How We Renovated an Empty Nest

This week, we’re chatting about Jenn and Rusty, who are their small town’s power couple. He’s a doctor, she’s a realtor, and everyone knows them.

They bought their house as a “someday” fixer-upper, but planned to wait until their young children were out of their “destroy everything in sight” era and made them soon empty nesters.

A few years away, so the buttercream yellow paint on the walls can make do until then, right? WRONG.

Last year, they were able to finally get started on their renovation and it ended up being a much bigger undertaking than they’d originally planned.

Before

Here are just a few of the design decisions we were faced with:

We got rid of 2000s “luxury” style decor that was expensive when it was first purchased, but it wasn’t their style at all
We updated every. single. surface. in the household—including the kitchen cabinet color, countertops, and backsplash
We created a vibey living room space that was the perfect place to answer emails or have a three-hour chat when their kids came home from college

…and we’ve got the pictures to prove it.

The Vision

The After

And here’s what Rusty and Jenn had to say about their experience working with me on Give Me The Vision:

“Michelle and her team have been amazing to work with in my home renovation! She handled details of design and logistics that I just couldn’t, and it made a huge project so manageable and possible for us! Her design portfolio is versatile and she made selections that fit us. She works hard and is just talented at what she does.”

-Jenn