Hey guys!! Happy Friday! Things are cruising around here!! The windows for the bedrooms were cut yesterday and the framing and electrical are 95% done! The HVAC system is in and I am just SO happy!!!
Ok so, we all are fully aware that the world we live in celebrates and expects perfection. Right?
Everything has to be new and shiny and completely resistant to any sort of character making defects. My biggest fear with the Merc (besides the one where the walls disintegrate) is that we might over renovate it.
I feel like we’ve all seen the adorable historic houses on the MLS. The outside has so much character but the interior has been flipped or over renovated to the point that its basically a new house. Beige walls, faux travertine, and all. The history and past life of it has been forgotten. It makes me so sad! So with the Merc I’m taking extra care to not erase the history of it.
Does it have wonky windows? Hell yes it does. Am I changing them? Never.
It doesn’t bother me that the floors are uneven or that our entryways are wicked thick, or that the walls are a little cockeyed. I LOVE IT!! It’s what makes the Merc special and historic!!
This embracing imperfection is the driving force behind all of the finishes and a lot of the design work that we’re doing.
Lets take flooring for example. There is flooring has all of the “character” painted, pressed, and molded into it. Its supposed to look perfectly lived in and old, but remain completely unchanged for a lifetime. Now don’t get me wrong, I understand the need, and there is a HUGE market for it. But for me, I’d rather have wood floors that show wear and tear because that means that they are full of stories and memories and LIFE!
(source Design Sponge) <– Click that link to see more original floors!
So instead of buying floors like a normal person, we’re making our own.
Remember my favorite front door? We had a replication (well, 3 replications cause we have 3 doors) bid out and it came back a lot higher than I was hoping for ($9k) so instead of stressing and trying to make it work some how and going over budget, I found some really cool vintage doors at Euro Treasures antiques and we’re having them fit for the exteriors. Total cost? $150/door (it will end up being more because we have to fix them up, get rid of the grill, and have the jamb made) but WAYYYY less than $9k thats for sure.
I think the biggest mistake with the Merc would be trying to make everything look old from the word go, instead of just giving it the opportunity to let it happen over time. So that leads me to the question of the day: Do you have original wood floors with gaps and cracks? How do you feel about them? How do you keep them clean? I need all the info.
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via Mandi at Embracing My Fear of Over-Renovating
