Breaking News on Our 2025 Project List: Adding the Living Room & Dining Room STARTING NOW, Plus Why Our Timeline is Full Speed Ahead

You may have seen in Stories that Chris & I have been making drawings on our iPad for things we want to change about the living room. We've been casually doing this for 2 years now, actually. I had mentioned it as a "nice to have" update for our 2025 project list, but I hadn't really brought it up on the blog, as we've been focused on the primary bathroom renovation.

Well, things have changed! A week or two ago, we committed to hosting a big photoshoot throughout our home this July, and now we want to make a whole host of updates by then. Yesterday, we had a meeting with Micah, our contractor from Kennon Construction, to give him the scope of work and schedule. He gave us a gut check that a July deadline is insane, but he's up for it. (That guyyy!) But with that, he's worried about even waiting until March 24 to start demo (we have a photoshoot the week of the 18th in San Francisco) so he asked if we could expedite any more, and we agreed to move it up to March 17, with demo prep starting March 14. That's in 9 days!

It's an incredibly fast timeline, but we think we can do it! (We have to.) And even though I don't have all the mood boards ready, I wanted to get you up to speed on what our planned changes are:

Living Room Renovation

Living Room Sources

I think it was even before last August, we've been thinking about adding skylights and beams to the ceiling of the living room. It's funny, because it's such a beautiful room already, most people think we're "done" with it—or renovated it at all. But the truth is that we really only painted the walls and added a chandelier nearly 4 years ago! I'm working on putting together a mood board right now to share with you soon.

Ceiling/Trim Updates

The most significant update to this room is adding four skylights that will be around 30" x 54", with two on either side of the vaulted ceiling. We're also adding lots of trim and molding that will echo some of the molding in the fireplace trim, and some beams across the ceiling in a dark wood tone.

A Door Becomes a Window

One of the biggest things hanging out in our garage is one last window from our window replacement project last year. This one is meant for the living room—it matches the window across from where the exterior door is now. When we did our mudroom renovation, we switched a window in there to an exterior door, and now we really don't need (or even ever use) the door that goes from the living room to the backyard. This will mean some brick patching too.

New Paint, TBD!

We painted the living room Farrow & Ball Pigeon when we first moved in—it's a beautiful chameleon color that I've crushed on before, but it doesn't always "read" the way I want it to in that room. Now, with the skylights going in, I want to make an update! Not sure what that is yet—I need to wait to see what the light looks like. Fortunately, the skylights are one of the first things that will be installed, so I can get going on that quickly.

Built-Ins

We used to have our black glass display cabinet in here, but I've always loved the idea of built-in bookcases. I love how traditional that feels in a formal living area. So we sketched out how we want these go. There's going to be some recesses and build outs and crown molding—here's a rough sketch:

Permanent Lighting

As I mentioned, when we moved in, we replaced the chandelier, but there are really no other permanent fixtures in the room! There are lots of lamps (and it's no secret I love "lamp-o-clock"), but I'd love to add some sconces and layers of lighting that will play up the room's angles and make it feel even more dynamic.

New Seating Furniture

I've spoken about my love for mismatched furniture before, and I still love that in many ways. But we have never purchased furniture specific to this room. Besides the coffee table, everything was really meant for our last home and it might be time to choose something specific to this house. The only issue is that I need to order these like, yesterday. Furniture can take a while to come in, and the clock is ticking!

Dining Room Renovation

Dining Room Sources

This will be the "smallest" lift, but it made sense to add it on since it relates to the living room! I mentioned in my When to Paint the Ceilings post that the angled white ceiling with no trim has always been a bit of an eyesore to me. So here is our plan:

Ceiling Updates

We're going to add planking to the ceiling (similar to the bonus room) and add beams that will be a call-back to the living room next door. However, all the new ceiling updates will be painted the same color as the trim, Benjamin Moore Gibraltar Cliffs.

Move the Doorway

This is kind of related to both the living room and the dining room, but we want to square off this little corner of the living room that has always felt really random (you can see it above). With that change, we can now move the passageway slightly toward the kitchen to give us more room for furniture in the living room. We initially narrowed the door when we first moved in, but I think this will feel really natural! This demo will require a little bit of wallpaper patching and paint in the dining room.

Primary Bathroom & Closets Renovation

This one is moving full speed ahead, and you can see all of the latest plans and design ideas here (including the mood board I dropped earlier this week):

The Exciting Plans for Our Primary Bathroom Design (Nov. 2024)
Let's Get Started: Our Primary Bathroom Layout Plans and Elevations! (Feb. 2025)
Our Modern Colonial Primary Bathroom Mood Board (March 2025)

One thing I haven't really touched on is that we're going to need to move the bedroom door since the closets are moving out into the room. So that will add a little more dust!

How We're Going to Live Around the Renovation

Because the primary bathroom/closet/door all affect where we sleep and get ready, we're going to need to move out! Kennon will take the bathroom down to the studs—and there will be open wiring—so we need another space to live.

Some people have suggested that we move into the guest house temporarily, but even though it connects to the house, it doesn't have an entry point directly into the main house, and we feel weird about having our kids in the main house "without us."

So, option B? We decided to convert the playroom into our bedroom for the next few months!

Instead of moving our bed up there because our Sleep Number mattress is so incredibly heavy, I think we will move the guest house furniture up there. Then we can use the guest house as an additional storage spot for furniture for the renovation. 

I'm ordering a shower caddy since we'll be using Greta's bathroom temporarily to shower and get ready. And I'm getting some clothing racks for current season clothes and storage bins for all of the other clothes and shoes that we need to remove from the closets.

What's Next?

We have to get everything out of the way by March 14. That means emptying Chris and my closets and primary bathroom, moving furniture from the living room (we have Habitat Restore scheduled to pick up some furniture next week), and cleaning out the garage so we can hold building materials in there as they arrive (that was another quick call we made to Junk Kings!)

Now we await demo prep, where Kennon will add plastic sheeting to any rooms that we won't demo, plus cover things that will stay in place. Follow all of the exciting progress in real time on Instagram, and I'll share more design details here soon!