About six months ago, what started as an idea to document our home renovations on Instagram, turned into an even bigger idea! Why not start a blog? I’m so happy you’re here with me at square one. I hope to bring you some great content, not only from our own home, but from other great homes I encounter in my real estate career. My goal is to offer you value—from fashion and home decor finds, to tips on elevating your every day. Little splashes of whimsy that bring joy to my life and, if it can bring joy to you too, I’ll be doing something right.

Back to the home renovation. We love our house—a 1990s colonial on Cotton Bayou in Cove, Texas that I will lovingly refer to as our #CoveColonial. It sits on 2 acres in a special, older neighborhood located where the marsh meets Trinity Bay off the coast of Southeast Texas. We purchased this house from our dear friends, Shasta and Chase, in the summer of 2022. You will read about Shasta a lot, as she is not only one of my close girlfriends, but also a crazy-talented designer, off of whom I am constantly bouncing ideas and asking for input about interiors. If you scroll through our text history, it’s mostly pictures of wallpapers, paint colors, and Pinterest screenshots from me, of which she has graciously hearted to show me her favorites. 

Where did we move from you might ask? Down the street in the same neighborhood. But THIS house was worth moving one mile away for. It was my favorite house in the whole neighborhood. It had character, it had more space, and it had the bayou in the backyard. 

When Chase and Shasta purchased the house ten years earlier, they did a ton of updating, as it had some very 90s decor choices, including a built-in aquarium in the wall between the kitchen and living room. Needless to say, they removed it.

By the time we purchased the house from them, they had already undertaken a few big renovation projects, including turning the downstairs playroom, guest bedroom, and bathroom into one large primary suite and dressing room. As far as the kitchen and dining room went, they had made cosmetic updates, but nothing by way of tearing down walls or changing the layout. 

As we got settled into the house, the idea of renovating the kitchen was more of a pipe dream. It still had the original 12”x12” glazed floor tile, not to mention a built-in trash compactor that didn’t work. Every time I saw ours, among the other things that needed updating, the renovation bug started buzzing in my head. I was so busy with my real estate career that the idea of actually doing a home reno was too daunting for me to take myself seriously. Not to mention, the word renovation made my husband, Josh, shudder. He was perfectly happy with the way things were. Still, it was a constant thought in the back of my head that wouldn’t leave me alone. 

Enter our good friend Jerry, who also happens to be a high-end custom homebuilder.

He came over one day to drop off his son and when he came inside to look around, we started talking about the kitchen and what I would do if I decided to remodel. About 6 months later, I was sending him a text asking him to come back over and take a deeper look at the remodeling idea. 

About a month and a half later, demo started. And that is where this journey begins. I can’t wait to take you along and show it to you paint color by paint color, and fixture by fixture, until we start renovating the next room (but please, don’t mention the “R” word to Josh).

Cheers!

Lizzie