Our lake house: Renovation goals

How we're approaching the remodel—and a peek at a few "before" photos

The last couple of weekends up at the lake house have been a revolving door of architects, builders, and designers as we figure out how to put together a team for our renovation. 

Even though we’re no stranger to remodeling at this point, starting from the beginning always feels sort of insurmountable—when EVERYTHING is one big question mark.

Today I’m going all in on our months-long thought process around the remodel and sharing all the background that we’ve been talking through with contractors.

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The planning method

When approaching a remodel, my process begins with some soul-searching and fact-finding. Mike and I always have several conversations and a couple of domestic disputes over the course of several months to reach common ground on a few things: 

1. Our lifestyle: How do we plan to live in and use the home? What are our main activities in and out of the home? How should it evolve with our 3-, 5-, or 10-year needs? 

2. Current challenges: What are our biggest challenges and frustrations with the current home? What about the house doesn’t currently meet our most important wants and needs? 

3. Renovation goals: What do we hope to accomplish with the remodel? What does a successful end product look like?

Aligning on all of this *stuff* between the two of us—and then documenting it—is so extremely helpful in communicating with architects, designers, and builders.

We used to roll out of bed, meet with a builder, and then casually bring up random ideas that popped into either of our heads during a walk-through. I call this the “it would be cool if” method, because we would just blab about things that would be cool if we did.

Builders would probably hear “and then we thought it’d be cool if there was a boat house with a deck on top of it… and what if we popped the top to open up the attic?” and wonder where our $1 million budget was going to come from. It was not productive.

Getting it all down in writing means the conversations we’re having with contractors are more clear and consistent. And, helping people clearly understand our priorities means they’re better equipped to make recommendations to meet our lifestyle.

Note: These photos are truly the *before before* photos—with furniture and decor from the previous owner. While we haven’t invested a ton into decorating the space, rest assured I have not been living with a fishing net hung over our windows as a design element.