To Renovate or not to renovate?

Home Inspiration, INSPIRATIONS

I am very much the kind of person who gets an idea and then becomes OBSESSED with it until I make it come to fruition. In many cases it’s worked out for me (i.e.it  building a business from a blog, writing a book), but my latest obsession might be more difficult then I think: Renovating a house! My hometown of Milwaukee currently has some affordable old homes (100+ years old) that with some TLC could be rehabed back to life. The places I have been looking at don’t just need a paint job, they need walls taken down, floor plans reconfigured, completely new kitchens, and I am sure there will be a ton of surprises hidden in the walls once we start. I have a bunch of friends and family that want to help, but I am sure I am seriously underestimating the amount of work this place will take…its looks so easy on HGTV! But I think it could be an amazing project to document here on the site. I already started a RENO board on Pinterest, and had to share some of the ideas I have swirling around in my head.
Kitchen: The places I am looking at either have the kitchen already gutted or it would need to be. I love the idea refurbishing cabinets by painting them white and adding a cement or butcher block counter, which looks great, without the cost of granite. I LOVE open concept shelving, which would save on the price of uppers. A farmhouse sink and nice finishes could give a super stylish look to a affordable small kitchen renovation.

Living Space: There were a million insanely amazing livingroom inspiration images I could have used, but lets manage expectations here…the houses I am looking at are small…so the huge elaborately designed main space is not realistic. Also, the older home in the Milwaukee area tend to have small windows and the houses are close together, blocking light. So, the key would be to open up the floor plan as much as possible and keep the colors light to give the illusion of a larger and brighter space!

Bathroom: That lightness would carry into the bathroom, super clean, but I would love to bring in some black & white accents with tiles. I would go ga ga over a bathtub to relax in after a long day…a girl can dream 🙂

Have any of you renovated a house? Or even a room? Am I crazy to try to take on a project like this? Any horror stories? Or success story? Would you be interested in me documenting the process?