Here’s a thread to discuss home decor and renovation! This is sometimes discussed in other threads but here’s a central place for it.
In our case, we are doing a pretty thorough job as you can see, but you are also welcome to join this thread if you’re not demolishing half your house in the process. Or if you’re just interested in the topic without actually making any changes to your own home.
In our case, we bought a house from the 40s years ago, it has great bones, but to bring it up to 2023 standards, it needs a lot of work. Cosmetically, nothing has been done in the past 40 years, and it was barely insulated and what had been done, had been done poorly, so it was very cold inside. So now it’s stripped to the bones, new insulation will be put in, pipes and wiring will be replaced, and then it will be replastered from top to bottom. We’re also putting in a new bathroom and kitchen and insulated windows.
Upstairs, we’re joining two tiny bedrooms together to create a large space that will be my craft room. I’m really looking forward to that and I’m constantly thinking of how I’m going to decorate that space.
We had a lot of worn-out, fifth-hand furniture that we’d been dragging along with us ever since the age of 18. We got rid of low-quality furniture before the move, but we kept a few nice pieces, most of them handmade family heirlooms. We will probably invest in a new bedroom set (we’ve had many beds but most of them were free or thrifted) but otherwise we’re trying to look for good quality vintage pieces. Honestly that means that it will probably take some time until we have all the furniture we need, as we’re way too busy with the renovation to shop for furniture.
We have a builder who is doing the big jobs, since we’re not super skilled at DIY and don’t have family members who can help out, but we are helping out where we can, and we’ll do a lot of the smaller jobs that will occur later on in the building process.
We bought a new bed when moving here, and decided to have it delivered and not move our old bed. We had measured the intended bedroom to make sure it would be a good fit. However, we hadn’t accounted for two things. The size of the patio door we would need to get it in through, and the fact that the bed was one solid thing and not two smaller beds put together. The bed was wider and longer than the height of the door… Luckily by tilting it theymanaged to push it through the door, and without having to remove the actual door from the hinges.
We’re very lucky, because the seller neglected to tell us that the bed we picked wasn’t covered by their promise to take it back and exchange it if we didn’t like the way we slept in it after X time. We talked to another seller that was horrified that the first seller had said the ”sleep well” warranty would apply… We got a free sheet as compensation, but the bed was very comfy so we didn’t want to exchange it. I’m not sure we could get it out of the house in one piece when it’s not plastic wrapped from the factory 
Sooo… measure twice applies to bedroom furniture too! I’m not sure if the seller mentioned that the under bed was solid or not, but that’s really on us for not making sure it would be possible to get it in the house. We saw a model bed in the store and could have figured out the construction. A seller shouldn’t have to ask us if we’re sure we can fit x thing in our house. 
Glad that all worked out, but that’s a great tip! We’ve always had Ikea beds but our staircase is so narrow it was sometimes even difficult to get those in or out of the house. We’ll definitely inform the furniture store of the staircase situation beforehand.
Great idea! We are working on lofting half of our attic so my son can move up there. I was tempted to share with your photos in the quiltalong, but it’s not a craft space (maybe someday!), so it didn’t fit, but it fits here! 
Mr. Road framed and dry walled this new section of wall yesterday:
The rest was done a while ago, but was put on pause when my brother in law lived with us for a year or so. He stayed in this space so we know it’s livable.
This is one of our big goals for the year. I’m excited and motivated by this thread! Thanks!
We are 100% the same way with furniture. We just have a weird assortment of hand me downs and cheap stuff. Sometimes I don’t feel like a proper adult. 
Our house flooded in 2011, which forced us to replace everything, otherwise it would be much worse. But we still got a lot of free stuff from well-meaning folks who helped us replenish our home. And it’s still here!
We had just gotten a new bed not long before the flood and it got replaced with a hand-me-down. That was a bummer!
We demolished almost our entire basement about a month ago. It also hadn’t been updated for 35-40 years.
There was a wall dividing the length of the basement, and we had that moved to one side by about 6 feet. The smaller part, which houses out laundry room and our utilities and some storage, will be left unfinished. They ripped out our staircase and completely rebuilt it. All the windows are being replaced. One little window was removed, and a huge hole cut in the side of the house to add an egress window - it serves as an emergency exit, source of natural light, and an opportunity for airflow, if needed. The registers (hot water heat) are getting a makeover, and one was moved. The water lines were updated. The ceiling is being replaced, new vinyl floors, drywall, etc. The electrical has been redone, light fixtures increased and improved, and my DH ran ethernet cable everywhere. They’ll be building a custom wet bar. They put insulation around this whole finished area - it is soooo warm down there, now! And, quiet!
Basically, by the end, the boys will have their man cave (bar, fridge, jukebox, slot machine, gaming set-up, woohoo party!), and I’ll have a mini home gym, a library/sitting room, and a space for sewing/crafting.
We have some furniture upstairs that will go down…mostly bookcases, a dresser full of fabric, and a desk. Everything else is going to have to be purchased. The previous furniture was as old as the paneling, and definitely needed to be replaced.
We’ll be updating our laundry room ourselves, most likely. Or we’ll have that done when we get the upstairs remodel quoted (because, yes, that needs an update as well, just not as direly as the basement).
Pictures!
Before (ugh!):
Today:
My space:
Future man cave:
How cool that there is a fireplace there! The one major feature I wish my (poor,tired, in-need-of-love) house had is a fireplace or wood burning stove. Maybe someday…
In my previous home, our basement had almost the same carpet! They even carpeted the bar and everything was so dark…really dark wood paneling. It was so depressing. This is going to be a great space for your family and you!
Definitely a great tip! The movers had to take the doors off their hinges to get in our extra tall king sized mattress. Fortunately, it was able to bend somewhat and the frame came apart. The triple wide dresser had to be built right into the bedroom so when we move, it will have to be taken apart.
Getting a bed to the upstairs loft area over the garage was impossible, so we had to get a futon bed.
Stairs are always tricky and narrow halls are as well.
We put in an offer this house on Monday, and it was accepted on Tuesday. It’s a 1981 Tudor, that is still somewhat 80’s inside. Friday was the inspection, and there are a bunch of smaller problems to fix, but nothing too terrible, so after we fix the structural bits, we’ll be able to renovate to our tastes. Some spots of the siding weren’t properly sealed and have some rot, which will need to be replaced. The slider from the master bedroom out to the back deck has also rotted along the bottom, and needs to be repaired, or more possibly replaced. The outside needs to be painted and the landscaping (around a great pool!) in the back yard is overgrown, and some bricks in the patio need to be fixed. The door to the pool mechanical room is currently held closed with a stump!
The upstairs bedrooms are all full of 40 year old powder blue wallpaper, that some enterprising child stuck hundreds of stickers to. (Somehow all 3 rooms are full of stickers!) The master bathtub is as old as the house, and looks it; yellow with age and generally gross. At some point a few years ago, someone put in a new (very mismatched) vanity, a few feet over from the original, so it doesn’t sit under the lighting, and they installed it with flexible plastic pipe that is barely holding. That whole room needs a lot of love. Oh, and the other 2 bathrooms are tiled mostly white, with random dark red and blue tiles. It looks like the bathroom of a Mall food court pizza parlor from the 80’s.
The current owners put in nice hardwood flooring and painted a bit, but didn’t get much done between buying it in 2019 and now, so we have our work cut out for us, but I’m looking forward to it.
That looks fantastic! Great kitchen & the pool is huge!
It’s beautiful! I agree, that kitchen is awesome.
Looking forward to seeing you put your stamp on those fabulous spaces!
Kitchen looks fabulous! I see a childproof fence around the pool and baby swimming lessons in your future!
$93/sqft…that is a deal for sure! It is about $190/sqft here if you are not on the beach!
I can already see your head spinning with ideas to make it your home! Congrats!
I could never understand the desire to make a dark basement even darker. Although, it did kind of resemble a dive bar - that was kind of a cool vibe when I was in my 20s.
@AntBee , the chimney needs a thorough clean-out, but we are looking forward to using our fireplaces again (there’s one upstairs, as well). I hope you get your wood fire, too!
Wow! The before and after is really striking!
Ah. Ye ole stump. 
Wow! Looks like lots of space, and the kitchen is great! Humongous pool! And lots of creative redecorating potential, too. Congrats!
