We are excited to begin remodeling our new home. Below are the “before” photos of the connected living room, dining room, and kitchen on the main floor. As I share plans and updates, these images will help you picture the changes we’re making.
If you’re new here, we moved into our home this past fall and have loved settling in. Besides the island, neighborhood and beautiful water views, we enjoy daily beach walks and the charm of this house. It truly feels like a dream come true.
You may remember we invited my parents to move in with us. They sold their home in Lake Oswego, Oregon last fall and have been planning a very small “tiny cottage” attached to our main floor. Their space will include a compact kitchenette, bathroom, and a combined living/bedroom suite. I’ll share more about that addition in upcoming posts.
Some of the remodeling will accommodate that new attached space and will also help make the compact rooms function better. The changes are intended to create a cohesive floor plan that works comfortably for our whole family.
Other than the small addition, we’ll work within the existing floor plan. We plan to preserve the home’s character while updating finishes and layouts so every space feels fresh and distinctly ours.
Update October 2022: You can see a pre-remodel tour of the house for more context; many things have already changed since that tour, but it gives an idea of where we started.
One major decision is to relocate our kitchen to the current dining room at the back of the house. The existing kitchen sits between the living and dining rooms and is divided by two peninsulas. I’ve never been a fan of peninsulas—once the kitchen moves to the dining area, those peninsulas will be removed, opening the space considerably.
I love the current dining room and am confident it will become a bright, welcoming kitchen. The new addition required removing one window and an exterior door to the backyard, but that change brought an unexpected benefit: we will install a set of French doors to the backyard in the new kitchen, mirroring the doors already in the living room.
I’ve always loved floor plans where you can see straight through from front to back. We have a lovely view out front and a private, cozy yard in back. Adding eight feet of doors and windows across the back will bring abundant light into the new kitchen and create easy access to the garden. While the French doors leave us only two walls for appliances and counters, we have a thoughtful plan for a functional, charming layout that I’ll reveal soon.
The light flooding in from the new doors will be worth the changes. I’ve long appreciated the connection between kitchens and outdoor spaces—walking through a door directly into the yard was one of my favorite things about a previous home—so having expansive doors and windows at the back of this kitchen will be delightful.
Adjacent to the new kitchen, the dining area will include a round table with a banquette along the side wall. We may be able to reuse windows from the kitchen to add light to that wall. That dining corner, tucked near the fireplace, should feel cozy and inviting—especially once the current peninsula is removed and the living and dining spaces feel more connected.
I’ll be sharing our design choices and detailed plans for these rooms in future posts. There’s so much to show and I’m excited to dive into each aspect of the remodel. I hope you’ll follow along as we transform these spaces.
Make sure you’re subscribed to my newsletter for updates and follow The Inspired Room on social media for in-the-moment inspiration and progress photos!
Update October 2022: A “before” tour is available for context; it shows where we began and complements the additional home posts that follow our progress.
For more kitchen inspiration, explore the kitchen posts and ideas on the blog to gather tips and styling ideas as we move forward.