Not every house needs a total redo. Sometimes there are bits and pieces we can do to make very impactful changes. For the bungalow home where we gutted and renovated the primary bathroom, they had other areas of the house that needed some attention, just not a complete overhaul.

In the family room there were built-ins from the 1970’s that were dark and heavy. The couple didn’t mind the built-ins, but we felt we could tone them down and make it feel less claustrophobic. Here is what they looked like when the house was first bought. These are the BEFORE:

There was heavy paneling everywhere! We wanted to lighten the whole place up. We removed the entire center area of the built-in leaving a place for the tv. We painted the entire built-in wall Benjamin Moore Hale Navy. We kept the wood paneling on the walls and painted them all white. We removed the half wall and extended the stairs. It opened up the area between the 2 spaces. It made it feel like one large room. Here is where we ended up, the AFTER:

The bordering space next to the family room is the kitchen. We did some tweaking in there, too. We replaced all the appliances, added new lighting, painted the cabinets white, and added new countertops. We also eliminated some of the cabinets to make it feel more open. Here is how it looked when we started, the BEFORE:

There was a wall of cabinets that made the kitchen feel small. It packed in some good storage, but it was not worth keeping. Here is the backside of this same wall:

You can see the potential if we got rid of of it. And that’s exactly what we did!

Here is the AFTER:

It looks so good now. The gold accents take it to a whole new level! Love it and the open feel. It’s light, bright and spectacular!

We also painted the entire house white! The rooms feel larger and the ceilings feel higher. We used the same color for the walls and trim. It’s a great trick to make your rooms feel larger.

Here is the BEFORE of the dining room:

Here is the AFTER:

We made a lot of changes, some bigger than others to bring this home into the current era. It’s turned into a light and bright place full of fun! Stay tuned for one more reveal with this home, the guest bath.