the best renovation ideas – The Handmade Home
Someone asked us recently what some of our favorite things from our renovation were. You can check out our entire series in the money pit, but if you’d like a quick recap, we have it here. So in our latest edition of Coffee Talk, we thought this would be a really fun topic to cover! The best renovation ideas.
And if you’re not one for videos, we did an easy recap with links below! In no particular order:
• The mantel and hidden TV
This was one of our biggest debates during the entire renovation. It was good times in the he wants vs she wants segment of the handmade home’s money pit. He wanted a wood burning fireplace but the roofline dictated otherwise. She just wanted gas, with an easy flip on switch. They both needed something to hide their TV because they hated TV’s over a fireplace and love art, but also TVs over fireplaces can be kinda brilliant when you don’t have millions of square footage. So here’s what we did.
This is the before when we found the mantel, and the space as it once looked… and here’s our after.
• Walk through closets
You can see the bedroom designs here + here + here.
But in that process, we decided to open up more square footage and storage by changing the walls and the way the closets were oriented.
For the master bedroom, the original orientation had a small walkthrough with a tiny closet to a tiny bathroom. One of the main reasons our neglected little house had been sitting on the market for so long, was because no one was sure what to do with it.
So we opted to gut it all out, bump it forward, and gain more space.
The best way to do this was by adding a walkthrough closet.
Tada!
Another way we made this change, was a walkthrough from the kiddos’ spaces.
We have a ton of space now, and adore the way that everything flows.
People who will not be named here, who we were working on the house with, initially told us this was a bad idea.
A great example of how someone always has an opinion, and how you don’t always have to. It’s a great option for a little more practical changes!
• Hidden panel in the bookcase
In our basement renovation, we knew that my studio would have to hold the main electrical panel to the house.
Yes, that is actually the before. We started by moving it over, for various reasons.
There was no space for a large and in charge panel, since the tiny area needed to hold so much. So we came up with a little solution… and it was to hide the electrical panel behind the left side of the bookcase. If you look at this photo, you can tell that the left side of the bookshelf is a little different than the rest. That’s because behind there is a remove-able panel, where you can access the full panel. It’s easy to access when needed, hidden and out of the way when not.
• Hiding poles in the basement
Speaking of the basement renovation, one of the biggest changes we were grateful for, was careful planning of the basement. That included placement of all things support poles, and making the space flow.
Here you can see where we placed one in a wall, and another with a built out area.
Definitely one of our very favorite renovations of all time. But I guess we’re biased.
That basement was crusty, y’all.
Another prime example of this implemented, would be in our pole basement reveal. Read more about it here.
And last but not least, cubbies in the bathroom!
• Bathroom Cubbies
In our kiddos’ hall bath, we were more than thrilled to utilize some of the space, by taking out a little of the wall {wasted space – there was nothing behind it} to have more area for storage.
Those are definitely some of the biggest changes to our small home where we were able to see a huge return.
What are some of your favorite ideas you’ve seen or installed in your own renovations?
We’d love to see!
Have an inspired day!
