Renovation - Before and After

Our renovation is complete! This began with wanting to close off the open wall in between our master bedroom and living room. This grew to gutting and completely redoing the master bathroom, completely redoing the closet and master bedroom, and replacing all front-facing windows in our house. 

I heard some good advice before the project: 

1. Everything will take longer than you think. 

2. Everything will cost more than you think. 

3. You will love everything more than you can possibly think. 

All of this was excellent advice. We weren't sure how long to expect in the beginning, but it took over three months from start to finish, in part because many of the finishing touches required different sequential subcontractors, which took more time. 

We added a lot of change orders. Some things were structural (like problems with the wall that needed corrected), but many were because we wanted a different design (such as adding a backslash to the bathroom vanity and going with a glass shower rather than a ceramic tub). 

And I cannot express how much we love living in our new bedroom suite. The old bedroom and bathroom had no privacy (no wall!!). The bathroom and closet were small and cramped. The lighting was poor and the whole space felt dark and claustrophobic. The new renovations have transformed this space into my favorite in our whole house - a true retreat. 

If you are considering renovations that would improve your daily life, I would highly recommend that you go for it. We had lived for years without a wall in our bedroom because we had acclimated to this crazy state of living. We had also chosen to invest in travel rather than our physical space. While I have no regrets over all our adventures, I only wish we had made these improvements from the moment we set foot in the house. It has given me so much joy and happiness to see this coming to life. 

And finally, I cannot say enough good things about our contractor, Duell Construction. They were amazing from start to finish and I feel so connected now with all the people who helped turn our house into a home. 

I leave you now with some before and after pictures. Enjoy!

After

Before