. My little guy, on the other hand, loves being read to before bed… although they rarely were requesting the same stories. Here we are on our 5 year...
Favorite MCM plants for the midwest
We all see those mid century modern homes out in West with those drought tolerant plants that have become the iconic look for mid century modern landscaping. When thinking about the overall aesthetic present in those homes, and not getting caught up in the plants themselves, it is easy to replicate the look for those of us living in the Midwest. Keep these things in mind when looking to update your mid century modern home’s landscape design. Choose plants that won’t take away from the architecture of the home itself. This doesn’t necessarily mean you have to be super minimal...
how to build a dog shower!
In the quest to have a never-ending renovation life, I thought it would be a terrific idea to remove the custom bench we made and install a dog/plant/boot/feet shower in our mudroom. I took a IG poll, and it was met with a fair amount of mixed feelings… 34% thought it was a bit nutty to do. Maybe all of those “Yikes” people are super clean, cat people with no kids/sons?!
here comes the sun!
Adding Velux Skylights to our Mid Century Ranch When we were house hunting, 5 years back, a ranch wasn’t necessarily on our must have list… although if we stay here for the rest of our lives, I’m sure our old knees will thank us. Our kids are STILL quite disappointed that we don’t have a two story home, as they’re fully convinced our house is soooo tiny because of it’s elevation level, or lack there of. They’d prefer we had huge white columns at the front door or anything that resembles Scrooge McDuck’s mansion.
south side flip – 1st floor befores
As you saw in the previous posts the kitchen and laundry / half bath projects will be the biggest transformations aka WORK in this house. If you’re just joining the journey here are the previous posts: kitchen befores kitchen renderings half bath / mudroom befores half bath / mudroom renderings
south side flip – mudroom / half bath renderings
This transformation is what I am most excited about! Who knew that being an adult meant finding immense excitement in mudrooms?! Who am I?! I showed you the before photos (take a peek back here) and here are the renderings for what we have planned.
south side flip – mudroom / half bath
As I mentioned in this previous post, there is an addition off of the kitchen and dining room. It looks like the space was either a “breakfast” area (which is how we labeled in the original floor plan), place to play cards, etc. Immediately I asked if we could add a half bathroom and laundry room here, as the only bathroom in the house is upstairs and who wants to have people over use the upstairs, personal bathroom? I sure don’t!
south side flip – kitchen renderings
Here is a look at what the floor plan looks like on the first floor. As I mentioned in the previous post, opening up walls and reconfiguring spaces is a main thrill in life. While this move is frowned upon by traditional house flippers, when you don’t have to pay for manual labor, it makes a-ok financial sense. “They say” a kitchen can sell a house and while we cannot open the kitchen to the living room, without the house collapsing and or relocating a staircase, we can open it up to the dining room and make it open enough...
south side flip – kitchen befores
OK let’s first address the elephant in the room. What, you’re flipping an investment property?! Your own house is, like, 50% done. Girl… I know it!
zero plastic, zero waste kitchen
I am so excited to share this info! Of course this blog space started out as a place to share home renovation but why not share more lifestyle content? For the past few years I have been on a mission to buy less, buy once. Many products that we purchase over and over again have a reusable substitute. It may cost more upfront but in the long run it is not only better for your wallet but the planet!