Happy Spring! It’s Emily and Stacie of Revival Living Interiors and we’re celebrating Spring with our aptly named Spring Lane Renovation!
Is there anything more fitting for a season of new growth than a full house renovation? It’s thrilling to see a beloved family home be brought into new life for a new generation.
We’ve all seen the home renovation shows where they take an outdated home and give it a breathtaking new life. We all want to know, could I do that? How much does it cost? Where would I even start? We hope this article can give you some insight on our thought process as we tackle these exciting projects.
“Renovations are no small feat to pull off. We utilize our whole Revival Living family when it comes to seeing a renovation from start to finish. From demo clean up to mowing lawns, even our kids lend a hand.”
What’s really exciting is when we get to work with our husbands and incorporate all of our expertise and experience. Stacie’s husband, Kevin, owns a commercial construction company and Emily’s husband, Geoff, owns a real estate firm. We’re blessed with a well rounded team for assessing which renovation projects to choose! We would encourage you before jumping in to a renovation to consult with skilled and experienced trades in the industry to help guide your decision making.
When we first looked at the home on Spring Lane, it was like walking into a museum. The original homeowner preserved everything – even receipts from when they built it forty years ago! While it is a large house, inside it felt dark and closed in and hard for potential buyers to see it’s full potential. We were confident that with the right vision and a lot of hard work, this home would prove to be a true diamond in the rough.
EVERY PENNY COUNTS
One of our first steps was (and always is) a meticulous budget. The money has to make sense! To determine the budget, we needed a concept of the direction of our floor plan and a solid scope of work. It’s always a good idea to go room by room and ask yourself “what all will I change in this room?”, and always think about things that you can’t see like foundation, electrical, and plumbing.
A FUNCTIONAL FLOOR PLAN FOR YOUR FAMILY
We felt confident that a house this size would be a great fit for a family. We agreed that most family life revolves around the kitchen and worked from there. We opened up walls that had segmented and darkened the original design – and now we had a beautiful, long, open space that flowed from the kitchen into the dining area to the family room all the way to the pool. We could envision kids playing and coming to the table, and seamless access from the table to the kitchen. We could see a space that would grow with a family.
STAY PUT WHEN YOU CAN
For smart budgeting on renovations, keep the kitchen and bathrooms where they are if possible. In this project we gutted the kitchen and master bathroom, but kept plumbing in place to save us money! We put in all new beautiful finishes including cabinetry, new sinks, backsplash, counters and faucets – the whole works, but kept the original locations. This one guideline helps scratch a major expense off the budget!
PRETTY INSIDE AND OUT
Here’s a little secret – it’s really fun being our own client! We love bringing our clients’ visions to life for them, but on the Spring Lane project, we got to do everything just the way we envisioned it. Every last detail makes us happy! From restoring the original terrazzo flooring in some areas and keeping the industrial wall hung toilets, we completely revamped the electrical, plumbing and even the exterior courtyard wall. What really made our husbands and many of our subcontractors super excited was how well this home was originally built!
“It’s not only the beautiful things you can see, but also the quality of the work that was done that will sustain this home for its next forty years!”
Our favorite part of renovating Spring Lane was when we were finally done, we had a big party, inviting all of our friends and subcontractors. With some trepidation, we invited the original home owner’s family. We breathed a sigh of relief (and maybe shed a few tears) when they told us their mom would have loved the changes.
We’re so grateful our Revival Living family was able to see the value in the original home and envision its future filled with family once again. We think that’s a Spring worth celebrating!
