6 Lessons I Wish I’d Known Before Renovating My Home
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As the editor-in-chief of Country Living, I am constantly looking at beautiful, inspiring interiors and have learned my fair share from the talented homeowners, designers, and stylists we’ve worked with through the years.
For example, Nashville designer Chad James once revealed that his secret 20-years-strong hardwood floor stain combo is three parts Jacobean and one part Ebony (both by Minwax), repeat renovator Holly Audrey Williams told me stop overthinking trim color and to just go with Cloud White by Benjamin Moore, and HGTV star and author Leanne Ford taught me to make better use of antique doors. (I hadn’t even thought of using one for a shower!)
This is all to say that I have a lot of information at my disposal, but I still made a few mistakes with my own home renovation. I’ll admit I tried to do things in a hurry (I should have embraced the slow decorating approach!) and that’s never a good idea when you’re choosing semi-permanent things such as bathroom tile or countertops.
To save you a few potential headaches and time agonizing over decisions, I’m sharing a few if-I-could-back-and-redo-it musings.
Go thicker on the countertops.
I’ve learned that a two-inch-thick countertop slab makes a lot more impact and feels a lot more luxe than the standard 1 1/4-inch—especially if your kitchen is fairly large or part of an open floor plan. I did not upgrade with my current kitchen, but plan to the next time around now that I’ve seen thicker slabs in the wild.
Also, mix your countertop materials.
I was so concerned about choosing the right countertop material (and I had to do it in a hurry—long story), that it didn’t cross my mind to choose more than one material. While I’m happy with the white quartzite along the perimeter, in retrospect I wish I’d gone with a soapstone or butcher block on the island (or maybe even opted for a central wooden table in lieu of an island) to help the mostly white space feel warmer and more layered.
Beware the cast of modern windows.
You can ask my family: I almost lost my mind trying to select a white paint color—my tried-and-true warm whites were all reading so sickly—and it turned out that my new energy-efficient windows gave off a slightly green cast. (I wish my contractor had given me a heads up about this!) After much trial and error, I landed on Alabaster by Sherwin-Williams, which somehow managed to fight off the green-ifying effect.
Don’t play it safe with tile.
By the time I got around to selecting tile for my kids’ shared bathroom, I was a) tired of making decisions and b) over budget. We opted for simple white subway tile in the shower and an oversize white hex tile for the floor, which is all fine and unoffensive but does nothing to up the joy factor. I feel like I’ve spent so much energy trying to decorate “around” the space—splurging on a weirdly expensive shower curtain, exploring patterned window treatments, hanging artwork—that I wish I’d simply embraced the opportunity to make more of a decorative statement with the hard materials, like a colorful striped floor or a gingham or quilt tile motif. (Psst: There’s plenty of bathroom inspiration to be found here.) Someone also pointed out that whether you save or splurge on the material, you’re still paying the same amount for the labor, so you might as well get it right the first time.
When in doubt, size up.
This advice mostly has to do with light fixtures, but it’s applicable to other things, too (area rugs, mirrors, trendy jeans...). When it comes to designing a room, scale is especially important, but it’s usually more noticeable when items are too small as opposed to too large. When it came to lighting—lanterns on the exterior, pendants over the island—I often deliberated between two size options but every single time the larger option wound up being the right one.
Don’t opt for the external water dispenser.
Apologies to my children and husband who all enjoy this convenience, but I wish we’d gone for a cleaner appliance silhouette (with an internal water dispenser) or a panel-ready refrigerator so that this behemoth of an appliance could better blend into our cabinetry. Also: The water from the dispenser drips onto the stainless steel and leaves unsightly marks that I can’t seem to get rid of. (Suggestions welcome!)
Trust your instincts.
At the end of the day, it’s your home. As much as contractors or designers or friends or family may have opinions, you’re the person living with the choices. For example, someone talked me out of unlacquered brass interior doorknobs and now every time I access a doorknob (which is a lot—doorknobs are quite useful!), I’m reminded how much I wish they were unlacquered brass. Go with your gut.
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