8 Renovation Projects We’re Juggling Right Now

A rundown of the Eight 2026 projects that we’ve got in the works so far. Wallpaper! Paint! Decks! Siding! Built-Ins! It’s all happening. And fast!

There is A LOT going on around Yellow Brick Home at the moment! As I type this, we have paint work happening in our Chicago living room, tile work going on in our Garden Apartment, and wallpaper prep happening at the Red House. And that’s just what’s happening right now. We’re barely keeping it all straight, so we figured it might be hard for all of the folks that aren’t living and breathing these projects every day to follow along! So, today, we’re breaking down the list of what’s going on so far in 2026.

If you happened to miss it, we talked through a handful of these projects on our 2026 goals list, so it might be handy to catch up on that post for a quick refresher. We’ll start with Chicago projects and transition over to Michigan as the list goes on.

1| Chicago Exterior (Siding, Windows and Porches)

We revealed earlier this year that we’ll finally be re-siding our entire Chicago home in just a few short weeks. This project has been on our list since before we even got the keys to the home in 2013. It’s a total pinch-us moment and we’re insanely excited to be partnering with James Hardie to highlight our home’s 1887 beauty! You’ll have to stay tuned for the color reveal, but we promise it’s going to be striking.

While we’re tearing off the exterior of our entire house, there’s no time like the present to replace the final 10 windows that have been here since we bought the home 14 years ago. This project has also expanded in scope to include a refresh of the front porch with our friends at TimberTech, who are now part of the James Hardie family. Our home is going to look completely different by Summer. We can’t wait to enjoy front porch season this year.

2| Chicago Living Room + Kitchen Paint Refresh

This project is happening in real time as I type this! What started as a relatively simple color shift on the first floor has ballooned (as most projects do!) into a full living room refresh. We’ll be rearranging the gallery wall, updating the curtains, adding a new frame to our TV and even swapping in a new sofa! LOTS more on this room later. We can’t wait to reveal everything we’ve got in store for the room we spend the most time in. The new color is lighter and brighter and we’re already loving the way the cabinets pop in the kitchen!

3| Chicago Garden Apartment Bathroom Renovation

When we fully renovated the garden apartment back in 2017, we touched nearly every surface. We installed new flooring, lighting, a proper laundry room and an entirely new kitchen in a re-imagined shape. In the bathroom, we reglazed the tub, replaced the vanity and upgraded all of the lighting and fixtures. The one thing that we didn’t touch, though, was actual inside of the tub and shower area. The tile was in good enough shape and the chrome fixtures functioned fine. We had to draw the line somewhere, so we left well-enough alone and it was great!

Now it’s time to finish what we started and do something special for our tenants that we truly love! We’re pulling the tub in favor of a big, open walk-in shower. We’re raising the ceiling and installing new ventilation and lighting. And most importantly, we’re replacing all of the shower fixtures and tiling the entire room! It’s going to be stunning. Dozens of minor tweaks will result in a space that feels truly elevated to match the rest of the apartment.

Note: Moving from Chicago over to Michigan from here on out!

4| Furnishing The Red House Back Deck

The Red House’s massive back deck was completed in earnest back in February. It’s an absolute beast that was always destined to be there. The home’s unique shape pretty much pre-determined the size and shape of the deck, which made it large. And expensive. But we’ve integrated lots of custom touches and we’re thrilled with all of our decisions. We know it’ll absolutely be worth the investment in our vacation home (that we hope to share with all of you someday as another Airbnb)! In the meantime, we’re working on furnishing the deck for a summer full of outdoor grilling and long lazy evenings.

5| Red House Landscape Lighting

Elsewhere at the Red House’s exterior, the front garden that we planted last fall is absolutely exploding with all of the wet spring weather. It’s coming in exactly as we hoped and we’ve been spending lots of time removing old fencing and other debris from the woods for clear views into the forest this year.

We’ll also be working with MoonCast, who was recommended by our favorite landscape design team, to install some incredible landscape lighting at the front and rear of the home. We’ve already met with the team for an initial walkthrough and we suspect that the house might actually look better at night than it does in the daytime! We always say, lighting makes all the difference and the same can be said for outdoor spaces as well.

6| Red House Entryway Built-In

The one thing that the Red House lacks in its open floorplan is a coat closet. We live in the upper midwest and this shortcoming just isn’t going to cut it. A coat closet is mandatory. A dedicated mudroom or entryway is the dream. Since a mudroom isn’t an option and a standard closet would stand out like a sore thumb, we’re accomplishing the goal with cabinetry! We’ve already started the conversation with our friends at Cabinet Joint for a fully integrated storage solution. Below is our initial rough sketch that we’ve already started to tweak, but it’ll give a good idea of where we’re headed.

7| Red House Living Room Built-In

On the other side of the Red House’s ‘great room’ as the generations before us liked to call it, we’ve got another built-in in the works. The vintage sofa that we found last year is in the shop for upholstery right now and our friends at Norman Leigh (you just might recognized that table on their home page!) are designing a fully-integrated side table/bookshelf surround in the background. This project will be an absolute game changer that will allow us to finally display 3 years worth of vintage decor we’ve been hoarding in the basement.

8| Red House Kids’ Room – Paint, Wallpaper, Built-in

And last, but certainly not least, is the Kids’ Room. We’ve gone back and forth a dozen times on how to best take advantage of this large, multi-purpose room and we think we’ve finally nailed the design. The millwork, ceiling and closet are in the process of getting fresh paint. We’ve chose an incredibly fun wallpaper to bring cheer to the space and we’re in the planning, measuring and re-planning phase of a large 4 twin built-in bunk unit.

Progress!

Yes. Every single one of those projects is in the design or execution phase right now. And we intend for the vast majority of them to be complete by the mid-point of the year. We’re riding a solid wave of momentum and we’ve been able to handle every setback and re-schedule with fluidity that we haven’t felt in awhile. We’re eating this whale one bite at a time.

So, what questions do you have for us as we act as the GC’s and master planners of all of this chaos? We’re always happy to share our methods and answer any questions you might have, so if we can help in any way, let us know! As always, thank you for being here! It means the world to us.