We’ve officially been living in our new home for two weeks now and I’m happy to report that we are entirely unpacked and settled. We pushed quite hard to get everything unpacked in the first four or five days because neither my husband nor I relish living amongst boxes for any longer than we need to.
Unpacking our boxes also gave us the opportunity to go through each room thoroughly and decide what we want to do with each space, and make a list of the renovations that we plan on doing over the next few years. This post will be part house tour, part a running checklist of everything we plan to do to our home over the next five-ish years.
But First, Background
Our home is an 87-year-old house built after World War I, and while it has certainly been updated over the years, the list of renovations that need to be done are about as long as my arm. Most of the major, big-ticket renovations have been done recently (the roof was replaced in 2012), or recently enough that they are entirely livable (the kitchen and baths were redone in 2000), but my husband and I still have our own vision for the space and that means renovating!
So, without further ado, here is a tour of our home, along with everything we want to change about it.
These are photos from the listing. Eventually, I’ll post before and afters with our own furniture in place.
Front Yard
To Do:
- Deck: Stain and replace spindles with chunky period appropriate decking.
- Walkway: Remove, replace with flagstone.
- Driveway: Remove, repave or do brick.
- Front yard: Get rid of all grass, turn into rain garden.
- Numbers/Mailbox: Replace
- Door: Replace with wooden door (will move current door to back of house)
- Shutters/Window boxes: Paint Black
- Way Later: Repaint steel siding grey
Back Yard
- Deck: Stain, remove/reinstall pergola correctly, remove railing and add steps.
- Yard: Dig up weeds, replace with sod.
- Garden: Majorly cut back overgrown plants, establish beds, mulch
- Shed: Remove, replace
- Fence: Stain, replace garden gate
- To Build: Flagstone walkway, raised planters
Living Room
To Do:
- Paint walls/baseboards
- Replace light fixture
- Change out faceplates/rewire plugs
- Add TV Mount
- Remove shutters on window
- Change out our furniture for space appropriate pieces
Office Nook (Now Reading Nook)
To Do:
- Paint walls/baseboards
- Change light fixture
- Change out face plates/rewire plugs
- Remove wall mounted shelf
- Remove/Replace window coverings
- Buy space appropriate furniture
Entryway (Not Pictured)
- Replace front door
- Paint walls/baseboards
- Change light fixture
- Remove/replace window coverings
- Replace floor
- Fix/Replace folding door
- Build custom storage in hall closet to maximize space
- Remove weird hooks
- Paint French door black, replace glass panes
Dining Room
To Do:
- Paint walls/baseboards
- Remove/replace window coverings
- Replace light fixture
- Replace faceplates/rewire plugs
- Remove mirror above fireplace that is nailed to wall
- Have fireplace inspected/repaired to work properly
Kitchen
To Do:
- Remove wall that fridge is on, opening up room to living room, dining room and hallway.
- Replace windows above the sink.
- Gut!
The kitchen is still in good shape, will not be gutting for quite awhile.
Main Bath
To Do:
- Gut
- Steal some space from the master bedroom to create linen closet/eliminate need for large awkward hutch
- Frost window
- Install more powerful bathroom fan
Master Bedroom
To Do:
- Paint walls/baseboards
- Replace light fixture
- Replace flooring
- Replace faceplates/re-wire plugs
- Replace/remove window coverings
- Enlarge window to meet egress requirements, add second window?
- Build out closest to be true closet (currently has no doors)
Second Bedroom/My Office
To-Do:
- Replace flooring/fix sloping floor
- Paint walls/baseboards
- Replace faceplates/rewire plugs
- Remove/replace window coverings
- Enlarge window to meet egress requirements
- Replace light fixture
Attic (Future Master Suite)
To Do:
- Build railing out into half wall
- New flooring
- Insulate behind drywall
- Install pot lights
- Enlarge window to meet egress requirements
- Install clothes storage in knee walls
- Remove weird partial wall
- Install sliding barn door at entrance
- Install skylights
- Install hardwood on steps leading upstairs
Other Projects
- Replace oil furnace and oil fired hot water heater with heat pump.
- Re-roof small section of roof in back.
Timeline for Projects
That seemed like a lot of stuff, but a lot of it was cosmetic. Many of the rooms just needed new paint, flooring, window treatments and light fixtures to be brought up to the standard I want. These renovations won’t be expensive and will be easily DIYed.
Going forward, we’ll begin saving for three big renovations next year:
- Turning the attic into the master suite
- Replacing the back roof
- Installing an air source heat pump
The first renovation, turning the attic into the master suite will require some professional help, but the second two projects will be complete DIY, with the help of some (very) experienced friends.
This year we are focusing on accumulating the things we need to run a house correctly (we dropped $200 on smoke detectors last week!), fixing a few small issues (a small section of the roof needs to be replaced this year), and doing relatively inexpensive cosmetic updates like painting the walls. We also want to get the garden underway this fall, hopefully moving forward with sod and raised beds, and get the chimney/fireplace inspected and prepared to work this winter. That means we’ll also need to buy firewood!
How We’ll Pay For All of This
Right now I’ve budgeted $800 per month to go towards home renovations. This will make up the bulk of the financing for all of the renovations I’ve outlined above, but I’ll also supplement that with freelance income. Everything I’ve listed will be done over several years, it’ll be slow and steady progress for many years!