Beechwood Revival Episode 3: The Trees, the Sunroom, and Trusting the Process

Some of the hardest parts of renovation are the parts nobody warns you about…for me it was removing the trees and the sunroom.

Catch Up On the Renovation Story So Far

If you are just finding the Beechwood Revival Project, pull up a chair, friend. Here is where we have been.

In Episode 1 we shared how we bought the Beechwood house to be closer to my son’s high school. I fell in love with this street and I fell in love with this house, and together with my husband, we made it ours.

In Episode 2 we started demo. Once we got inside, we realized the condition was worse than we expected and the insulation was old, so for it to be safe for us to actually live in, we had to take it all the way down to the studs. Walls came down. The fireplace came out. Floors came up. A whole lot of cleanup so we could build it back right.

If you have not watched those yet, go back and start there. What happens in Episode 3 is going to mean a lot more once you know how hard we fought to get here.

And before we get into this week, I have to tell you. The votes are in on the antique chest we found in the attic, and it was an overwhelming yes. We are keeping it. We do not know exactly where yet, but we are going to find a spot for it somewhere in the new house. I love that this community got a say in that one.

This week, we said goodbye to two things I genuinely was not ready to let go of.

The Trees I Fought For

Y’all, I have to be honest with you about this one because I do not think I have fought harder for anything in this entire renovation than I fought for these trees.

This property had so many beautiful, mature trees on it. The kind you cannot plant your way back to. The kind that take decades to grow into what they are. And I wanted to save every single one of them.

Here is the thing nobody tells you about an old property like this. The trees were planted close to the house, the way people did it generations ago. And with the addition we needed and the new footprint we were working with, we were going to kill the roots. There was no version of this where the trees survived the construction.

I had the tree company come out hoping for some kind of miracle. And honestly, that conversation made it a little easier. Several of the trees were already dead or dying. We just had not been able to tell from the outside.

But there was one tree in the front that broke my heart. It had so much character. It was beautiful. We tried to find a way to save it. We really did. And ultimately, it had to come down too.

I am not going to pretend that did not sting. But here is what I keep coming back to. We are not erasing what this property was. We are building the next chapter of it. And that is the work, friend. Letting go of what was so beautiful so something new has room to grow.

Saying Goodbye to the Sunroom

The second hard decision was the original sunroom.

Honestly, it was my favorite space in the entire original house. I loved it. The windows in that room were stunning, just so much natural light and so much character, and there was this beautiful little balcony on top of it that made the whole thing feel like something out of one of my favorite movies, “Father of the Bride”.

But there is no parking on our street. None. And if we are going to actually live here and have people over and build the life we are dreaming about in this house, we needed somewhere to park our cars. So the sunroom had to come down to make room for something we genuinely cannot live without.

I do have a plan though, and I want you to know this is not the last you have seen of that sunroom. I took inspiration from the original space, and I am hoping to bring a new version of it to the back of the house. That is the direction we are headed right now. I will keep you posted as the plans firm up.

The Part Nobody Tells You About Renovation

Here is the part of revival nobody really prepares you for.

After we took the sunroom down, I stood there and looked at the house and I will be honest, I was a little shocked. It just hit me all at once. Why didn’t we just tear this down and start over?

Daron kept reminding me, we have got to trust the process. So that is what we are doing as we move into the rest of the planning. We are pretty much finished with the plans now and I think it is going to be beautiful. I am excited. But I will tell you, this middle part, the part where it looks worse before it looks better, is the hardest part of the whole process.

If you are in your own middle right now, in your home or in your life, I want you to hear this. The middle is not the proof that you made a mistake. The middle is just the middle. Keep building.

What’s Next

We are heading into the next phase of planning and I cannot wait to show you what is coming together. Make sure you are following along so you do not miss Episode 4.

Come back next Sunday for Episode 4. We are getting into the really exciting stuff and trust me, you are not going to want to miss it.

XO,