THINGS I’D CHANGE ABOUT OUR HOME RENO
Lessons Learned, 5 Years In
This Labor Day marks five years since we closed on our home. I was recently looking back at the plans and renderings I gave our contractor, and it struck me how much has changed…and what hasn’t. Our home has evolved a lot in that time, and I realized that one of the smartest choices we made early on was keeping things simple where we needed to.
We were moving from a 950-square-foot apartment in New York into a 3,000-square-foot house, and we didn’t have the budget to tackle every room all at once, so rather than rush decisions, we mostly focused on the foundational elements: we painted the walls white, refinished the floors, did the kitchen right away, and left some spaces (like our bathrooms) completely untouched until we had the time and budget to address them ourselves.
That blank canvas gave us room to live in the space and layer in more bespoke pieces as we found them over time. I love the idea of a home unfolding over time—leaving space for new treasures, and changing moods—but when you’re in the thick of a renovation, and on a tight budget and tight timeline, it’s easy to make some compromises on things that need to be done ASAP.
So in the spirit of sharing what I’ve learned, I’m walking through what I’d do differently next time.
A Custom Paint Color that’s Impossible to Match
I wanted to use a Benjamin Moore color, but our painter only worked with Sherwin Williams products, so we had them do a color match of Benjamin Moore’s Simply White at 70% strength. The issue is that custom-matched paints, especially at reduced strength, can be difficult to replicate perfectly. Even when I’ve provided the exact formula we used previously, the touch-up cans we’ve received have varied slightly each time. I’m not convinced we’ve ever gotten the exact same mix twice, which makes patching walls nearly impossible.
The color-matched paint also has undertones I haven’t noticed in the original Benjamin Moore color. Lesson learned that we should have either pushed to just use the brand we wanted, or selected a Sherwin Williams color. Sherwin Williams Alabaster is one we ended up using in other rooms we painted ourselves, and I would have been happy with this in the rest of the house had I known what I was in for with color-matching. Don’t get me wrong, Simply White is a beautiful color I still recommend, I just won’t recommend color matching it in the future.
When Choosing a Floor Stain, Large Test Patches are Critical
We have original red oak floors throughout the house. While I would have loved to replace them with wider plank white oak, it just wasn’t in the budget, so we decided to work with what we had.
In hindsight, we should have brought in a flooring specialist for this part of the project. The contractor we hired was primarily a painter who took on additional jobs outside his expertise (more on that later), and we didn’t get the guidance we really needed for this decision.
I chose Minwax’s Weathered Oak in hopes of minimizing the natural red tones in the wood. It looked great on the swatch, but the contractor only tested it on a small patch in a dark corner of the living room. We were under pressure to keep things on schedule, and I wasn’t able to be there in person in time to review the sample. Rather than asking him to pause and test more options in better lighting—or wait for me to see it in person—I approved the swatch remotely, even though I had some hesitation.
Here’s the thing: it looks fine, and it definitely isn’t something that bothers me or that I think about regularly. But when you walk into a house with no furniture and see freshly stained floors in every room, the impact feels a lot more dramatic. The color came out lighter than expected (there may have been tears), and the finish he used, even though it was matte, added a slight gym-floor quality that was not what I had envisioned.
The good news is that the stain has softened over time with sun exposure, and the orangey tones have mellowed, but if I were to do it again, I’d insist on larger, well-lit test patches in multiple areas of the house. I’d also likely opt for a deeper walnut tone, which better hides red undertones, is a little more foolproof and is always a timeless choice.
Choosing a Kitchen Range that Looks Good, but Doesn’t Perform Well
The kitchen is one of the spaces that’s changed the least over the past five years—probably because there’s not a lot of furniture to switch out—but we’re still really happy with almost all of the choices we made. In a perfect world, I’d have custom inset cabinetry, but that wasn’t in the budget at the time. Instead, we built our kitchen using IKEA bases with custom cabinet fronts.
My one regret is the cooking range. It looks beautiful and has every cooking mode imaginable, so on paper it seemed like a great choice, but in practice, it’s incredibly finicky. The ignition will randomly start clicking with no way to stop it, the fan kicks on loudly but inconsistently after every use to cool off, and getting someone from the brand out here for service has been nearly impossible.
I’m not naming names, but if you’ve seen photos of our kitchen, you can probably figure it out. Maybe we just got unlucky with a faulty unit, because I know other designers who have used this range without any issues. Still, it’s been frustrating enough that, in retrospect, I’d choose a more reliable brand with a strong service reputation, especially for something we use every single day.
Mudroom Tile: Still Love the Look, Just not the Application
We used a beautiful handmade zellige tile in our mudroom, and I still love how it looks: worn-in, imperfect, and full of character. We opted for an ungrouted installation to let the tile’s texture and handmade nature shine, and visually we love it, but there’s a reason you usually see zellige used in wall applications.
These tiles are handmade, so they’re not perfectly flat or uniform, which makes them less than ideal for heavy foot traffic. Add to that our decision to use a pre-mixed mortar—something we did for convenience—and over time, we’ve had tiles pop up here and there. We’ve installed a lot of tile over the years and have never run into this issue, so moving forward we’ll always mix our own mortar, especially for floor installations.
We could still go back and grout the floor, which might help with overall stability, but it’s fallen low on the priority list. We also worry that grouting now might make it harder to reset the tiles that become loose in the future.
The tiles have developed some chips and wear, which we expected and actually don’t mind (it’s part of the charm) but if I had to do it again, I’d use this same tile in a powder room, backsplash or shower wall, where the patina can shine without the stress of daily wear and tear, and I’d always mix our own mortar.
Hiring the Right Expert for the Job
Since we were moving to a new town where we didn’t know anyone, we didn’t have much of a network to help us find the right contractor, and we were working with a tight budget. We ended up hiring someone who really specialized in painting but assured us he could handle everything from floor staining to light electrical work. The mistake was relying on him beyond the scope of what he was truly skilled at.
Because we did a lot of the renovation work ourselves, his scope was fairly limited (mostly paint, drywall in the kitchen, and the floor staining), but we also needed a few lights moved and some recessed cans patched. Let’s just say his approach was a little hacky and required quite a bit of oversight and pushback on our part.
What I’ve learned since: it’s crucial to ask more detailed questions up front, understand exactly where someone’s strengths lie, and build a team that fits the scope of the job, especially when there are a lot of moving parts involved.
There’s so many decisions I’m really happy with 5 years in - like choosing natural marble countertops, painting our window mullions black, adding practical storage where we needed it, waiting on bathroom renovations until we were ready, and planning a thoughtful lighting scheme throughout…but I’ll save all of that for another post. I hope that by sharing what didn’t go as planned, you’ll be able to avoid a few of these mistakes in your own renovation, feel more equipped to ask the right questions, push back when needed, and make decisions that stand the test of time.