The house is done! It’s renovated and decorated! I am still feeling like more needs to be done and not quite used to the feeling of it being complete. It’s the same feeling I had when I graduated college. I couldn’t quite get used to not having to study. We will continue to make additions and small changes here and there on the decor but, overall, the major stuff is complete.
I’ll share the before and after photos in another post. For now, I want to share some of our favorite photos of the finished product. Photographer Amber Bauer took these and I’d highly recommend her work if you’re in the Brainerd Lakes area. She knows her stuff and got the photos back to us in just a few days.
Let’s start with the kitchen
We love the black countertops with black subway tile. Jake did an amazing job making the shelves. I filled the shelves with white plates, bowls and other pieces. I also added an acacia wood bowl and small plant for pops of color.
The dining room is another one of my favorite spots
It’s simple and clean. We used minimal decorations and couldn’t resist a decorative bike to hang on the main focal wall when you walk in the room. It’s perfect for Crosby, Minnesota!
Relax in the living room
It was such a hard decision what color to paint the stairs! We ended up going with a charcoal color and are extremely happy with the result. The floors were refinished (original from when the house was built in 1910). We went for a mid-century feel with the furniture and added in a few hints of color with greenery and pillows.
A masterpiece of a master bedroom
The blackwashed accent wall in this room makes the white bedding and natural wood floors stand out like crazy. I threw on a few extra pillows and love the clean look and feel this room gives off.
This bathroom might be the best upgrade in the whole house
Seriously. Wait until you see the before and after of this bathroom! We had rotting floors to deal with and really made this space shine by gutting the entire space and adding whitewashed tongue and groove pine to the walls and a gorgeous rainfall shower.
The upstairs bedrooms are a huge improvement, too
These two spaces are almost mirror images of each other. One bedroom has two chairs, the other has a futon for extra guests to sleep on. We also went with similar but different pieces of art on the walls, created by the same artist, to give the upstairs a cohesive feel. The walls are warm and gray washed using the same technique we used in the bedroom on the main floor and the bathroom upstairs.
Last, but certainly not least, the upstairs bathroom is a bonus room we added to the house
As soon as we saw this empty space in the house (between the two bedrooms in the hallway upstairs) we started brainstorming what to do with it. It was pretty early on when we decided an extra bedroom would be amazing for guests. This bathroom is bright and feels incredibly clean. The tile flooring is gorgeous, along with the whitewashed pine walls.
A few extra photos to share
Crosby has a huge mountain biking community so Jake added some hooks for bikes to make the space super convenient for guests. I love the black fixtures on the wood walls.
Amber took this picture out in the porch of the house and I love it! This was our “look” most days we spent working on the house. Jake, with a bunch of tools and me, with a paint roller or sander in tow.
The last photo is simple: Jake sitting in a chair in the completed house. I love this photo because it shows one of the rare moments I saw Jake sitting down in the house. The entire time he was working on the renovation, I rarely saw him sitting. He was always on the move and absolutely made this house shine with all of his hard work. He spent hours and hours on this house. Early mornings and late nights became the norm for him. Way to go, Jake! It was worth it.
Meghan Reistad 