Remodeling a Cottage Style Home in Kentucky | Before

Take a tour of a Cottage Style Home located in the Midwestern city of Louisville, Kentucky. This 2600 Sq Ft Brick home is undergoing a full renovation, including both interior and exterior elements. On the exterior, plans include updates to the gable dormers, brick chimney, and wood siding. Inside the home, the kitchen, baths, and flooring will be remodeled.

Ya’ll just don’t know know how excited I am to take you on a tour of our new home! We bought this cottage style home “AS-IS” which meant we couldn’t request the seller to make changes during the inspection period, unlike a typical home purchase. There was a laundry list of issues with the home, which gave us a great price {yay!} but additional risk {yikes!}.

So, what did that mean for us? Well, it kicked the typical home buying process up a notch. During the 10 day inspection period, we were busy compiling quotes for that long list of home repairs, including:

• rotted wood siding
• broken window seals
• wobbly deck
• old roof, water heater, HVAC… etc.

After plenty of number crunching, planning, and dreaming — we moved forward with the purchase and are settled into our first true fixer-upper… construction crew and all {*wink*}. 

What is a Cottage Style House?

So, before we begin the home tour, what makes this house a Cottage Style Home? I don’t claim to be an architectural expert by any means, but I can do some research {aka: google, ha!}. What I found is that this home most closely resembles the Cottage Style, though it also exhibits some Cape Cod and Craftsman style characteristics, as well.

P.S. If you are curious about the style of your house, check out this Home Design Style Infographic. 

Though our house doesn’t have casement windows or small panes, it meets the other criteria {it’s also missing window boxes; but that’s on my to-do list!}. Now, let’s move on from all this talking, and check out the home tour!

Cottage Style Home Exterior Plans

The exterior is essentially what classified this nicely located, brick home as an “AS-IS” purchase. The aging roof, rotting wood siding, broken window seals, and failing gutters add up quickly to a large price tag.

When the exterior renovation is all said and done, the color palette and design choices will better match the home’s cottage style.

Cottage Style Home Interior Plans

Now, let’s take a look at the interior. Overall, it is in much better shape than the exterior of the home. Still, if you know me, you know that I’ve got plenty of things that I’d love to change. For the purposes of this post, I’m only going to focus on the major renovation plans inside the house. 

The front door opens into a foyer and staircase, with views of the living room, dining room, and kitchen.

The big question that everyone keeps asking: “Are you going to paint all of that wood trim?” The answer? Probably not.

Now, on to the kitchen, half bath, and laundry.

Wrapping up the main floor, let’s go check out the master suite.

Isn’t the ceiling in that master bedroom amazing? I’m in love. Seriously. Every morning I wake up and gaze at it.

Heading upstairs, you’ll find two bedrooms and a similar bath.

Finally, we’ll take a peek at the basement. It’s large, with a family room, office/bedroom, and basement entry. The entry space is roomy, the same size as the adjoining office. We’ll use this area as a mudroom off the backyard and patio.

Remodeling a Cottage Style House

What did you think of the tour? Feel like you are swimming in a sea of brown wood?! 🙂 It’s got a ways to go, but this house has the elements which are hard to change: a practical floorplan and a great location. 

So, we start working and waiting. Remodeling takes a great deal of patience and vision, but we enjoy the process {most of the time…} and love to see the end results. Our cottage style home will be a beauty… just wait and see.