Home Renovation Before + After Pictures

Before + After Photos Of Our Home Renovation

Mmmmm, home sweet home. Almost 2 years in this lil cabin on the water and it is so stinkin’ fun to look back on this house before we owned it and think about our journey to where we are now. For those new around here, Adam and I live in a tiny little cabin on a very big lake. We are tuckered away in the woods and I can TRULY say that my home is my absolute happy place! We got this place when we were 23 and 25 years old and we have gotten a lot of questions about it…in order to afford being on a lake, we knew we would need somewhat of a fixer-upper. Our budget was limited, but we made some HUGE changes and today I’m about to show you behind the scenes. :) Also, DISCLAIMER: I still feel like the “after” photos aren’t finished…I have so many things I still want to do (#type7probz) but ya know what, I’ll probably have that feeling of being “unfinished” for the rest of forever—so I’m just gonna show you real-world what our house looks like right now. No time like the present, right???? ;)

NOTE: This is definitely not a Fixer Upper, Chip + Jo, HGTV + granite countertops kind of transformation—this is just your average milllennial who had a normal budget and wanted to get the most bang for her buck. I wrote this for the girl that is ballin’ on a budget, but still wants her house/apartment to feel like HOME. Ya ready???

deciding we wanted to buy….

To back it up, here is the CliffsNotes version of our home story because it definitely is not typical (it was actually VERY spur of the moment hahaha). We were living in Rochester, Minnesota working at The Mayo Clinic. We had JUST moved into our first apartment together in May. Rochester was fine. Our jobs were fine (Mayo Clinic was AMAZING, but neither of us felt fully at home on our units). Our lives were fine. Everything was fine. But…it just felt blah—we had just lived in Minneapolis where we were surrounded by trails and rivers and delicious + quirky restaurants and fun concerts and young energy…and after getting a taste of that, we knew that Rochester wasn’t filling our cup—but again, it was fine. (Lol lol lol that I was pretending “good enough” was good enough. NOTE TO SELF: never ever settle.)

That July, only 2 months after moving into our apartment rental, we went to camp in our happy place: the Boundary Waters. We joke that we had our "second set of wedding vows" on a weirdly perfect canoe portage during that trip. It was just one of those nights—the conversation was flowing and everything just felt vivid and clear. Annnnnnnd kind of abruptly we decided that we wanted a lot more moments like this—surrounded by nature, quiet, slow living—and we finally admitted to ourselves that we were feeling a void in our current city + jobs. So we decided to move northbound. Right then and there we committed that we would get back, start looking at houses/new jobs, and move to the woods.

We knew we wanted to live on a lake. We knew we wanted a slower, simpler pace of life. Someday, we wanted to raise kids that knew how to camp + hike + respect the earth. We wanted to work less—to live more. We wanted to be closer to family. We wanted a cozy house, nourishing dinners, quiet long runs, no cable (but more vinyls). Big details + small, we covered it allllll on that one special canoe portage. Although had discussed all these topics before, it was something about that day, being on a quiet lake in BWCA that made it all feel real. While on that canoe, all of it felt attainable. We just had to choose the life we wanted…and go for it. It was our life to create, and we were in it together.

Soooo that’s that. We were going to move to the north. The requirements? 1) We had to be on a lake, and 2) We had to be under budget. (We may be spontaneous, but we are hella responsible with our money!) We were open to looking from Moose Lake alllllll the way to Grand Marais. We wrapped our camping trip and began our home search process. Long story short of our “decision” to buy: it was kind of a rash, out of the blue decision, buuuuut I had been saving for a home already because ya girl is always thinking ahead (check out the “The Millennial’s Guide to Saving Up for a Down Payment” for all the details on how you can save thousands of dollars in your twenties).

Not to mention, I am literally home OBSESSED and scroll Realtor, Zillow, and Trulia like it’s my job. (Don’t even get me started on how obsessed I am with my Pinterest home board….) I have ALWAYS wanted to buy a house early in life because I hate the idea of paying rent and not owning anything. I knew we would be buying a house in our early twenties, but we just didn’t know where (…until we had that magical canoe ride in the wilderness where it all just became clear). It was one small canoe paddle + one conversation with a biggggg impact.

home searching

Without going into too much detail, we looked at 6 different properties: 3 in Duluth and 3 in Grand Marais. All of them were on lakes, all of them were under our budget, and all of them were more or less fixer uppers. Our biggest questions were: Are they structurally stable? Are they well built? How are they maintained? We knew we could customize cosmetically, but we wanted a house with good bones.

We had just looked at a house that we loved, and it was the 5th property we looked at. The lot was GORGEOUS. It has a private little island right off the shore. It came with a massive shed and garage. There were a lot very good things about it and we were smitten…my dad gave his elusive stamp of approval. Everyone was excited. We had found “it”!

…But something just felt off for me. I can’t really put my finger on it, but I couldn’t say 100% yes even though it was a great option. I was like 88% there, but something inside wanted to keep looking. There was one other house on that same lake that was in our budget, but it had been on sale for a few months (not a good sign on our lake where real estate typically flies off the market). It was a cabin, not a house. The listing photos didn’t look great—the house was built on stilts meaning that it wasn’t insulated for winter. There were a lot of red flags. But, what the heck, we had just driven 4 hours from Rochester to look at houses so we decided just to go peek.

the first time we toured our house

To our surprise, this little cabin was GORGEOUS from a structure perspective. The structure that looked dark/run down in the photos was beautifully kept up. The foundation was solid. The water pump was new. The house had been majorly upgraded in the past 10 years. The cabin was being built as an eventual retirement home and you could tell there was major TLC in this property. But it was small. It wasn’t winterized (for non-Minnesota people, that means that it was not insulated to keep the water pipes from freezing during the winter cold). The walls were dark and the vibe was very “woodsy” and cabin-y. The floors were painted plywood…I didn’t feel very strongly about it the first time I saw it. I was overwhelmed from seeing the previous property that we all thought was “it.” All in all, I was pretty numb when we toured…but something about this property stuck with me.

We left that day talking and celebrating like we had found “it.” The 5th house—the logical choice. Wow! We did it! We were set to put an offer in! But we drove home, and I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t shake the feeling that we weren’t supposed to buy the logical choice—we were supposed to get the 6th property, the little cabin. We were staying at my parents’ house during this process, and I woke up in the middle of the night and went to chat with my night owl mom. She had me do a classic “pros” and “cons” list and it gave me such clarity that I DID want the second property—even though it maybe didn’t make complete sense.

In the AM, Adam and I had a long talk about which of the houses was right for us. He had also liked the little cabin property, so we called our realtor to re-tour it. And for some reason it alllllll came together during this 2nd tour. This was our home. I could picture it. I really do believe in the house hunting process you will know when it is right. We wrote a letter to the owners explaining who we were with a polaroid of our little family—after a few rounds of back and forth, it was final! We had it!

moving in

Fast forward through all the logistic chaos: quitting our jobs, getting new jobs, finding subleasers for our apartment in Rochester, our mortgage/house loan falling through…let’s just say that in LESS THAN 4 WEEKS we quit our jobs, got married, went to Bali and Thailand for 2 weeks, packed + moved across the state, started new jobs, and moved into our new home. Just about every single major life event into one month. Yup. It was a WHIRLWIND.

FIRST THINGS FIRST: We painted. We got the keys the house and within 2 hours my whole family assembled to paint. The house was painted very dark colors (grays and greens) in some areas and yellow in others. We went with white to brighten things up! We painted every single room in two days. (My family is soooo stinkin’ incredible and selfless when it comes to helping out with projects! Shoutout to the Shelerud clan!) The next week we put in flooring to cover up the plywood. Altogether for paint and flooring we did invest, but it was cheaper than I expected and it completely transformed the house! If you don’t have a big budget, invest in PAINT.

Next up was winterizing—AKA taking our place from a seasonal cabin to a year-round home. To do this, we had to find a way to insulate the house/water pipes. We reached out to just about every construction company in town put they kept falling through. The project was quoted to be about 10,000 buckaroos but definitely worth it, as it would allow us to live there year round. Annnnnd if we ever wanted to sell it, this would transform it from a cabin to a year-round house, therefore we could sell it for more as we upgraded the property from seasonal to year-round. We were prepared to pay the money, but every contractor kept falling through! They would commit to the project and then not show up!

Ultimately towards the end of October/early November we KNEW we had to get our house winterized—and fast. The lake was already freezing. It was quite stressful to get everything set before winter approached! All in all, what we did in that first month was paint, install flooring, and winterize—and this is what it took to make our house a home on a basic level. Ever since we have been doing mini-projects here and there (new bathroom flooring, new deck, new front door, new washer/dryer, etc.) to upgrade the space!

We just updated our decor, and we are slowly but surely making it into our perfect place! Without further ado, here is the recap of our house—if you see any particular item you love, I linked to specific decor items at the bottom! (Pssst: sorrry for the quality of the “before” pictures—I had no idea that 2 years later I would be blogging these quick snapshots!)

our 1st day as homeowners!

a tour of the house—

before and after photos

MAIN WALKWAY: There is one fatal flaw to this house: we only have ONE closet in the whole space. So I got super creative with storage! Our main closet area had no way to hang our coats, so I wanted to find a unique way to do that—enter these fun woodsy hangers. Living in this house was my first taste of truly living with a minimalist viewpoint because we do not have much storage—therefore simplifying to what we truly needed has been very easy. If we don’t have room for it—we don’t need it. Here is our main entry—I love how the white walls have brightened the space. (The first photo was from our very first day in the house! You can see all the painting mayhem in the back!)

GUEST BEDROOM: This is one room that we have just kind of neglected. After painting and flooring, we haven’t hung anything on the walls or done anything too major, but we do have some fun plans. :) I found this gorgeous bed frame at a thrift shop. Right when we moved in, my best friend Haley stayed with us for a month while she was doing a rotation for PA school—it was SUCH a gift to have her there while we transitioned into our home. Adam and I still call it “Haley’s room.” :)

THE MASTER BEDROOM TURNED LIVING ROOM: This room has been changed the most! The previous owners used this as their main bedroom—we did that for about a month, but decided to switch things up and make this a living room area! We decided to go with these day beds instead of couches so that we could push them together to make a guest bed when we have a lot of people staying with us! We loooove this room. This is our TV, yoga, and workout room. (I have all my dumbbells and resistance bands hidden under the day bed and in a side table.)

THE AWKWARD SPACE UPSTAIRS TURNED READING NOOK: What do I call this room? A sitting room? A den? The awkward space upstairs? That feels right. As awkward as this room is, it is one of my favorite spaces in the house! I have always loved quirky rooms and would never want a house that is “cookie cutter” (classic type 7 wanting to be unique, haha). The previous owners weren’t doing much with this space, but I could instantly picture it as a cozy reading nook. We painted the wood white for a shiplap feel and somehow finagled our couch up the stairs. This room is super cozy and I feel like it defines our style: minimalist, woodsy, Scandinavian.

THE “WHAT SHOULD WE CALL THIS?” ROOM TURNED BEDROOM: When we moved in we had no idea what to do with this room. TV room? Reading area? Office? Workout room? Eventually we landed on making it into our bedroom even though it doesn’t have a closet. The shape was just too cozy and unique to pass up! Again, we painted over some of the wood (we were really clear that we wanted our home to feel like a HOUSE and not a CABIN, therefore we wanted to tone down some of the woodsy factors). I would say this is my favorite room in the house—bright, airy, relaxing, boho. It really is a sleep sanctuary! We got *another* record player for upstairs—we are obsessed with having vinyl on all day, every day! For everyone who always asks me where I got our bedspread, I linked it at the wayyyy bottom of this post! ENJOY! :)

BATHROOM: Our little bathroom! We did small changes in here that mainly just centered around brightening it up since it’s a small space without windows. Painted it white, updated the drawer pulls, and got a new mirror. We have a few items to hang up (shelving, towel rod, etc.) in here. We have a few more things to do in this room, but this is what its state is at the time of this post! I looooove this wooden mirror—I wanted something unique but timeless that still had a “woodsy” feel. Found it!

KITCHEN: Nothing done here aside from paint! I have SO. MANY. IDEAS. for how we could change this kitchen in the future, but for right now, it gets the job done! So many delicious meals and dinner parties have happened here and I am smiling just writing about this room. I’ll be real—I was NOT in the mood to put the drying dishes away or clean the cupboards when i took this “after” photo hahaha sooooo just squint your eyes and pretend it is sparkling clean, ok? #reallife

MAIN SITTING AREA: Ahhhhh, our everything room. This is where we sip our coffee, relax after work, read, study, cuddle…we are in this room constantly! We brightened it up with the white walls and then just moved our own decor in. No major renovations done really at all!

HOW WE DECORATED

here are the items that i purchased to make it HOME

SOOOOOO that’s a wrap on the transformation side—how we transformed our house with essential only paint + floors! Just a few thousand dollars of investment and this little cabin turned into our HOUSE. :) I get a lot of questions about decor, so I’ll try to do a lil round up here:

I thrift A LOT (if not all) of our home stuff/furniture. I loooove cruising around thrift shops and garage sales for a piece I love—especially furniture! Our couches, rocking chair, guest bedroom bed frame, kitchen table…ALL thrifted. Way more affordable and you can find some unique pieces! But you gotta be patient, friend!
Nearly every piece of wall art I have either made/printed myself or found on Etsy! I loooove perusing wall art and could spend all day doing it. :)
There are a few pieces that I did invest in that I feel like MAKE. THE. SPACE. For me, it is alllllll about thrifting 85% of things and then INVESTING in the final 10–15% that can have a big impact: fun pieces, beautiful art, quality rugs, cozy bedding…ya feel me? Below are my must-have, game changing pieces (for a description of each piece and why I bought it scroll down below the images!)

these are a few of my favorite things

HAMMOCK CHAIR

DAY BEDS.

BEDDING.

COMFORTER

RUGS.

COAT HOOKS

WOODEN MIRROR

WALL ART.

RECORD PLAYER.

below is a recap on why i love these^^ items so dang much:

Our hammock swing! Actually super affordable and SO quality. We sit in this sucker every day and it is still in beautiful shape! I got this to be a STATEMENT piece. It is the first thing you notice in our living room—not only is it noticeable, it is LIVABLE. It is the place that soooo many of my girlfriends curl up in during wine nights and where I read/study. It is impactful AND practical. Love love love.
Holy moly I can’t recommend day beds any more highly. AMAZING. I bought one when I had first gotten my big girl job—I loved that it was easy to move if needed (new college graduate who was still moving around yearly and did NOT want to move a couch every time so I got this! Soooo timeless yet trendy). We were so impressed with my first one that we got another one so we could make a sectional-like shape. :) We use them as a couch and then when company comes, we push them together to have a large bed-like sleeping arrangement. The wood is GORG and assembly was super easy. One of the pieces we get the most compliments on! Love it! Highly highly recommend! Pick out both your day beds + cushions here.
Our comforter—I get asked for a link to this at least 5 times per week! Unfortunately, the specific ones is sold out— but here is where we got it (with a ton of similar options!)
Rugs! I fricken love rugs and think they set the foundation of a room. Boho? Traditional? Modern? A rug is what sets that tone. Here’s where I get all of mine—superrrr well-priced and the quality has held up in our 2+ years here!
Nearly every piece of wall art I have either made/printed myself or found on Etsy! I loooove perusing wall art and could spend all day doing it.
Beautiful bedding: I love Anthropologie blankets and pillows. I am a firm believer that quality bedding and pillows can elevate a space—they are a final detail that ties everything else together. I particularly love Anthro’s because they are SO textured and unique and truly make the space. I always get them when they’re on sale! They are actually WORTH the price if you can swing it—so soft + beautiful texture to add a unique flair to your space.
Our coat hangers/unique hooks in the entryway! This is probably the decor in the house that I get most complimented on. I love that they are right by our front door, but also think they’d be so cute in a bathroom for towels. :) They discontinued most of the ones I got, but here are the current options!
Our bathroom mirror—the circular wood one :) I was looking for a mirror that was bold but timeless—GOT IT.
Also, would I even be Kate without rambling about how you NEED A RECORD PLAYER?!?!? Hahahaha. I honestly don’t know how we ever lived without our vinyl—this is our cookin’-dinner, relaxin’, studying, date night soundtrack. Couldn’t recommend more! Here’s where Adam got ours— tons of choices!

Mmmm, this post is making me so reflective on how much this little place has become home. It is quirky, bright, and soooo relaxing! Everything I’ve ever wanted in a HOME. Last night, we ate our dinner out on the dock on the lake—we are so stinkin’ lucky and I hope this little behind the scenes tour was fun for you! Let me know what you thought in the comments below—to be honest, coming up with “home” content is the hardest for me, so let me know any questions/topics you’d want me to cover in the future!