We bought our house in 2008, right before the world collapsed with the recession. Our house was the perfect subprime mortgage property that we could snatch up, and it had a great price because the previous owner had gone into foreclosure. Thirteen years later and we still get his mail. The house was in terrible shape. There was trash everywhere, cats running in and out, and the pool in the backyard was more of a pond; there could have been a whole science class taught from it, but I knew right when I walked in there that it was the perfect house for us :) I think it was the worst house we’ve ever bought with so many problems and every inch of the house needed work. Just when we started tackling the house, the world flipped upside down with the 2008 recession. Our budget instantly became a lot tighter, so I did what I had to do to make this my dream home. I started doing a ton of work myself! Since the list of changes we wanted to do to the house was immense, many projects were pushed off until things revived with the economy. We thought that was only going to be a year or two, but that quickly turned into 12 years, and it was impossible to keep pushing off.

 

Exterior

Backyard

Let’s start with our changes outside and work our way in! We desperately needed new windows and new siding, and it is amazing what a difference it made replacing windows. I am slighting obsessed with the black aluminum frames because there is so much light in my house. The new siding completely changed the look of my home. Before the siding, we had stucco and rotted trim work that needed to be replaced and just looked dated. I decided to go with black all over for paint, no alternative color, just all black. Finding the perfect paint color is always such a challenge. I tested out every single color at Sherwin-Williams and finally landed on Iron Ore, but I still felt like there was a little too much brown in it, so I pulled out of maroon of the color to make the perfect color for my house. I lost a lot of sleep the night they started painting, wondering if I made a mistake, but once the house was finished, with the copper look gutters and the pops of red brick, the house is amazing. It also looks so much larger than it did before!

 

Countertop fabrication: Any Top Shop, Trampoline: Avayna Trampoline, Water feature: Good Earth Water Gardens, Composite Decking: NewTechWood, Windows: NT Windows, Firepit: Outdoor GreatRoom Company, Door hardware: Ageless Iron, Exterior Doors: Steve & Sons, Exterior Lighting: Kichler, Pizza Oven: WPPO LLC, Countertop: Daltile Pavers: Daltile Ambassador Voyager Black

I think one of the biggest changes from the exterior is our new front door. It completely changes the front of the house. Our old front door didn’t have any windows, and it made our entryway so dark. Now we have a beautiful six window wooden front door, and it makes everything so much brighter. I love walking past it and looking outside! Around the front door I also finally changed out the horrible sconces and hanging pendant with these beautiful Kichler lights. I love these so much I also have them at the shop! 

Since I had 12 years to daydream about what I wanted to do in my backyard, we had a massive plan for our deck. The original deck was practically falling off of the house and not very functional. The stair went down to the deck’s side, took up a ton of the backyard, and left us with small deck space. We wrapped the deck around the corner of the house and changed the staircase layout, which gives us so much more room. Another big problem that we had with our old deck is there was zero privacy from our neighbors. We added a solid railing that I had custom built with a nice X detail that wraps the inside and outside of the deck to fix this. We also used the same fence in other areas of the house to cover up our air conditioners and in the front of our house, so it ties everything together. I like that the XX is like a bit of kiss on all sides of the house! 

I wanted the backyard to be a place for parents and kids to enjoy. We added a 7-foot slide from the deck because it is just fun and an in-ground trampoline. My kids love the trampoline; it is the number one most used toy I have ever gotten them. I didn’t want a giant trampoline killing the grass and taking up a ton of space, and this fantastic in-ground trampoline that was easy to install makes the backyard feel wide open, but the kids still get their trampoline. It’s a win-win! I also put this gorgeous hanging swing under the deck that is the size of a twin bed. I am still waiting for warm weather here in Kansas City so I can enjoy a book there! The other really fun thing I knew I wanted but didn’t realize how much we really would love is our pizza oven. Even in the cold, we’ve been making homemade pizzas as a family. I even started roasting vegetables and making other fun stuff in there! 

Besides having a fun backyard, I also wanted it to be relaxing, so it was always a cluttered mess of landscaping our not-so-cute fence at the end of our driveway. We pulled out the fence and paved the area. We were able to put in a beautiful fireplace and water feature. 

A big thing that we did not want in our new deck was maintenance. Our old deck had to be power washed, sanded, and stained all the time, and it was just junkie. Now we have this fantastic composite decking as the decking material and all of the fascia. I went with two tones dark black for the fascia to match the house and light grey to give a bit of contrast. It is amazing how realistic it looks to natural wood, but it is always clean, there are no splinters, and it doesn’t get hot. It just looks so much crisper and nicer it has been a game-changer for the entire deck. 

Now that we have all of these fun features in our backyard, it is a hotspot for the neighborhood kids, but it is also wide open since we got rid of our fence, and security was a major concern. We installed Ring cameras around the perimeter of the house. It gives me peace of mind knowing that we have eyes on every corner of the house. I can’t say enough good things about all of the Kichler exterior lightings. We did stairway lights for all of the steps to the backyard and sidewalk lights around the side and front yard. I love how well-lit and welcoming my house is when I pull up at night!

Front Entrance

I think one of the biggest changes from the exterior is our new front door. It completely changes the front of the house. Our old front door didn’t have any windows, and it made our entryway so dark. Now we have a beautiful six window wooden front door, and it makes everything so much brighter. I love walking past it and looking outside! Around the front door I also finally changed out the horrible sconces and hanging pendant with these beautiful Kichler lights. I love these so much I also have them at the shop!

Exterior Lights: Kichler, Front Door: Steve & Sons, Door hardware: Ageless Iron, Doorbell: Ring

Interior

Main living area

With our old windows, we were constantly shutting the drapes, which was such a hassle because there are many windows in my living room. First-world problems, I know. One of the splurgy items on my wishlist was motorized blinds, so with a touch of a button, we could easily open and shut the blinds. It is honestly entertaining to push the button and reveal all of the beautiful windows. I have to admit the kids find them fascinating and press that button way too often, but they are using this room way more than before! Another great benefit to new doors and windows in my house is way less drafty, which got us thinking we need to update our thermostats. We went with the Ecobee smart thermostat that is so awesome!

Along with our cameras outside, we added a few inside so we know what those ornery teenagers are up to! We have one on the fireplace mantle that peaks around a painting. It is an excellent deterrent for mischief, which with three teenage boys, it’s a win. We also swapped out the light fixtures over the kitchen island for these beautiful Kichler pendants. 

 

Drape Rods: Brimar, Windows: NT Windows, Light Fixture: Kichler, Rug: Kaleen, Thermostat: Ecobee, Security Camera: Ring

Bathroom

Believe it or not, before my bathroom remodel, we had carpet. Yes, you heard me right, carpet! It was one of those things that I would have rather lived with less until we could have what I really wanted, which was warm and toasty toes in the morning and beautiful tile. And that just wasn’t in the budget in 2008. We went with Warmly Yours heated floors that I can control with my phone, but rarely have to because it is all programmed so that when I wake up in the morning, my bathroom floors are already warm. I wanted a clean, crisp look in the bathroom and went with beautiful marble everywhere. When I say everywhere, I mean everywhere we used 12×12 tile surrounded by pickets on the floor, subway on the walls, and the mosaic beside the shower. My kids and I did a lot of the tiling ourselves late at night and on the weekends to get it done. I have some mad tiling skills after this bathroom! I wanted to have some contrast in the space, so it wasn’t just bright white. I went with black soapstone-looking quartz that is super durable but gave me that rick look I was going for in contrast. I also went with a walnut cabinet from Kohler with the amazing medicine cabinet-lit mirrors. It is a game-changer in my bathroom. They open up with tons of storage, and if you’re like me, you need a lot of light to get ready in the morning. I have to wonder where all my stuff fits before I have these mirrors because it seems like everything fits inside there, but I have to admit I still think about stealing some space from my husband’s side because he is practically empty! I went with a great Kichler light, that I use all the time, over the bathtub in the black finish. It gives so much light and is the perfect complement to the black metal windows. I have beautiful Thibaut drapes and Brimar acrylic hardware. It looks so elegant at night. The bathtub is actually the original tub that I put in 12 years ago, but it literally was surrounded by painted plywood. I went a little over the top with the quartz waterfalling over the front of the tub, and then custom framing the face so it looks like one giant slab of stone. We did think about if there were ever any issues with the plumbing, you will need to pull the face-off, so it is held in there with tons of magnets. In the shower, we kept with the marble and the black quartz is the shelves for all of the shampoos and that nonsense, but I hate when a shelf feels all gummy and slimy, so we left a half-inch gap on the backside, so water drains off, and they are always dry! The shower doors were so important to me. I had been dreaming of these Coastal Shower Doors since we used them in a house on season 1 of Bargain Mansions. The shower is also a steam shower, which has to be one of my favorite things ever. I literally use it every single day in the winter to warm up. I love how the doors are skinny, so when you open one of them to grab your towel, you aren’t letting all of that amazing steam out. I also wanted to make sure that I had a cozy room to walk into after all that steam, so along with the heated floors, we installed a towel warmer. Can you tell I don’t like to be cold? We covered up a window on the inside but left it on the outside that used to be right outside of the shower (awkward, I know) and installed so much storage. It gave me a wall for towels and robes, a bench seat, and topped it off with beautiful hardware. 

 

Drapery Hardware: Brimar, Countertop: Daltile, Tile: Daltile, Lighting: Kichler, Steam Shower: Steamist, Cabinet Hardware: Nostalgic Warehouse, Shower Door: Coastal Shower Door, Drapes: Thibaut, Wallpaper: Thibaut, Window Treatment: Weave Gotcha Covered, Rug: Kaleen

Closet

Another huge transformation that we did originally on the house was the closet. It did not originally exist. It was a loft that you accessed from the upstairs hallway and a total waste of space. We originally closed it to create a larger Main closet, but unfortunately, a beautiful closet system was not in the budget, so we made it work with mismatched furniture and hanging rods. Twelve years later, we finally got the closet of our dreams! It is incredible how much more space you have when everything is organized. I actually don’t mind hanging up my clothes and putting my laundry away anymore. I love my little window in the closet that looks out to the yard, and I did the same acrylic hardware and drapes that were used in the bathroom to tie both spaces together. And what’s a closet without great lighting? We put the same fixture that matches the bathtub fixture in black that has tons of bright light and makes deciding what to wear everyday super easy!

Drapery Hardware: Brimar, Lighting: Kichler, Cabinet Hardware: Nostalgic Warehouse, Drapes: Thibaut, Window Treatment: Weave Gotcha Covered, Rug: Kaleen