After nearly six years in our home, we’ve had plenty of time to reflect on what works—and what we’d change. While there are many things we love, there are also design choices that, in hindsight, we’d approach differently. From functionality to aesthetics, here are the top things we’d do differently in our next home.
Quick back story: We designed and built our home in 2018, moving in just weeks before our daughter was born.
Building a home was never part of our plan, and only happened after a house fire destroyed the original home we were renovating.
While we were incredibly grateful for the opportunity to design and build a new home, our budget was limited to our insurance payout and savings put aside for the previous renovation. As first-time builders, we did the best we could within those constraints.
With that said, here are the top 5 regrets we have:
Jump to:
Not enough kitchen storage
When we designed our kitchen in 2018, it was just the two of us, and our storage needs were pretty minimal. Our kitchen footprint was on the smaller side but I wanted a light and minimalist feel with open shelving.
For the first several years, it worked really well for us. We added smart organization features and maximized every inch of our cabinet space.
Now with two kids, our pantry is overflowing and we wish we had more space for small appliances. Building extra pantry storage in the adjacent laundry room has helped, but a few more cabinets would make a big difference (and no, the space is not quite large enough for an island!)
Too many ceiling lights
This one is pretty minor, but it’s a common decision that has to be made whether you’re building or renovating a home.
In my opinion, most builders and architects tend to overdo it on the lighting, particularly in kitchen, dining, and living spaces. We have ceiling lights on four separate circuits just in our small kitchen/dining/hallway area and it’s completely overkill.
I avoid using the “big lights” whenever possible. Sconces, lamps, and chandeliers create a much cozier ambiance compared to the harsh, institutional feel of overhead lighting (yes, I have strong feelings about this topic). I talked more about the impact of bulbs and color temperature in our evening home tour post—the right lighting is a game changer and worth paying attention to!
No curbless shower
Fun fact: you have to make this decision early on, before your foundation is even poured. Our builder didn’t ask us and by the time I brought it up, it was too late.
Curbless showers are certainly more of a “nice to have” rather than a necessity, but in our case, the tile has made it that much worse. Rather than using a threshold, we tiled the top, and it has been a pain to keep clean between the hard water stains, grout lines, and exposed rough cut edges.
Apart from the extra maintenance, curbless showers just look cleaner and more streamlined—would you agree?
No front porch
I can’t decide if this is truly a regret or just something I’d do differently next time, because I adore our turret. When designing our house, Lucas and I both had our heart set on this specific look and nothing could change our mind.
While it’s unique and charming, it has come with its challenges. Our solid mahogany door is exposed to direct sunlight and unforgiving weather all year long, and it has warped and cracked, allowing bugs and rain inside. We’ve had it professionally refinished, but the only fix is a new door.
The kids also love playing out front, and it would be so nice to have a covered area for all of us to hang out in.
It’s not really possible to add a front porch with the current design of our home, but its something we’d love to have in the next house.
No balcony
This is my #1 regret and honestly the main reason this can’t be our forever home. One of my greatest pleasures in life is watching sunsets and thunderstorms while breathing in the tropical Florida air (that’s mostly why we moved here!) but we currently have no place to do that.
Our house sits under a massive oak tree, and we don’t have any western facing windows with a clear view of the sky. I dream about the day when I can curl up with my family on our balcony while watching lighting in the distance, hearing the rumbles of thunder and feeling the warm wind on our skin.
I know this isn’t most people’s fantasy and not everyone wants a balcony, but for me, it’s everything 😉
Honorable mention: no covered outdoor area, period. We’ve tossed around the idea of adding a pergola to the back of our house, but it would reduce the limited natural light we get in the kitchen, and it wouldn’t be fully weather proof. I would love a proper covered seating area in the next house!
And there are our top five regrets/changes/wishes for the next house. Can you relate to any of these? If you built your home, do you have any regrets?
Next week, I’ll be sharing the things that were 100% worth the cost when we built our home—stay tuned for more!
Cate says
I really love your turret entry and so much so, that I will use it as idea for when I build my monolithic dome home. I live in a cold climate and want to put in a temperature-controlled vestibule at the front entry. It’ll have a good-sized closet and a nice area for removing shoes before entering the living room. Your turret idea is great in that windows at the door will let in plenty of light. I’m entertaining the idea of allowing that area to be used for large package delivery.
Jenna Sue says
I love the idea of an even larger turret with a window! It’s hard to regret such a charming and unique design feature.
Julia says
Thanks for sharing things that didn‘t work out as expected. I will keep the curbless shower in mind should I ever build! How would you set up the floorplan for bedrooms in your next house? All on the same level or separate floors for master and kids rooms? How has your current set up worked out?
Jenna Sue says
I haven’t given much thought for bedroom layout for our next house, but we’ve been happy with the current setup: our bedroom + nursery downstairs, and Esmé’s room + the guest room upstairs. Eventually Luca will probably move upstairs and we’ll turn the downstairs into a guest bedroom. Although, since our next bedroom will have a balcony, it will need to be upstairs! I like the idea of all of our bedrooms upstairs, with the guest bedroom downstairs.
Mandy Allen says
I have also always wanted a balcony! But this is our forever home, and it came with a covered terrace (downstairs), a pool, and the most magnificent view from our hilltop, so I’m not really complaining! I would love to have had the opportunity to design my own home, but it would have cost a lot more than buying an already built house.
Your house looks wonderful but I appreciate there are things that could be improved upon. Hopefully you will have the chance to design another house and include all the things on your wish list in the future.
Jenna Sue says
Honestly, any outdoor space with a view would check that box! I just want a balcony to have a better view of the sky 😉 Your setup sounds amazing.
To get what we want, it probably wouldn’t cost a whole lot more to build new vs renovating an existing home (and it would be MUCH easier and less of a permitting headache to start from scratch!) I’m looking forward to Round 2 😉
Amber says
Your kitchen designed almost six years ago would still be found in a design magazine published today. Just wanted to say I love your style and enjoy following along.
Jenna Sue says
I really appreciate that Amber!
Ginni says
Bless you for writing about this subject – and that it generated so many fruitful comments. What a fun post! I read your blog long before you went on your wonderful world tour, so I know how thoughtful you are about your design decisions. Know that it is too hard to foresee everything that you need in a home when the children have not yet been born, or are still toddling. You both learn by doing, and you grow from all of these experiences. I really appreciate that you reflect on it with us here. Thank you for sharing!
Jenna Sue says
Thank you for the kind comment, Ginni! So glad you’ve stuck around for so long!
JULIE says
Interesting to hear that this isn’t your forever home. Would you rent it when you move out? Our family is in our third home and I’m already itching for the next one – which is in for building permits now. I was combing over the details, and I will take your comments into consideration – like the curbless shower.
I am trying to imagine something to protect your front door. What about a curved arbor that goes over the pathway and would provide a little shade to your front door? Something more with plants and landscaping? That is such a design dilemma because of the style. Thanks for sharing, I find this information so interesting and useful, so real!
Jenna Sue says
We’re going to do everything we can to keep our home, so hopefully we can find a rental situation that makes sense when the time comes.
Unfortunately the overhang would have to be quite large to fully protect the front door from the elements and that just won’t work with our current setup. It’s not ideal, but also not the end of the world!
Cici Haus says
We are hoping to downsize (four years and two kids in and we still haven’t “grown into” our giant house the way everyone insisted we would!) BUT we are so spoiled by the screened porch. It’s a must for a future home. My husband and I sit out there almost every single night after the kids go to bed to chat and dream. We have a hammock the kids love to hang in and we eat out there sometimes (honestly it gets so gross with the GA pollen that it’s a whole ordeal so we don’t eat there often).
Jenna Sue says
Yes, similar situation in Florida. There aren’t too many days of the year where something isn’t falling from the sky or it’s simply too hot. It has to be a covered space at a minimum!
Sandra says
I absolutely love your home, but I also love a front porch and outdoor seating areas, so I understand where you’re coming from. It’s wonderful that you bring this topic up, as it’s valuable information for those building or renovating a home!
We did a huge renovation in 2013 and doubled the size of our home. The permit stage was exhausting, and we had to modify our building plans about a month before the build was to start, which led to some decisions being made on the fly. Our budget was also extremely tight and we couldn’t afford some of things we wanted, so we did the best we could. Overall, I’m very proud of the house we built, but these are the things I would do differently now that it’s been 12 years:
1) Not have dark slate tile in the kitchen and laundry room as it’s impossible to keep clean and it darkens the space, especially as we lost a big window when the build plans were changed. I should have picked a lighter tile. These days, there are so many more options with different materials!
2) Not have the powder room right off the kitchen. Again, this was as a result of the changed build plans, but I wish I had really stuck to my guns and insisted the powder room be in a different area.
3) I’m on the fence about our white kitchen cabinets. Even though I LOVE a white kitchen and the cabinets are painted maple, the lower cabinets have not stood up over time and are in need of significant repair/repaint. Maybe they’re simply not good quality, but it gives me pause about our next kitchen.
4) Wish we would have installed more wiring for lights other than ceiling can lights.
Things I love:
1) We added a small front porch that spans the front of our home. It’s not quite deep enough to leave chairs out, but it faces west and is a nice place to sit when it’s nice out. As it’s not very deep, it doesn’t impact the natural light coming in the house and it provides some protection for our door (which is wood-look fibreglass). It’s also significantly improved the street appeal of our house.
2) We added a back deck and it was a game changer. We have small conversation area and a dedicated BBQ area. We sit out there all the time in warmer weather, and we may expand this area if we decide to stay in this house.
3) Having the back deck accessed through the laundry/mud room, which is right next to the kitchen. With our dogs, it’s perfect to have a place to clean them up before they come into the main part of the house, and the counters in the mud room are the perfect landing spot for all the stuff that gets brought out when we entertain outdoors. It would be nice to also have a door to the deck right off the kitchen, but we didn’t have room for one.
Jenna Sue says
It sounds like you did a great job given those constraints, and it’s only natural to change your mind about things after 12 years! At least most of those can be added/changed now. I very much underestimated having a functional outdoor space but, especially with two young kids, I’ve realized that it’s just as important as the inside of our home.