When your home is in need of a face lift, kitchen and bathroom updates are the best places to start. Not only do they have the highest return on investment for your home’s value, but they make the other rooms in the house feel more modern and updated as well. But kitchen and bathroom renovations can be pricey, so what’s the solution? A no demo reno! (Translation: a no demolition renovation)
We purchased our new home in Washington state in April, and we were lucky that the previous owner took very good care of it (that was not the case at our first house in Georgia). So when we surveyed our bathrooms, with the exception of the sinks being a bit rusted at the overflow drain, we really didn’t need to demolish the entire bathroom and start from square one. So we decided to do a no demo reno and give our sinks, vanities and mirror a major face lift.
Our house was built in 2001. So although it’s a relatively new house (our house in Georgia was built in the 1980s), I really want to infuse character and charm into this home. I was pleasantly surprised that all of the cabinets and fixtures were the same “blank slate” from the builders (as you can see below, there were no drawer pulls or knobs on the cabinets).
This house features a lot of arches and vaulted ceilings — and many times the sloped ceilings are not symmetrical.
A top tip I’ve learned when dealing with sloped ceilings is to paint the walls and ceilings the same color.
Light or dark is totally a personal choice, but painting the walls the same color allows the eye to focus on other elements in the room rather than the line where the ceiling and walls meet. In our case, I wanted the rooms to feel spacious and airy, so I opted for a soft white for our entire house. White is a tricky color. One of the lessons I learned in Georgia was that the time of day, amount of sunlight in the room, and even surrounding objects can affect the way white looks to the eye.
Choosing cabinet hardware, light fixtures, faucets, etc. are probably the most important decisions you make — in my opinion. Cabinet hardware is like the jewelry, you should take your time until you find something you’re happy with because it can really transform a space.
Choose two different types of hardware. Use knobs for cabinets and a longer pull for drawers. It adds interest to the space!
When I went to pick out our countertops, I actually brought one of our cabinet pulls and knobs, our faucet, and a sample of our paint. I didn’t care if anyone looked at me strangely — to be honest, I’m not sure why more people don’t do that! How do you know everything will work together without seeing it?
For any home update or renovation, I create a Pinterest board — not for inspo photos the way most people use Pinterest. I use it as a virtual planning tool to pin photos of what I already own, as well as the exact products that I’m looking at buying. It helps me look at everything together virtually so I avoid purchasing things I’ll regret later.
Related: How to Build a Custom Pantry
Another tip is to pick out all of the details (fixtures, faucets, handles, sconces, etc.) yourself. It ends up being so much more wallet-friendly.
Before you go shopping for your bathroom countertops, see if the install company has a boneyard. (A boneyard is basically a place where they have leftover pieces from other projects) We got both of our vanities for our bathroom update from a boneyard for a fraction of the cost.
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