One of the things we REALLY love about this home is the floor plan and how the rooms connect. It’s very practical because all the living spaces are bundled together, all the bedrooms are bundled together, and then that green part at the top is Jeremy’s studio, which is a walkout basement under the sunroom, dining room and living room. The black and white stripes are the stairs that connect the main level to the basement.
I really like the floor plan and honestly there isn’t anything that comes to mind that I would change about it. (I think that means I never EVER need to build a house—I can totally live with other people’s choices, at least in regards to the layout.) All of the changes we want to make from here on out are cosmetic or outdoors!
The cool thing about living in a home that’s being renovated is that it feels like it’s getting bigger all the time. For the first couple months we kept most of our daily life AND work contained to three rooms. Then, each month, as more spaces have been completed and become clean and usable, we’re like, “WHOA, this house is huge!” Currently we still haven’t moved into the master bedroom yet, and I can hardly imagine how it’s going to feel when it’s all complete.
Plans for this house in 2016….
-Focus on one room at a time!
I tend to bounce around a lot between projects, and when it comes to decorating rooms, that’s not a good thing. In our last house, I decorated them all about 25-50% the first month, and then spent the next three years changing and redoing most of those choices. So in this home I committed to focusing on one room at a time for the decorating process and really completing it. This month I’m working on the kitchen! I’m excited to see if this improves the experience and/or results.
-Notice how we use our spaces.
One benefit of decorating slowly is that we can figure how we’re going to use our spaces and really build the design around the function. I’ve already learned so much! For example—we’re having guests OFTEN (like at least once or twice a month ever since we’ve moved in), which means I want to prioritize finishing the guest bathroom over the hallway bathroom. We’ve also noticed a lot about our workday habits. Working from home is no joke, you guys! It can be really tough to separate that work and life stuff, especially when you don’t have an office yet (me) or your studio isn’t complete (Jeremy). I’m seeing that Jeremy comes upstairs to make tea or coffee CONSTANTLY (which tells me that his coffee bar set up will not be wasted—yay!). I’m seeing that I have a LOT of supplies and that I need shelves and organization sooner than later. I’m definitely thankful that we get to live in our home as we’re working on it because it’s helping us make more practical choices.
-Take risks!
As much as I love white, I want to bring some more color into our spaces and also go bold in other ways, like with texture and shape. I want our house to be comfy and cozy, but I’m not aiming for a traditional look, and I want to stay challenged and inspired to make brave choices, maybe even a few mistakes! 😉
Beyond that, I have a list of rooms I’m hoping to complete (and share tours of here!) this year. It feels AMAZING to be starting this year off with so much of the groundwork already laid. It’s time for the fun part…design, decorating and D.I.Y.!
If you’re a new reader, here’s a quick recap of all the BEFORE photos of our rooms: Entry, Living Room, Den, Dining Room, Breakfast Nook, Sunroom, Kitchen, Guest Bedroom, Guest Bathroom, Hallway Bathroom, Master Bedroom, Master Bathroom, Study, Laundry Room, Jeremy’s Studio.
Thanks so much for following along! I am really enjoying sharing our renovation process with you in detail. And there’s still SO much more to share. It’s going to be an amazing year. Thank you so much for sharing it with us! xx- Elsie
Credits//Author and Design: Elsie Larson
45 Comments
Thats so cool thank you. So much easier to imagine all the rooms now. I really miss your live streams. Are planning to do any more of those? I can totally see its harder as you guys do t live in the same city anymore. But how about Elsie and Laura do one together? Would love to see you guys talk about your house renovation/decorating process. Xx
oh WOW this is super helpful when reading your renovation posts. Your house IS HUGE! And the flow is really great! Wow wow wow can’t WAIT to see how it all comes out! The Gladys Kravitz in me is dying to see!
Why was it important to have a five bedroom home for just two people? House flipping? Just curious!
Wow! That looks fantastic.
Thank your for sharing it with us.
I love the long hallway with the bedrooms!
Greetings & Love
Ines
http://www.eclectichamilton.com
Hey Andrea!
We are planning to do them still. The main reason we haven’t yet is because when we see each other our time is so precious it’s hard to fit it all in. We’re scrambling to do sister style shoots, meetings but also just hang out and be a family. :))
I’ll bring it up to Em and see what we can get on the schedule! We have a lot of fun doing them too!
xx- Elsie
Thanks so much Kristina! I’m glad it’s helpful. :))
xx- Elsie
I do think we have 1 more bedroom than we need (we just got lucky on that) but we wanted four bedrooms because 1. we’re planning for a baby (and planning to stay here long enough that it could easily turn into two babies) 2. we wanted a good guest space because this is the first time we’ve lived away from our family and we want it to be VERY accommodating for them and 3. Jeremy and I BOTH work from home. This is actually the biggest reason. We’re home so much and we wanted to have enough space to not feel cramped or trapped, our home is essentially a living space AND two offices. 🙂
xx- Elsie
Wahoo! I’ve been trying to figure out the layout and this helps so much 🙂
I’m so excited to see you transform this place!!!
xo – kb
So excited to see all the “after” pictures in the coming months!!
-E
Oh yes, the house makes much more sense now. 🙂 I love it!
I so agree on the decorating slowly. I’ve done that in my house and as we live there and add more babies our needs have changed so much. I’m so glad I didn’t rush and do a full reno before we even moved into the house. Although, I do wish I was finished now!
I can’t wait to see the finished product! It’s so fun to follow along!
I am totally with you on the one room at a time thing. We have lived in our home SIX years and all the rooms still don’t feel complete (I bounce from thing to thing too) so I have taken that approach this past year and will continue this year and man I have gotten so much s**t done….it’s amazing! You guys have really inspired us to make our spaces livable,useable and completely reflect who we are as a family so thank you! I can’t wait to see more of your home!
I couldn’t agree more with you about noticing the way you use your space. I’ve been living in my apartment since Easter, but only finished furnishing it before Christmas – I’m so glad I did wait to see how I use each and every space. It helped me determine the right furniture choices, and now that I’m done with that, I can finally focus on decorating. Yay! 🙂
Looking forward to following your decorating journey!
cheap novelty pins one day and details on a massive house reno the next. Who is your reader?? A bipolar unicorn? weak content. no one cares.
Such good advice to focus on one room at a time. Dara @ http://www.champagneinateacup.wordpress.com xoxo
This looks very promising, I am so excited for you guys! Can’t wait to see how it looks when it’s finished!
https://www.makeandmess.com/
I’m so excited to see each room unfold 🙂 I know it’s going to look beautiful!
Lucy xoxo
http://lucyannblog.blogspot.co.uk
Elsie, your home renovation and decoration is my favourite thing on ABM at the moment. Like a fascinating and inspirational story unfolding! Keep the updates coming!
Soooo big! You won’t get bored decorating!
Thank you so much for the floor plan! Your right – it does make it much easier to imagine the space. I’ve really been enjoying the ‘before’ shots and seeing your plans for each room. The house seems like an absolute dream (it’s so big!) and I can’t wait to see it progress!
Sounds perfect then! 🙂
I absolutely love this! I actually had no idea that your house was all on one floor so it’s so nice to see it laid out like that. I’m absolutely loving all of the before and progress posts, so I can’t wait to see how you get on with the decorating.
xo April | April Everyday
Elsie-
Reading your blog is always such a pleasure. I look forward to it every day. While I love all the ideas, recipes, crafty goodness, my absolute favorite posts have been about how you and Jeremy are renovating your new house. All of the befores, afters, and in-progress posts are great! You really have such an eye for beautiful unique design and I can’t wait to see what you come up with next. Please keep them coming.
Thank you so much for the encouragement Ellyn! 🙂 That means so much to me!
xx- Elsie
Haha! That’s what Jeremy is hoping. He doesn’t want to move for a LONG time. :))
xx- Elsie
Thanks so much Emma! That means the world to me! :))
Excited to share a lot more this year.
xx- Elsie
Since it’s impossible to please all our readers all the time and everyone has a different favorite I really write for myself. I am truly interested in both enamel pins AND larger scale home projects and renovations. 🙂 Writing about what I’m truly interested in is really the only standard I try to hold myself to.
-Elsie
I too love cute enamel pins and home renovation projects! Thanks so much for sharing, Elsie.
Thanks Kat!
😀 Elsie
We care! ❤️❤️❤️
I’m so ready for some AFTER posts!
Love seeing the layout! Helps to visualize it so much better after seeing all the befores!
People definitely care, I’ve read ABM blog for several years now, before Elsie was married and before I was, I’ve just bought our first home and the stylish, crafty contributors to ABM are a massive influence on me and thousands (millions?!) of others. So every post isn’t relevent to every reader, there was clearly something cool enough to draw you here.
Elsie et al… YOU DO YOU! LOVE YA! 😉
If you don’t like all of the content, then I suggest you only read the articles you do care about. No one is forcing you to read everything, you know. Also, I believe that you could have brought your criticism much nicer. Also, I care. Quite a lot actually.
Your house is huge, so much easier to picture how your posts correspond with each other now. Great idea!
– https://www/2minxinx.com/blog
So fun & helpful to be able to see the floor plan and better envision the space. So excited to watch you work your magic on it! Question: we have a new house, too, and my readers are asking for a floor plan…can you please share how you created this one? Hopefully it’s not too techy or complicated! 😉
Great advise on ‘one room at a time’. I’m working on our house at the moment and because of circumstances outwith my control we spent 21/2 months before Christmas in a mess whilst I tackled 3 rooms simultaneously. It was horrible! I worked on our master bedroom so we had to move into our lounge for the whole period, our guest room and our 1 and only bathroom. There was dust and turmoil everywhere. Thankfully we got through most it just in time for family to visit for Christmas. I still have to finish the bathroom but I’m not going to start anything else until it is finished.
Lovely, makes it so much easyer to imagine. Have you postet pictures from the outside, and garden? I haven’t been able to find any.
From Danish follower Josefine.
The layout and the amount of different spaces are seriously awesome. I look forward to seeing how this comes together over time. Thanks for sharing! I had a good image of the kitchen/dining/sunroom side of the house, but now I can better imagine the right side of the house.
Congrats on finding such a great space!
Great ideas – can’t wait to see the end results! If you ever need floor plans drawn up for future projects, contact me at http://pottsdesign.ca.
Wow, I love how many rooms you have! A living room AND a den.. A study.. A breakfast nook?! So many design possibilities. I’d love a house like this. I don’t know if you posted the number before, but how many square feet is this house? I’m just curious, it looks massive.
Awesome posts. Your plans for the house in 2016 are all excellent. I wonder if you’ll end up sticking to the whole finish-one-room-at-a-time thing. I feel like sometimes it’s okay to be a bit A.D.D. with interior design. Not in terms of being able to enjoy the space you’re working on soon enough, but if you’re finishing everything up after having made the initial decisions, it sometimes makes you more sure of the decisions you’ve chosen in the long run. At least from my experience!
Either way, you have definitely grown & evolved so much with this whole interior design thing that whatever you’re coming out with now is just plain wonderful. So I’m not sure you’d have much room to regret decisions anymore considering that.
Said it a million times but can’t wait to see how a lot of these rooms turn out. Especially looking forward to the kitchen and the studio! The studio looks like it’s going to be such an interesting space.
Hi Elsie! I’ve noticed the floor plan shows five bedrooms, however, you’ve only showed before pictures of three of them (master bedroom and two guest rooms). Are you not working on the remaining at all? Will you show them eventually too?
Thanks!
PS. I do care too!
Hi Gris!
Wow- good catch. I’m impressed!
So the two rooms I didn’t share in before tours are rooms that I am not making plans for quite yet. In the video they are the two rooms with wallpaper!
The first one is the rooms with pink wallpaper on all 4 walls. That is right next to our bedroom and we are saving that for a Nursery! (But I don’t want to do anything to it at all until that time comes)
The second one is the room with the ship wallpaper! I originally thought I would use it for an office or a larger closet. But at the moment I am LOVING the closet in the master and have zero desire to build out a larger one. And since I haven’t even moved into my office yet (the study) I don’t know if it will be enough space yet or not. So at the moment I’m not sure what we’re using that room for- probably just our work out stuff for now!
xx- Elsie
Congratulations on the new home!! How fun to design it!! I love new projects, so exciting 🙂