Nesting With Grace

by Brooke Christen

House Regrets- What I wish we would have done differently

I don’t like to focus on the negative. Rather spin something I might not love into a positive. That being said, I think sharing a few things that I wish we would have done differently when we remodeled this house might help some of you! Overall very happy and beyond grateful for our home and with how our remodel turned out. Just sharing a different view or way of doing something that could be better if you are in the decision making process.

1- Kitchen Regret-

When we did our IKEA kitchen in Connecticut we had time to really plan and think about what we were going to put in each cabinet. Probably because we were essentially designing it ourselves, not working with a cabinet company. We knew where our air fryer, toaster, blender, trash, etc. would go. We even made a spot for our printer in our kitchen because we didn’t have a home office. We love how that kitchen turned out.
In this Utah kitchen I felt rushed and I was picking SO many things out at once. No time was really given to go over the interior of the cabinets with the cabinet designer. My fault I didn’t stop to ask for it. We were having so many cabinets built at once that I didn’t devote as much time as I should have to maximize the INSIDE of the cabinets. 
For instance, I didn’t plan where any small appliance would actually go before we installed the cabinets. I knew I wanted my mixer on the counter and where plates, cups and food would go. Everything works and has a spot. But it could be better.
My tip is to know exactly where ALL kitchen items will go in a new kitchen, just like we know where a bed will be placed in a bedroom. A well designed and thought out kitchen just keeps on giving! 

2- Mini Fridge Regret-

We have a room we will call the “drink room”. It has an ice maker, mini fridge, sink, shelves we put baskets on for supplements, and three drawers for cups. It functions well for us. My one regret is I wish the mini fridge was bigger. You really can’t fit much in the mini SMEG fridge, even tho it is so cute! I am going to look for a bigger fridge that fits this space better, and move the mini SMEG somewhere. Example of sometimes function is better than cute 🙃

3- Door Regret-

Butlers pantry and plant room- Utah Ranch home
Also in that drink room we originally had a door that would be at the entrance. Last minute I had them change the framing to just an opening. A few times we thought it would be nice to be able to close the door for the dogs to be in that room, we mostly thought it when we were potty training Olive. We added pocket doors to our office and I have loved being able to close those for meetings.
Butlers pantry and plant room- Utah Ranch home
Also in that drink room, if we let the dogs out to go to the bathroom and leave the dog door open, it can get cold in the winter! The iron door doesn’t close by itself and we like the dogs to come in and out as they please. We could always add a door later to this room, I thought a dutch door would even be nice. (Info on our iron doors HERE).

4- Finish Work Regret-

We added beams to our primary bedroom, and I almost backed out because it was becoming all too complicated to explain. Anyone else get stressed out with that?? The beams had to run horizontal down the hall, making it tricky to figure out placement of beams in the bedroom and with the fireplace. Happy I didn’t give up on explaining and figuring out the best placement in our bedroom. My regret is….
I wish I would have had our carpenters add wood beams to our dining room while they were here. We can and are going to add them. But it is best to ask carpenters, electricians, any specialist about that extra thing you want to do while they are already in your home. Even if you can’t do it right then, doesn’t hurt to ask how long it would take and how much it would cost. Often if they are already there, they might be able to fit you in and maybe it will cost less money, since they are there!

5- Ice Maker Regret-

I wish I would have added a built-in ice maker into our mini basement kitchen area. We have the Nugget Ice Maker on the counter. While that works fine, it takes up counter space and can be very temperamental if it is too close to the wall and air isn’t circulated behind the ice maker. That being said, a built-in ice maker does cost A LOT more. I do think if you have the option, I would consider a built-in one. I personally regret it. We LOVE the ice maker we did in our drink room upstairs (we have a Scotsman).

6- Lights Regret-

Always say yes to accent lights. Under shelves and in built-in cabinets. My regret is, I didn’t do lights in the bookcase in our office and I REALLY wish I did. I tried some re-charging lights that don’t last very long in the bookcase, only 6 hours. We had our electrician come back out and he said he can add lights. It would have been much easier and cost less, if I had thought of it beforehand!

7- Plug Regret-

You will never regret too many plugs. I wish I had a plug by my tub area for a diffuser, not right by it, just on a close wall (big bath person!). And more plugs inside our kitchen cabinets. Also more plugs in our garage. Did I mention more plugs? ha! We did add plugs in several of our cabinets and office cabinets, which I am thankful for.

8- Closet Regret-

Primary Bedroom- Brick wall and Wood Beams Master Bedroom Ideas Upholstered Bed Frame TV Gas Fireplace All White Farrow & Ball
Our primary closet is on the smaller side, compared to the size of home we have. I was focused on making sure we had space for a tub in our primary bathroom, that took away from the space we had to make our closet larger. Not sure how we could have made the closet bigger, because if we made our bedroom smaller it would have affected how the room was centered around windows. I guess I regret not exploring more ideas. I don’t mind a smaller bedroom at all. We did add the large cabinet that we keep clothes in as well. So we found a solution!

9- Washer and Dryer Regret-

We are very happy with our actual LG washer and dryer. No issues with a front loader, and yes, I always close the doors. They do not smell (if they smell it is from all the fabric softeners and type of laundry soap you use). My regret is, I wish the cabinet was the same depth as our washer and dryer (I did give our cabinet designer the exact washer and dryer we bought, so not sure what happened). We could switch our washer and dryer to the slightly smaller version, but then you can’t wash bigger things. So I will probably leave it.

10- Shower Niche Regret-

Master Bathroom Reveal with Claw Foot Tub
I regret not putting in a niche in all our showers in this Utah home. It just slipped my mind! In our Connecticut bathroom our contractor reminded me and asked if I wanted to add a niche over our tub. I LOVED it! We even had cute corner shelves in our other bathrooms (same contractor suggested those).
Spot the marble shelves in our Connecticut bathroom? And the glass shelves below. I am sure we can figure out how to add similar shelves in our current bathrooms. But regret not doing it from the start.

I did a similar blog post, “would be buy it again” from things we bought or did in our Connecticut home HERE.

Would We Buy it Again? Or Do It Again?
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Comments

  1. Dina says

    Maybe you can have the cabinet maker make a new side panel for the cabinet by laundry and the drawers can be pulled forward flush with the washer and dryer. A cheaper solution to new ones?

  2. Diane West says

    You, Brooke, did a great job! Your home is beautiful and filled with love! We all have something, we wished we would have done differently! I can’t imagine the pressure you were under with your total remodel! So many decisions but all in all YOU did a great job! Thanks for sharing your beautiful home and family with us!

    Blessings,
    Diane

    • [email protected] says

      So kind of you, thank you Diane! It was a lot of pressure (that we welcomed) but yes, hard to think of everything!! Hopefully others can learn from my oversights.

  3. Lisa McCracken says

    Great advice! Thank you!
    I have one (unrelated) question… the art in your primary bedroom in the picture on this post…it is not centered on the wall. And I noticed you did the same thing in one of your basement bedrooms. I like it, but I don’t know why! It is very appealing to the eye and I’m wondering the thought process on this. If I would do this in my home my husband (or my picky sister) would tell me it’s off-center. Would love to know how you decide this! Thank you!

      • Lisa McCracken says

        Oh yes! That makes so much sense! Like the window is a piece of art! Thank you!

  4. Elizabeth Jones says

    A plug by the tub? Bad idea. I read a story about a young girl who was electrocuted charging her phone while she took a bath and when she answered it… Be safe!

  5. irene says

    Hi Brooke-love seeing your decorating adventures. I liked how you shared some of the financial aspects of your CT home, i.e. how much you sold the CT house for covered the cost of purchasing the new home…making a profit on CT and applying it to UT. Makes sense. You discussed Dave Ramsey and using his strategies. I do also! But I am now wondering, did you now take on a large mortgage on this home for the interiors/pool/and other renovations? And if so, what is the payoff plan? I know these are the types of things discussed in Dave’s money philosophy…I honestly think readers could learn from this type of transparency you have shared in the past! Thank you!

    • [email protected]oo.com says

      We took out a small mortgage when we initially bought the home and put a lot down.
      Then we paid cash from savings and from the profit on our previous home to pay for all the remodel, pool, etc.

  6. Stephanie says

    I’m always fascinated with thought processes in design. It’s all so much fun. Not always the perfect outcome but can always be tweaked 😉
    Regarding the laundry cabinet, I would think if you gave the cabinet maker the info for your machines it would be their responsibility to make sure they are the right depth. 🤔
    Where we live you can’t have outlets inside of cabinets with doors 😕 it would be so nice to be able to do that. You are right, never too many outlets 👍 I understand planning a place for everything, but everyone doesn’t move around their kitchen the same, so I don’t think it would ever affect resale. I tend to move my small appliances around a lot, creature of change.
    Is it possible to put a self closing hinge on your iron door. Like the ones that are on gates. It is just a spring in the hinge (not one of those big air hinges like on storm doors) 🤷🏻‍♀️

  7. Deborah says

    I do think the kitchen cabinet dilemma is always a problem. I have a new home that was not customizable by the builder. I custom designed my last kitchen. Both kitchens I always have issues. I use a lot of ideas from Home edit and have gotten better at organizing. I have rearranged my new kitchen 3 times. It’s better but not quite there. I just have too much stuff ! My suggestions- pare down. Rearrange. You just need some organizing solution. !

    • [email protected] says

      Oh yes, agree! We actually have empty drawers! We came from a much smaller home, so we have that mentality to have less.
      That being said, we have a few random cabinets that honestly can’t fit much, like they are an odd size. I wish we would have planned what would actually go in those. I would have preferred another trash cabinet instead of the weird drawers.
      I will have to show it!

  8. Marissa says

    These are SO helpful!! And also so helpful to remember that even when things aren’t perfect, they can be so loved. And sometimes fixed with a little creativity 🙂 Thanks for sharing ❤️

  9. Jena says

    For shelves in your bathroom- check out Sugru! You can pretty much attach anything to tile semi-permanently! I have used it to hang shelves on bathroom tile in rentals and also now in our actual house after remodeling our bathroom. It’s like a moldable putty that dries to rubber and will stay put until you decide to pull it off. I’ve also used it to secure electric toothbrush wires to the wall, create a tiny leg to level an uneven picture frame, I even used it in a rental one to reattach a toilet paper holder to the cabinet haha.

  10. Colleen says

    Thank you for sharing. We all have some design regrets, but be gentle. Remember, if you had put the beams into the dining room, you DEFINITELY wouldn’t have been able to get that beautiful cabinet in there😉

  11. Karin says

    Hi,

    On the Washer and Dryer, the same happened to us. But we brought the cabinet out from the wall to align with the Washer and Dryer. placed a new side panel to hide the gap between the wall and cabinet. And then placed a new counter on top. So happy we did that. Hope it makes sense what I mean. ☺️

  12. Samantha says

    I love this and don’t think it’s negative at all! I would assume, with the amount of $$ spent and the amazing photos, that you guys got everything perfect! It’s good to know for those of us just starting out transforming our homes, that it’s NORMAL to have mistakes and even regrets! Thank you for your transparency 💗

  13. Celia says

    I loved the comment about getting stressed out trying to explain your ideas!! Totally me! & as we are renovating some rooms now I am struggling with that exactly with my contractor. So thankful for your encouragement! I keep telling myself I will be staying here, they will be leaving! HAha!
    Thank you for sharing these with us! So helpful so hear the suggestions and struggles that we all have! Your home is a beautiful inviting place.

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