When someone pulls back the layers on the history of our house, it’s kind of a long story to tell. This one’s five years in the making in a slowly but surely, full-on renovation of our home… and more. But we’re more than thrilled to announce that we’re READY TO BUILD OUR OWNER’S SUITE ADDITION! This is a big deal for us, because for a while, we weren’t sure it could happen. We’re in the process of working with septic, setbacks, moving utilities, consulting an architect {more on that coming soon} and fanagle-ing floor plans. It’s a lot. I’ll share more coming up as soon as we can. But we are so thrilled to finally add in a space just for us!
I have no idea why contorting our bodies in front of a shovel {mine turned the wrong way} standing on our building site felt like a good idea at the time. Let’s roll with it.
Here are a couple of commonly asked questions if you’re new to us…
Why are you building an addition?
Let us count the reasons. We gradually made this home our own, and fell in love with it. We love old houses with unique character. We want to stay here. In the meantime, Franklin/Nashville has become a mini-California of sorts. For example: We received a cash offer for our home the other day, and that sounds pretty sweet. But where would we go? Properties in this area like ours {+ 1 acre lots} are hard to come by. A few people we know have sold their homes, and can’t get back in. The number of offers average about 65+ on a house, selling at well over 100 -150K the asking price. We’ve fallen in love with our schools, community, friends and more. Our children are smitten. We’ve put a lot of work into making this home, our own. It’s definitely one of a kind, and we love it here. This is a 3 bedroom, 2 bath house, and there are about to be three teens living here with us. It’s time to spread out a little.
In what order did all of this happen?
We started out with 1650 square feet of living space, and we’ve documented it all as we’ve gone along in our money pit series. But I’m going to quickly lay out the phases we’ve been through with this puppy, below. And we’ll be sharing this process as we go along, just like always. We’re doing this in between growing our own renovation and design business with clients, all while working nationally with brands and creating content here. So it’s kinda crazy and I guess you could say we like it that way. We’re just super excited, y’all. Thus the odd contortionist/freakout photo.
So here we go, phase lucky number seven! And without further ado, if you’re curious… a history of our home!
This is probably the best shot we have of the outside before. But because I’m sharing the outside, know that this happened simultaneously in phase two, with the basement renovation. See more of our outside renovation here.
Phase 1: Main and Upper Levels
The inside main level, was originally comprised of four smaller rooms. We blew it out, and raised the ceilings as well, to make it our great room. This heart of our home now holds the kitchen, eat in area, and a gathering space as well.
This was once upon a view of the smaller living room, which we blew out to make the entire space.
This was the view from the small foyer, upon walking in.
It now holds the eat in kitchen area, as well as our kitchen.
This is the view looking back.
This is a quick view of the kitchen, which was more of a small galley area.
We loved opening it up and giving it so much more character!
This smaller home has been all about being smart with walls, utilizing storage, and so much more.
We love the way it opened up these spaces!
Upstairs was also part of the main level/stage one renovation. The idea, is that Emerson our middle girl, will eventually take this space, letting all three kids spread out upstairs. She gets this room because it has it’s own bath and the oldest is already settled in his space.
We knocked back this wall, and offered more closet space by taking the entry through the closet. A lot of this renovation has been thinking through everything and how to utilize spaces in smart ways.
We love old barn doors from artisan hardware – and this is the matching turn of the century stained glass we scored at the local flea market to combine the two- the sister windows are in the kitchen.
The younger two were sharing this room after the oldest moved out. It went from a ‘sleeping room’ to a shared space. They’re 13 and almost 12, now. So they’re ready for some spreading out, even though they’ve both really enjoyed this sweet chapter.
Both of the other two bedrooms backed up to each other, with similar closets. So we busted those out as well, and made them a walkthrough to each other. Perfect for both boys to share once our youngest takes over this space.
We were just glad to be done with the red.
This was temporarily my office, but the oldest scored his own space, and the kids were able to spread out once we finished the basement side of things {more on that below- phase2}.
And this is the hallway bath they all share – it will eventually be the boys’ shared space to continue to grow with them.
Phases 2 + 3: Basement + Outside
The next phase was our basement. We took it from the garage…
To this.
Because at the same time, our outdoor renovation was also happening, which was an amazing game changer.
We loved taking this once garage/basement area to a full on finished area.
It even includes sleeper sofas a-la la-z-boy, which is perfect for all things movie nights + slumber parties.
The laundry space has been this – which is a wonderful change.
Eventually this space will hold storage cabinets, because the official laundry room will be moved into the new owner’s suite addition. I CAN NOT WAIT. All of this is going to be such a game changer for us.
And this area… is now my office / studio space.
We actually use this as our main entryway, for in and out. It made a big difference to have space for all the bags, shoes, and more.
Phase 4: The Pool Room
The year after that, we were ready for a pool room addition. Because the back of the house was once like this.
This was really a game changer for the way the entire home felt. We now had two dining areas, and multiple options for entertaining. Jamin and I spend more time in this space, than anywhere in the house, while the kiddos have taken over the basement.
Phases 5 +6: Unintentional Therapy on the Outside.
Then Covid hit. We weren’t really going to do anything in 2020. But we found it best to throw a lot of our energy on the outside. Because all this work on the inside, left the outside kind of neglected. It was time.
So we took it in parts. Part 5, included this dining area and some privacy around the pool.
To say we found our therapy here, would be an understatement.
We also built a fence, and put some labor into the landscaping, by planting 153 trees and shrubs to give us some privacy. These laurels have already tripled in size.
Byyyeeee fence.
Since we’re on the outside, our first summer there, we also built a handmade hideaway. {Read more about it here.} The kids have loved this space.
photo via Brian Woodcock, country living magazine
Phase 6 included a cabana for the outside. You may have noticed our home doesn’t have a screened in porch, so we built this by hand and loved every moment of it. This is what the pool looked like when we moved in…
And here’s what we took it to.
It’s our own outdoor space and we love it so! Perfect for all things entertaining.
That was a small, kinda updated tour of sorts, with the stages of our home behind it.
It’s been a journey, and we are more than thrilled to start on the next phase!
So, Lucky No. 7. Owner’s Suite Addition, here we come! We’ll be sharing more as we go along. Let us know if you have any questions and we’ll do our best to share. Stay tuned!
Mikel says
I’ve been wondering how you dealt with storage of all “garage” things? Is there a post I could read about that? Thanks!