Home Design Aspirations: The Current State of our Starter-Home-Turned-Family-Residence

The BEFORE of future "BEFORE & AFTERS" and all my big plans for redecorating now that we know we’re staying awhile longer

My husband and I purchased our home in summer 2019 when interest rates were low and we were well-rested–not yet parents and not yet aware of anything called “COVID-19”. It was our first home and a starter home we thought we would be in for about 3 years after which we thought we’d move to a larger house with what we prayed would be a growing family. 

Fast forward almost 5 years later and we are still in this beautiful little home. We’ll be staying here longer than we originally thought as we navigate the current real estate market and assess what makes the most sense for our family as our children grow. Because we thought this house would be more temporary than long term or forever home material, we have only made changes and small renovations when needed and have held off on major furniture purchases thinking we'd have a bigger home to eventually invest in furniture for. I’m now eager to make many changes and purchases across the whole house that we did not invest in because we thought we’d be just passing through. Do we suddenly have a surge in budget to do this? No, so it will be a slow transition as we prioritize needs and wants! Also, with two toddlers around, time also comes at a premium around here.

I love our home for many reasons, both sentimental and aesthetic. I wouldn't mind it being our forever home, however, at 1400 square feet I do know that it is going to start feeling smaller and smaller as our children continue to grow. We also have out of date furnishings and fixtures that i am DYING to change (please see kitchen backsplash below...It is the bane of my existence).

Here is a bit of a tour and some of the changes I hope to make that are high impact and make it more practical and more ‘ours’ but also low budget. Stay tuned!

The Exterior

I cannot take any credit for the lovely curb appeal of our home except the painted green front door and window trim. This sweet cape cod was built in 1941. It’s a great combination of textures with cedar siding and brick exterior. The birch tree in the front yard is one of my favorite things about our home. Hydrangeas bloom in the summer and there are hostas aplenty around the house. There are also red tulips that bloom in spring that I wouldn’t have chosen myself but that we are keeping because I cannot help but think how long ago those could have been planted and who am I to dig them up?? They also only last a couple weeks as they seem to be a gourmet delight for the neighborhood rabbits.  

Wishlist for exterior

• Spruce up for summer with planters

• Kid friendly activity zones for backyard like a swing set or sand box or play kitchen. We want the kids to be able to roam around the yard and explore or easily find something interesting to do

• Plant more perennials to watch return and grow every year

The Front Entryway

Our entryway is barely mentionable because it’s basically just a recessed wall, however, I include it in the tour here because it is a key place that I want to make more efficient and practical for us. Our back door leads directly into the kitchen, making this small front entryway the only place that can serve as a dropping ground for STUFF like shoes and some coats.

Wishlist for entryway changes

• Create a ‘welcome to our home’ statement moment with wallpaper, light fixture, or added design element like board and batten. 

• Find a better solution for shoe storage that hides them more

• Kid-height coat hooks / station for them to get themselves ready and out the door

Open Concept Living & Dining Room 

I will admit when I think of ‘open concept’ I think of a much larger and grander space than this. But by the book, it is open concept. A cozy little living room / dining room combo. Expansive front window, some arch details, and a little peek into the kitchen with accessible countertop. So- I feel like I need to state the obvious, but we do have a TV. It’s not a camouflaged frame TV either. TVs don’t make their way into a lot of online interior photos because they are not usually pretty, but I can’t really hide this thing. The previous owners left a TV mount in the arched niche so we followed suit and put ours there. I’m always conflicted about it because it’s such a lovely architectural statement to stick a television in but we haven’t found a better way for the room to flow (while also leaving the window unobstructed–a personal interior design preference of mine). 

Wishlist for living room/ dining room changes

• New paint! I had not planned to do this but the longer we stay here the more I cannot stand it. A little too much yellow hue for me. 

• Furniture overhaul - new couches, storage pieces in dining room, living room and to replace the credenza 

• Wallpaper statement moment in the niche behind the TV

• Gallery wall to replace map posters 

The Kitchen

I like to describe our kitchen is "visual chaos". Which I can thank our backsplash for. This was wildly popular style in the 2010s but it is not my style. However, it has stuck around because again, we were not planning on sticking around this house for too long. Other outdated elements include our black refrigerator paired with white oven, the gray flooring, and the gray tiled countertops--yes, tiled.

The kitchen doesn’t have space for an eat-in area and we had to bring in the large cabinet you see here because there is no pantry and not enough built-in storage space for us. It’s also the back door entryway, so it’s high traffic but low on space.  I want our kitchen to feel more curated, with less gray and some subtle color, and incorporating more organic materials.

Wishlist for kitchen changes

• Replace backsplash

• Replace countertops 

• Replace sink- water flows so loudly in the current stainless steel sink

• Replace hardware & lighting

• Add more decorative elements

• Get a dishwasher?? No, we don't have a dishwasher. This would be an easy yes except it would take over much needed storage space...

• Organize more efficiently - replace the current pantry with larger storage cabinets

The Bathroom

Don’t tell my job this because I work in the plumbing industry, but when we first toured our house before purchasing I accidentally skipped looking at the bathroom. I had seen it in pictures but I think I already had my mind up that we belonged in this house so had my mind set on putting an offer in. Anyways– the bathroom is the bathroom. It’s teeny and has a very special countertop to accommodate the door swinging into the room. It does the trick, and it’s simple. I haven’t spent a lot of time thinking about it because it definitely maximizes space and I like the simplicity of it. However, still could be some minor edits as it is one bathroom we all share as a family. And there’s opportunity to add some more personality. 

Wishlist for bathroom changes

• Replace hardware & lighting

• Replace mirror

• Better storage for kids' stuff like step stool, bath toys, etc.

The Master Bedroom

The piece de resistance of our house may lie in our master bedroom- and that is the closet. It’s not a walk-in closet but it is a beautifully designed space where our clothes seem to be on display behind the walnut french doors and underneath the lights! Otherwise, a modest sized room that I have a lot of ideas for but that is low on the priority list because it’s not a communal or kid-focused space.

Wishlist for master bedroom changes

• New paint

• New bed 

• Some sort of statement treatment on the walls

• Replace artwork/ overall decor 

• Replace curtains

• Replace overhead light

The Finished Basement

Maybe it takes second place to our master bedroom closet - our finished basement space is where we spend a lot of time and are grateful to have especially in the midwest winter. It’s a combination of our kids’ play space and my home office. 

We decided to finish our basement in 2021 after we knew we were pregnant with our second and dipped our toe into the real estate market for a new home and said no thank you to the interest rates and competing with a million other people looking for what we were also seeking. The exposed black ceiling helped reduced costs but also aligns with our style and ended up looking amazing. The paint color I actually pulled from our bathroom as a soft neutral and then the white carpet…yes we have a white carpet and two toddlers. Yes there have been many unfortunate spills. But it looks good right?? 

I work from home and needed a dedicated office space after my original one was converted to a bedroom for our daughter. It’s just a corner of the room but it’s all I need, and I don’t (usually) need to work at any point while the kids are playing so no walls necessary. 

Wishlist for basement changes

• We have one more door we need to paint. After almost 2 years of it being 'finished' - it is still not finished! #life

• Spruce up my desk corner with art & plants. This is currently in process and why this area is currently a disaster zone

• There is one corner that my husband has designated for his weights. Honestly I want them to be hidden in the laundry/storage area, however, the guy deserves at least a corner of the space in the basement! Everyone else has a piece of it. Other than his weights on the floor in the corner it is totally empty, so we need to figure out how to add some personality over there.

Kids’ Bedrooms

My son’s bedroom was our guest bedroom for 5 months before COVID happened and then people rarely slept over and then we had a baby to replace the extra room! It. has lovely shelving along the walls and gets amazing afternoon/evening light. My daughter's room was created out of the loft space in our second floor that was originally used as my home office. We made some adaptations to add ventilation up there and a more closed off space which I will post all about soon!

Wishlist for kids’ bedroom changes

• For my son, to upgrade from baby nursery vibe to little boy vibe

• We need to figure out longer term plan for transitioning to big kid beds, how long we’ll be in this house if we are growing our family…….too much to think about here so saving that for another day

So that’s it. Our humble abode that I love and am so grateful for. I’m excited to make these small changes, to fuel my creativity and to learn and share while I do so. With a full renovation / home addition out of the question, my mission is to update decor to better reflect our current style and season of life while making our current square footage continue to work for us. With limited free time and budget, I'll share the intentional choices I make to maximize style and efficiency. Hope you tag along!