Renovation Diaries | Our Vision + Choosing Our Interior Designer

After almost two years of planning, we have *finally* kicked off our renovation project. I’ve been thinking about how I would want to document the renovation over these last few years but also didn’t want to jinx our project. A lot has changed in the world over the last two years - primarily inflation and an impending recession. I don’t want this series to come off at all as bragging, but it’s just something I’ve been dreaming of for a long time and my husband and I are fortunate to be in the position to do this. I hope that documenting our planning and the process will be helpful to someone out there in the future or just a fun thing to follow along!

Part of me is glad I did not become a home owner until I was just about to enter my 30s. If I had done it in my 20s, I would probably be stuck with a modern farmhouse or a lot of (not well done) DIY projects. There’s nothing wrong with that, but my home style preferences have evolved and I know now I am not the best at DIYing. I’ve always been obsessed with interiors and architecture, and the home styles I’ve always wanted were: craftsman, mid-century modern (particularly an Eichler), or a cozy Spanish home.

We were able to find our perfect Spanish home in the cutest neighborhood a little over two and a half years ago. The home is 90 years old so it’s been around for quite some time! With that, there are also things about the home that needed some TLC and updating to bring it up to speed in the 21st century (read: electrical). We took this renovation as an opportunity to double dip and do those home updates.

For our home, we wanted to honor the Spanish architecture of our home. However we wanted to lean into an organic look - think Japandi (Japanese + Scandinavian) or Wabi-Sabi. We’re very happy with how our home plans have come along and I can’t wait to see it come together.

While I’m a big fan of interiors, I knew I wanted to work with an interior designer to help execute and bring our vision to life. I like a lot of styles and as a lover of interiors, I knew my design vision might get out of control if I attempted it on my own. I had been following our interior designer on Instagram for quite some time and when we bought our home, I sent an inquiry to her with our ideas as sort of a long shot. She accepted to meet with us and the rest is history. We are partnering with Cathie Hong Interiors and if you haven’t seen her work, you need to check her out immediately. I’ve fallen in love with each home she’s worked on and I can’t wait to see how her plans for us turn out IRL.

I hope you enjoy following along on this journey with me!