Our bedroom used to be a living room, so it’s taken some work to turn it into a comfortable, functional, and beautiful sleeping space (it’s truly one of our favorite rooms!). So today we’re outlining the 6 most impactful improvements we made to our bedroom, complete with some updated pictures.
Our Bedroom, Before
You can check out all of the before photos of our home here, but as you can see below, it was a mostly blank canvas. Well, except for the crumbling drywall, crooked blinds, and wide doorways to the adjacent kitchen – all of which we had to address. But we loved the fireplace and the wall of french doors and pretty much immediately knew it would make for an amazing bedroom (since the house was listed as having only one bedroom when we bought it!).
After closing off one of the openings and adding lots of storage, it’s difficult to match the exact angles of our before photos, but this shot of our fireplace is a good example of how far the room has come over the last 3.5 years.
It’s also a far cry from how it looked right after we officially moved in. We swear there was a fireplace back there somewhere!
A Video Tour Of Our Finished Bedroom
Before we dive into the list of the six main things we did to transform our bedroom, let’s take a quick spin around the finished room on video. We don’t want to jinx ourselves by calling this room 100% done (every room tends to evolve over time), but now that we’ve added closets, built-in cabinetry, a custom mantel, floating shelves, etc – well, it just feels as “finished” as we think it ever will. So here’s how far it has come:
The biggest functional improvement in this room was adding a wall of Ikea Pax wardrobes to create that proper (and plentiful!) closet space. Going from a big walk-in closet in our old house to absolutely no closet in this room was quite an exercise in patience. But thanks to the addition of these closets, we were able to create just as much storage as we had in our old house!
It wouldn’t have been possible without closing off one of the openings between the old living room and kitchen, as well as one of the doorways outside that you see on the right of the photo below (which is the wall that our bed now sits against). It may seem strange to eliminate a french door, but this room still has three more sets of them!
Six doors remain, along with three windows! So there’s thankfully no lack of light or beautiful views in here.
As a reminder, here’s what the room looked like when we bought it from this angle:
But back to the closets. We love Pax wardrobes because of how customizable they are and how easy they are to incorporate into a room. We wrote a whole tutorial for how to make Ikea closets look built-in.
We also shared a tour of how we configured the inside of them, so you can see exactly how we organized them here. We even incorporated room for our holiday decor. There’s a whole Christmas tree in one of them! See it all here.
These closets are probably the single best decision we’ve made in this room. Neither of us ever expected to have this much closet space in this house, let alone closets that are so functional. Honestly, I’ve never felt more organized. Downsizing + thoughtful built-in storage for the win.
2. Making Room For A King-Size Bed
Speaking of things we never expected for this room: the biggest bed we’ve ever owned! Thanks to some careful space planning and these easy DIY nightstands, we finally upgraded to a king-size bed after nearly two decades of sharing a queen. Not only is it a more spacious and comfortable way to sleep (especially with a dog who likes to sleep horizontally between us), but it actually helps the room feel bigger.
It sounds counter-intuitive, but small spaces often feel more expansive with fewer larger items than a bunch of smaller ones, which can look more cluttered and “busier” to the eye. So making room for a larger piece of furniture can help a space itself feel larger!
Having a bigger bed also feels like it LIVES LARGER too. We have more room to spread out and it’s a place the kids can lounge with us on lazy weekends too.
And just for fun, here’s a photo of this wall back when we bought the house. We didn’t immediately know it would be the best spot for a bed (so we moved the bed around for a while), but we love it so much now that we have it there! Meant to be.
3. Fixing Up A Non-Working Fireplace
One architectural “holdover” from this room’s living room days is the fireplace. It was no longer functional, so we set our sights on making it into a beautiful feature we could enjoy gazing at – just like our wall of glass doors.
A more recent update has been the addition of this large sculptural mirror that I had my eye on for years (it’s no longer sold but this one is similar). I knew the irregular textured border would play so beautifully with our plaster sconces -and it helps to bounce even more light around the room.
So all of those slow and steady aesthetic improvements that we made to the fireplace over the last three years have created such a nice focal point for us to enjoy from bed.
4: Adding Even More Built-In Storage
In addition to the closet storage, we made our bedroom even more hardworking by incorporating a whole wall of cabinet storage around the fireplace. Not only did it help make sense of some empty nooks on either side of the fireplace, it also helped create more critical storage space for our formerly storage-challenged house.
I mean, just look at all of the concealed storage space we earned on this wall as compared to the before photo below.
We created this bonus storage space by building in some Ikea Besta cabinets and topping them with butcher block counters. Not only do they look nice, but they keep everything from board games and books to our laundry basket out of sight.
You can see the whole tutorial for building them in, as well as a tour of how we organized them in this post.
5. Hanging Smart Window Coverings
We mean “smart” in both senses of the word: smart as in “thoughtful” and also smart as in “voice-controlled.” Rather than rehanging blinds on the wall of french doors, we opted for a nearly wall-to-wall curtain rod with blackout curtains (ours are the ivory color). Not only do they look a lot nicer than the old blinds did, but they also do an incredible job at keeping the room dark at night. We do sleep in here, after all!
On the room’s three windows, we hung low-profile modern roller shades to maximize the view during the day. But we splurged for smart blackout shades so that we could control them with our Alexa. We did a whole smart blinds FAQ post that details the cost, installation, and operation of these shades if you’re curious. We’ve had them nearly 3 years and still love them!
Together, this combination of blackout curtains and smart blinds has made our otherwise bright room (which we love during the day!) a cozy and private sleeping space at night.
6. Carving Out A Spot For Pretty Stuff
One thing this room is a little short on is wall space, since so much of it is occupied by windows, doors, and closets. So that’s why I was excited to claim this weird corner by the door for purely decorative purposes. And it’s now one of my favorite corners of our entire house!
At the same time that we extended the built-in cabinets across this wall, we also added three long floating shelves. A lot of my favorite decorative stuff hadn’t really felt like it had a spot to shine – and the second these shelves went up and I filled them with plants, books, art, vases, and crystals my heart skipped several beats.
A spot to display pretty things may sound a little superficial, but I truly believe that seeing things that you love in your home every day can be what truly makes it feel like YOUR home. Especially in a lovely arrangement that you can soak up from multiple rooms (these shelves improved the view into our bedroom from our downstairs living area as well as our view from within the bedroom itself).
We love that the shelves help our bedroom look decidedly un-bedroom-y from our sitting area (instead of looking at a bed or something more overt from that doorway). And having a spot to showcase personal favorites like some metallic birds I made with friends in a workshop or a painting by one of my children is so nice. Sidenote: if you’re seeking out more shelving tutorials to upgrade your room, this post has 16 easy DIY shelf projects for you.
For good measure, I’ll leave you with one last before & after – which is a similar view from our kitchen back when we bought the house.
We really have come a long way, and we’re beyond grateful that we took a chance on this old beach house that was on the market for almost a year!
With that, we’ll wrap up our list of six things we did to turn this former blank box of a living room into a serene and functional bedroom. It truly is our favorite bedroom we’ve ever had!
As a reminder, this May will mark 4 years of living here – so by no means was this a quick bedroom transformation! But over time, some thoughtful, functional, and just plain beautiful changes can add up to such a big difference.
*This post contains affiliate links, so we may earn a small commission when you make a purchase through links on our site at no additional cost to you.
Are you ready for this? I am so, so SO excited to share our latest Jungalow Designed with Opalhouse collection available at Target. I’m pretty sure this is our largest drop yet — this new collection is hundreds of pieces that were designed to bring joy, fun, and color into your home. The concept behind this collection is “Sacred Garden.” I think that can mean different things to different people, but what it means to me is that my home is my sacred space, where I get to be unapologetically yourself, where I get to be as crazy as I wanna be, and, well, go wild. In my new book, I open with the phrase “Your Home is like a garden, it must be cultivated to create the conditions for healthy growth.” I really try and exemplify that idea through this collection.
The sun radiates warmth and we… hang out with friends on park benches. And for the first time since our Jungalow Designed With Opalhouse collection launched, we now also have rugs!
We also had some fun experimenting with simple ways to transform our regular bathrooms. From patternful towels with cozy hoods, to beautiful brass bath accessories, and shower curtains that will make your windows jealous — this collection really brings the retreat vibes.
There are so many fun ways to layer this bedding together. We designed the collection to be seamlessly mixed and matched to get that layered and collected vibe. So whether you want to go crazy with color or have a fun, graphic moment in black and white, we got you.
I love all the special detailing…beading, tassel trims, and fabrics that are *so* soft to the touch–and quirky candles that will transport you to the Sacred Garden with scents of lemon verbena and eucalyptus–we hope the collection dazzles the senses!
But wait…there’s more! We also have a new tabletop collection — for both outdoor and indoor (which is good because I want to use this stuff EVERYWHERE!). These “glasses” come in these multi-colored sets which bring me so much joy because I feel like you could have the blandest table setting on earth, add these glasses and you have an INSTANT festive feeling.
We really poured our heart into this one and we hope that you love it as much as we do! You can head over to preview the collection now and heart all your faves so you can easily add to cart on the 20th when we officially launch the spring collection! xoxo ~Justina
It’s always a challenge to get back into a workout routine after having kids and I struggled for a while. Until I started using the Ergatta water rower and now I’m back at it and actually look forward to my workouts!
I grew up playing sports and was a collegiate athlete so being active is something that’s very important to me. Between the time I had Hawkins and Odelia, I joined a local fitness studio that I really enjoyed and kept me on a pretty consistent schedule of working out. I’d go 2-3 times a week and really loved the group fitness aspect. And then I found out I was pregnant with Odelia and a month later the whole world shut down, including all the gyms.
I stayed active throughout my pregnancy by walking outside and chasing my other two kiddos around but after she was born I just wasn’t motivated to get back into it. I wanted to, but I just kept pushing it off and not making it a priority.
Ergatta reached out to me at the end of last summer about working together and I was instantly interested. Obviously the first thing that intrigued me was how beautiful it is! I mean, have you ever seen such a gorgeous piece of workout equipment?! It’s handmade out of American cherry wood and matches the aesthetic of our home perfectly.
Besides it being pretty, I didn’t have much experience with rowing. I have memories of my dad’s old school rower growing up that I’d always hop on to slide back and forth on the seat but that was the extent of it. I decided I’d give it a go and see if it could help get me out of my work out funk and back into a solid routine.
Now I will say, when I first got it, I really did like it, but I still struggled to make working out a priority. I’m not sure what finally gave me the push I needed but a few months in I flipped a switch and was committed to getting on more regularly and putting my fitness first. I’m totally hooked and can’t get enough of my rower, so let me tell you all about it!
THE ERGATTA WORKOUTS
PUSH PROGRAMS
Push programs are collections of Interval and Race workouts that are organized around a final challenge. Each program has a recommended timeframe, a workout sequence that unlocks as you progress, and a final challenge. I love these because it gives you something to work towards and motivates you to get it done!
INTERVAL TRAINING
PULSE WORKOUT Pulse Workouts give you a series of different targets to hit over time. You’ll be scored based on the percentage of targets you successfully hit. The goal is to hit a target zone, and then maintain that target for a set period of time.
METEOR WORKOUT Meteor workouts are inspired by classic 2D side-scrolling games. These challenges allow you to collect tokens as they fly through space at different target speeds calibrated specifically to you. The harder you row, the more points you earn. This is by far my favorite workout. Who doesn’t love a little competitive game? It feels like a video game and you totally forget you’re even working out!
RACES
Race Workouts are race-based competitions against yourself and other members of the Ergatta community. They are asynchronous, meaning you are not competing against others in real-time, but rather, against people’s previously recorded times. If you choose to race against others, you’ll be matched against 8 competitors at your skill level, or you can race against yourself and your previous performance.
OPEN ROW
If you’d rather have something more unstructured, you can do an open row where you have the ability to set your time and distance.
The variety of workouts on the Ergatta is something that keeps things fun and interesting. And there are so many different lengths to choose from! Some races are a short sprint that are only a few minutes long or you can opt for something longer like an hour or more. And of course everything in between!
Ergatta is non instructor led and game based – so instead of having a fitness instructor yelling at you, you’re motivated by the competitiveness of the workouts. You also burn calories at twice the rate of spinning and get a full body, low impact workout. I’ve done spinning and bike riding in the past and it always hurts my knees and butt. The Ergatta is comfy and easy on my joints.
At first, I thought rowing would mainly target my arms, but it really is a full body workout. It targets your arms, legs and core and I have already seen some muscle starting to come back (and abs!) which has been amazing.
The Ergatta is also a machine that is perfect for any fitness level. It uses intuitive AI technology that is uniquely calibrated to YOU. And the more you use it, the more if gets to know you and will help you work towards your goals.
I already mentioned how beautiful it is, but another awesome thing Ergatta does is fold up super easily so you can store it against a wall and out of the way. But even sitting there folded, it’s gorgeous! We use ours in our bedroom and I don’t mind having it in there at all – it just feels like a part of our decor.
Everyone always asks me if the Ergatta is worth it and I always tell them yes! If you’re looking for a fun and different workout routine you will love it. The community is competitive, the programs are fun and the results noticeable. They offer a great monthly financing option that starts at $62 and you can use my exclusive code BRE50 for $50-off your Ergatta rower! This is the brand’s best offer right now, so use it while you can!
These are the alternatives and options for patio flooring. If you’re looking for something beyond wood and concrete, read on!
Choosing the right flooring is important and often overlooked. Most people don’t know about their options, making it hard to make an educated choice, and settle with a concrete slab or wooden deck. There’s nothing wrong with those options but it’s good to know what to choose from. We’ll share our favorite choices for outdoor patio flooring beyond concrete.
There are different types of patio flooring options, each with its benefits and drawbacks. You should consider what kind of patio flooring suits your needs before deciding. After all, your patio will be an important part of your home. So choose wisely.
What’s Inside?
Wood Deck
A wood deck is a common type of outdoor patio that uses wooden planks for its flooring instead of concrete or stone. They can be built on flat surfaces, including grassy areas, but they are most commonly used in backyards.
Composite Deck Tiles
Composite decking is durable and lasts longer than other types of decks. It looks great (like natural wood) and requires less maintenance than natural wood. It is made of recycled materials, so it is environmentally friendly.
Composite decking is like the luxury vinyl of the porch flooring industry. Some people may be turned off by it, but others love it. Quality composite decking generally offers an attractive return on investment. New buyers will visualize beautiful summers and cookouts.
Artificial Grass Tiles
Artificial grass for the patio is an artificial turf that can be used on patios, decks, balconies, porches, and backyards. It should be installed on a base surface like wood or concrete.
Outdoor Carpet
Carpet is a soft material that is easy to clean. It also provides comfort when walking or standing on it. It is used indoors and out. An outdoor carpet option is resistant to dirt and stains, durable, and long-lasting.
Vinyl Flooring
Vinyl patio flooring is a type of outdoor flooring installed on top of concrete pavers. It can be used in both residential and commercial settings. Vinyl flooring is available in many colors, patterns, and textures. It is easy to install and maintain. It is very affordable, lightweight, and flexible. It is durable and weatherproof and has low maintenance costs.
Rubber Tiles
Rubber tiles are great for outdoor use. They are easy to install and maintain. They are more affordable than other materials. They come in many different colors and designs. They are very durable and comfortable.
Outdoor Carpet Tiles
Outdoor carpet tiles are generally used for flooring in outdoor areas such as patios, decks, porches, balconies, terraces, gardens, courtyards, and pools. They can be installed on any surface, including concrete, brick, wood, stone, tile, asphalt, and grass.
Court Flooring
Slip-resistant when wet, these court tiles allow water and dirt to drain away, reducing the need for maintenance. Perforated surfaces allow water and dirt to flow off easily. You can choose from a wide range of colors to customize your court.
Foam Tiles
There are many types of foam tile. Most of them are not suitable for outdoor use because they are not resistant to weather conditions. But some kinds of foam tiles are specifically designed for outdoor use. These tiles are soft, durable, slip-resistance, and waterproof.
Porcelain Tiles
Porcelain is made from clay, and it is very durable. It is also environmentally friendly because it doesn’t require much upkeep. You get the durability of natural wood and stone flooring without the cost of installation or maintenance.
Flagstone
Flagstone is not very expensive, and it lasts forever. Patio floors made out of flagstone are beautiful; they make statements and last a lifetime.
Clay Brick Pavers
Brick pavers are made of clay or concrete. They are used to make paths and driveways. They come in many different colors. Brick pavers are very durable and easy to maintain.
Natural Stone Tile
Stone floors are durable and require minimal upkeep. Travertine is the most common stone used in homes today. It comes in many colors and patterns. Granite is very hard and looks great in kitchens and bathrooms. Slate is also tough but more expensive than granite or travertine. Marble is soft and smooth and makes a beautiful countertop.
Mosaic Stone
A mosaic is a puzzle made up of many pieces of tile glued together. This project requires a lot of patience as well as some artistic ability. Check out Stone Art Blog for more information.
Ceramic Tiles
Ceramic tile is a very durable material that can withstand heavy foot traffic. It is also easy to clean. However, it is not recommended for outdoor use because it does not hold well under extreme weather conditions.
Plastic Patio Tiles
Plastic patio tiles are plastic flooring that can be used for outdoor use. They are usually manufactured in different sizes and shapes. These tiles are durable and can last for many years if properly maintained.
Quarry Tiles
Quarry tiles are made from a dense type of clay. They are extremely hard and strong. They are used for outdoor patios because of their durability. They are available in many colors, including red and brown. They are not glazed, so they resist stains and moisture. Because they are not glazed, they are not slippery when wet. Quarries are not suitable for cold climates.
Travertine Tiles
Travertine is a type of limestone that comes from natural mineral springs. It is used for patios because it is resistant to moisture. Travertine from Turkey or Italian is considered a better choice than Mexican or Chinese travertine.
Granite Tiles
Granite tiles are expensive, but they’re also durable and easy to maintain. They’re made from quartz, which means they won’t stain or crack easily. Granite tiles are porous, so you’ll want to seal them regularly to protect your patio from stains and moisture.
Marble Tiles
Marble tiles are an excellent choice for any outdoor area that requires durability and beauty. They can be used in patios, pool decks, walkways, driveways, entryways, etc. They are also straightforward to care for.
FAQ
What should I consider before choosing a patio floor?
You should think about what patio floor will best suit your needs and budget. Consider how much space you have and whether you need an indoor/outdoor floor. Also, consider if you need a slip-resistant surface or something plain flat.
How long does it take to install a patio floor?
Depending on the size of the room, installing a patio floor could take anywhere from three days to several weeks.
Can I install my own patio floor?
Yes, you can install your own patio floor yourself. Just remember to follow all safety precautions.
What is the difference between ceramic and quarry tiles?
Ceramic tiles are generally thicker and heavier than quarry tiles. They are usually more expensive, too. But they last longer.
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It may go down as our most gradual kitchen renovation ever, but almost exactly two years into living here (we hit that milestone last Saturday!), our kitchen is officially DONE! New cabinets? Check. Tiled backsplash to the ceiling? Yup. Quartz countertops and a sink that’s 3X deeper than the overmount sink of yore? Affirmative.
New hidden range hood? You betcha. More functional storage in the form of additional drawers, new upper cabinets, and a generously sized pantry cabinet? Yessir. Tons of before & after photos? That’s what this post is for! Plus we’ve got a full budget breakdown for you. So in the illustrious words of Tiesto, let’s get down to business.
To us (and maybe to you as well) this has felt like a very gradual transformation because we just sort of tweaked and adjusted things over the last two years in many small phases, rather than going through one mega-gut-renovation like our last house’s kitchen. And the good news is that no matter how slowly you peel the potato (is that a saying? If not, let’s make it one), the change still feels pretty dramatic when we look back at the day we bought it.
Not only is it a relief that it’s finally complete, we’re also so grateful for how functional it has turned out to be. I’d be lying if I didn’t say we weren’t a little skeptical of this space when we first laid eyes on it (ok, I was skeptical – Sherry’s one of those perenially optimistic people who truly believed in this room).
So imagine my elation that it has turned out to be one of the most efficient and easy-to-cook-in kitchens that we’ve ever had. After coming off of such a large kitchen in our last house, that was the biggest surprise. The work triangle in here is so direct and easy, it takes fewer steps to grab things and assemble meals (whether it’s a quick lunch or a deep and involved dinner). And we actually have a larger pantry cabinet than we did in our big Richmond kitchen!
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: one huge pro to renovating a space in different stages over a period of time is that you really get to live with things, identify issues, and test out solutions before landing on the final design. So that definitely helped us in here.
Speaking of which, this video not only captures the finished kitchen as it looks right now, it starts with a flashback to what it looked like when we first laid eyes on it. In many ways it fills in more blanks than the entire rest of this post because a video is easily worth 1,000 pictures. So if you do nothing else, make sure you watch this video:
Again, this is the kitchen we laid eyes on when we bought the house (it’s one of many “befores” that we documented in this post). Between the soffit that ran across two walls of the room, the popcorn ceiling, and the mismatched appliances – there was a lot that we hoped to upgrade. And let’s not forget the boob light shining brightly on the ceiling.
As part of our pre-move-in renovations, our contractor made some big improvements while we were still in Richmond – removing the soffit & uppers, taking out the peninsula, patching the floors, and re-drywalling (we had to redo the entire first floor’s drywall and patch the flooring throughout due to moisture issues) as well as adding some can lights. But much to their surprise, we left most of the kitchen intact.
By the time we moved in, this is how we first lived with the space. Mind you, this was May of 2020 when we were still pretty much cooking and eating every meal at home, so it was a bit of an adjustment. But it worked!
Those first few weeks gave us confidence that we could live with this kitchen “as is” for a while, which gave us permission to make improvements slowly – and that’s largely what you saw us do over the last two years. We hung shelves. We installed a pendant light that we swagged over the table. We painted the cabinets mauve to match the laminate counters.
Then, about a year ago, we had a clearer vision of what we wanted from the finished space. We moved the fridge and built a large pantry cabinet around it for extra storage. We got a larger table that seats more people. We added a door where a window had been (which leads out to our grill & s’mores pit). We hung more shelves. Sherry cut the pendant light in half. You know, the usual tweaks.
And then finally this spring, we replaced the original cabinets with better-functioning Ikea cabinets (and painted them the same mauve color), got new counters, and – as you’re seeing for the first time in this post – added upper cabinets and tiled the backsplash! We also hung a new woven pendant light as a semi-flush-mount, rather than swagging it over the table like we used to do, which feels airy and simple. And the substantial brass faucet below it feels balanced and ties into the brass hardware.
From the subtle backsplash (Sherry describes it as: “a pearly-blue color that feels perfect for the beach – like the inside of an oyster shell”) to the classic marble-like quartz counters and the mauve color that we brought over to the new cabinets (which has always been in this room and feels meant to stay) – we really like where we ended up. The cabinet color is Artsy Pink by Sherwin Williams by the way.
So let’s talk about those new additions for a second…
Our New Tile Backsplash
This backsplash is actually what kicked off this last phase of the renovation. It was one of those “If you give a mouse a cookie” scenarios. We wanted to add a backsplash, but we knew it only made sense to do AFTER we replaced the counter. And it only made sense to replace the counter AFTER we replaced the cabinets. Those were things we intended to do eventually, but the desire for a backsplash is what made us finally pull the ripcord and go after all three. Also, our old sink was so shallow you could see a small cup protruding over the top edge. So that situation has greatly improved. Now we can hide all the dirty dishes. Long live the deep sink!
But back to the backsplash. Our initial goal was to add some texture and shine, but not a ton of bold pattern or color like we’ve done before. We just wanted it to feel light, relaxed, and beachy – and since it shares space with a sitting area and can be seen from the front door, we didn’t want anything too busy or bold that we might tire of over time. We quickly zeroed in on this affordable 4×4″ zellige-style tile in the “Sky” colorway. It’s extremely hard to capture in photos, but it’s truly a very soft blue-gray tone with lots of sheen.
The whole wall only cost us about $325 to do and we knocked it out in about 2.5 days, including grout. I won’t bore you with the step-by-step details, since we’ve talked extensively about tiling before (here’s our backsplash tutorial, including a video!) but it came together pretty quickly and immediately gave us that shine and subtle texture we were hoping for. It really is like the inside of an oyster shell.
The only thing about tiling a kitchen backsplash that I’ll reiterate is the point I illustrate in this post about LAYOUT PLANNING. Please, please, pleeeeease take time to plan your tile layout before you begin. You’ll probably want to minimize the need for small slivers of tile around any edges (like the ceiling or against the cabinets) so measure and/or dry fit your tiles to see how things look first. You can always make adjustments – like cutting your bottom row slightly or shifting your centerline to be on a grout line, rather than the center of a tile (or vice versa).
It actually took us a few tries of dry fitting (no mastic, we just leaned things up against the wall to visualize a few options) to make sure we chose a layout that looked even & symmetrical around the window AND against the side walls, especially since the window isn’t centered on that back wall.
My only other tip for installing zellige or zellige-inspired tiles is to sort them ahead of time, paying close attention to the different sheens and/or “directions” of the tile. Some of ours were more matte than others. Some had vertical or horizontal movement, others had a more circular feeling in their unique handmade-looking shapes (these don’t have exact square edges and the fronts vary in their peaks and valleys and shapes too). You can kind of see what I mean here:
So to achieve a nice randomized look, we actually had to be quite deliberate about placing differing tiles next to one another, often rotating them if two with vertical movement were about to be next to each other. As for the grout we used, we wanted something that blends in, so we picked an old favorite: Mapei Flexcolor grout in the “warm gray” color.
You can also see below that we painted that window trim the same tone as the tiles. It was feeling weirdly bright and white while everything else was intentionally tonal on that back wall, so it felt so much better as soon as we painted it to recede with the tile. We purposely picked a more gray-toned quartz counter to go with the blue-gray backsplash tile and our softly toned cabinets, because we were hoping for a soft layered effect and the result is so calming and subtle in real life. Be sure to watch the video for a better view of it – no picture can really capture it as well.
The Upper Cabinets & Hidden Hood
You can also see that we made the leap from open shelves to closed upper cabinets in this last phase of the renovation. It was something we went back and forth on, but ultimately were swayed by two things:
Adding more hidden storage, which feels less busy (we have open shelves by the table, so two walls of it was a lot)
Gaining a hidden range hood (a hood wasn’t required by code, but we always hoped to eventually add one)
Plus, we also think in the end that the kitchen feels bigger and taller in person thanks to these upper cabinets that go all the way to the ceiling. Two different friends have come over and been like “how weird is it that adding those big cabinets actually makes the back wall feel further back and higher?!”
We’ll share more about what’s IN all of these cabinets and how they’re organized in a future post, but I did want to show you the hidden range hood cabinet over the stove (although it’s arguably the least organized in the whole room).
This is a trick you may remember from our duplex kitchens, but it’s just the Ikea OMSINNAD range hood which is designed to fit inside an upper cabinet. It’s not the cheapest range hood in the world, but we were determined to keep that back wall looking as symmetrical & balanced as possible, so hiding the hood inside this cabinet was the perfect solution.
After not having a range hood for almost years, we’ve really appreciated owning one again (they help improve indoor air quality, cut down on airborne grease, and – bonus! – basically gave us under cabinet lighting on one side of the kitchen). Hashtag fancypants.
Also a deep stainless single bowl sink is forever our favorite choice for a kitchen (we’ve had a double bowl and even a white cast iron sink, but this is just ALWAYS our favorite). So that, along with a pull-down faucet that can be controlled with one hand is the jackpot for us (the whole controlled by one hand with one single toggle bar = why we’ve never gone for a bridge faucet).
It has been so great having the hood and upper cabinets that it makes us feel silly that we ever debated them in the first place. They helped this become, as I said at the start, one of the most efficient and easy-to-cook in kitchens that we’ve ever had…
… probably only rivaled by our first house’s kitchen, which had a similarly hardworking work triangle, but much less pantry storage than we have here.
So…. winner winner chicken dinner. That ranking definitely has a lot to do with this kitchen’s compact size and the fact that everything is never more than a few steps away. And let’s not forget how much more functional and fun this entire space became with the addition of this door that leads out to our new kitchen porch, complete with a grill that’s no more than five steps away.
This is a before of the very same angle. Pretty unbelievable, right? Notice how much taller the ceiling feels just by removing the soffit to allow for taller cabinets and elongating that window into a door.
Never before have we had an outdoor grill this close and easily accessible from the kitchen. It really is just a few steps away, which makes it ridiculously efficient and is definitely one of the reasons that we grill out so much more now. We also have an outdoor cabinet on order that will basically elongate our current kitchen counter and essentially connect it to the grill outside. So our grill tools can be stored out there and we’ll gain additional outdoor counter space.
Thanks to our new kitchen porch, we also have the choice of sitting outside to eat, and what can I say… we like options. If friends come over, the kids might end up inside at the table while we’re out here (or vice versa). Plus we have a big table on the upper deck that seats 8 more if we have a bigger gathering or want to head up there for a game tournament after dinner!
We also have a door on the other side of the kitchen that mirrors the door that leads out to the deck, which is a utility closet that runs under the stairs. We recently redid it all to gain a LOT more functional storage in there, so we can’t wait to show you how that closet has evolved. It houses our HVAC system, and also had our water heater, so it used to basically be blocked up and full of just that stuff…
… but we made the switch to a tankless water heater, so now there’s SO MUCH BONUS SPACE in this closet! It’ll never be a true pantry or anything since the HVAC system has to stay in there – but we added some handy storage and even a worktop surface – plus it’s where we keep our vacuum and broom and all that stuff. We’ll photograph and share all that we did in there in a future post.
Speaking of extra functions, another thing that makes this one of our favorite kitchens is the fact that this space is not JUST a kitchen. It also has a lounging/entertaining/hanging out area right nearby.
And compared to this picture taken during the initial renovation, the view has improved quite a bit.
The Kitchen Sitting Area
About half of this room is the kitchen zone, and the other half is a sitting area that is SO USEFUL to us. We all spend hours in here every day, and after two years of having it, we can’t imagine this house without it.
It’s an area that we definitely didn’t anticipate using or enjoying as much as we do – we just thought we’d try it out and see if we used it, and if not we’d put the dining table here and add an island to the kitchen or something. But boy do we use it.
This is what it looked like when we bought the house and, as part of our initial renovations, we closed off part of that opening to create our bedroom. Our guess is that the previous owners had a dining table here maybe?
Here’s another view of what it looked like before. That’s the old kitchen peninsula in the foreground and that door is our front door. So maybe it was some dining room / foyer situation for the previous owners?
For us it has become the perfect small sitting area downstairs – for reading or hanging out with friends who stop by while their kids run off to play outside or upstairs. It’s also where our kids hang out while we’re making meals (in the morning before school we’re all in there – and in the evening around dinnertime too). Making this area work with two doors kind of in the middle of it took some strategic furniture buying. Like the cozy loveseat and our new round terrazzo coffee table – but it came together better than we could’ve imagined.
In a smaller house there’s a certain luxury to having a hangout area downstairs as well as a cozy TV/movie room upstairs (once again, we can have friends over and sit and chat here while the kids are upstairs crafting or watching a movie). It really helps the house “live large” because we don’t feel like we’re all on top of each other.
Here’s a shot with some people and a certain smiling dog for a better sense of scale. I’d say this is a pretty typical scene, although I’d probably be playing Wordle and Sherry would be whispering sweet nothings to Penny like she is below (perhaps while also attempting to beat me at Wordle and talking smack like only a lady from New Jersey can).
As much as we loved our old storage coffee table, we knew something round would give the room better flow. And slowly over time as we lived here, we were able to add more built-in storage (like our bedroom wardrobes, the cabinets flanking our fireplace, the media cabinet upstairs – and even more recently optimized the utility closet in the kitchen) which meant that we had lots of alternate spots for the items that we used to store in the old coffee table. Sherry has loved this terrazzo table from CB2 for a long time, so it was an easy choice once we eliminated the need for a coffee table with storage.
Even though it’s pretty substantial looking since it’s made of stone, the light color helps this side of the room feel more open and airy than it did with the other table. Plus the terrazzo texture plays nicely with the durable metallic rug we’ve had forever.
Speaking of a room that works extra hard for us, we might as well swing over to the other zone in this room… the laundry closet. Yup, behind those two doors = an entire laundry station. I’m telling you, this room works so hard for our family.
Let’s flash back to a before shot from the same angle, just for fun. it used to be less wide (just one door) and it inexplicably led into one of the bedrooms (which also had a normal door for entry, so we closed the back of the laundry closet off real quick).
It feels really good to have the kitchen feeling more functional and streamlined along with a settled-feeling sitting area and a super-efficient laundry zone. We tried all sorts of insane layout ideas for the sitting area before landing on something that worked, btw, so don’t get discouraged if a tricky space feels like it’s evading you. Just keep trying new things and rearranging stuff, and two years later you might just be like… “this is IT!”
Before I break out some math on you in the form of a budget breakdown (you know I love a spreadsheet) let’s take one last look at the real star of this room, curled up in one of her go-to spots. Penny seems to love this loveseat just as much as her brother did.
The Kitchen Renovation Budget
This was one of my harder budgets to piece together because it was spread over so many months, but I did my best to hit all the major renovation elements you see in the finished kitchen (the pendant, new faucet, cabinets, counters, sink, disposal, tile, paint, appliances, hardware, etc). It’s strictly a kitchen reno/material budget so I didn’t add the fruit bowl, toaster, table, chairs, etc – since that stuff isn’t attached to the actual house/reno and I felt like it would just get insane to try to tabulate every bowl & plant pot.
I also didn’t include contractor costs from the initial house update before we moved in, because we left the kitchen intact for the most part (the old cabinets/counters/sink remained) and I can’t break out *just the kitchen prices* from our original renovation (line items were more like: “whole house new drywall”, “whole house floors patched”). So this budget is from the point of starting with a room that has drywall and doesn’t have holes in the floor, which seems like a pretty common starting place.
We did all of the other work ourselves (cabinet installation, painting the cabinets, tiling the backsplash, etc) so that’s why you don’t see any line items for that. The counter pros did install the counters, but that’s included in the price below:
*Our stove, dishwasher, and refrigerator were bought second-hand for $500, which was the deal of our lives, thanks to Facebook Marketplace and our realtor(the appliance total is $930 above because it also includes the Ikea hood).
Note: Changing the kitchen window to a door was part of a larger contractor price for redoing our entire kitchen porch. We’d guess it was about $1,270 for that part of the job (around $900 for labor + $370 for the door), although the cost will likely vary based on your situation & the door you choose.
And while we’re on the kitchen budget subject, you can check out how much the duplex kitchens cost right here and see another amazing kitchen renovation that was done on a budget that we featured a while ago right here.
Ok. We did it. One giant photo-filled post about our finished kitchen with lots of before & after photos, as well as a video (truly, the video gives you so much of a better feeling for the space than any series of photos can, so watch that whenever you can).
Thanks for following along as we shared the most gradual kitchen renovation we’ve ever done. There were lots of small victories along the way, like finally having a pantry or finally getting a range hood – and man it feels good to stick a fork in it (*insert bad dad-joke about forks belongingin kitchens here*).
And if you’d like to look back on all the other kitchens we’ve renovated over the years, we’ve got you covered:
That makes this kitchen our seventh one (!!!) and we wouldn’t mind if it was our last. Lucky seven feels like a good place to stop. Although Sherry helped a neighbor update her kitchen (while keeping her wood-toned cabinets!) so we hope to get that up on the blog eventually.
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