The question Alli Devlin gets most often about her home in North Bend, Washington, is “Where is your bathroom vanity from?” Fortunately, Alli is happy to share her sources—in fact, she’s been chronicling the remodel of the 1978 “builder-grade” residence on Instagram since early 2019. (The vanity is a custom walnut piece by Knoxville, Tennessee–based manufacturer North Coast Modern, by the way.)

$10,800 Architect Fees	$6,400 Demolition & Haul	$5,200 Framing
$14,450 Electrical	$14,000 Windows	$5,050 Bi-Fold Wall
$800 Door Reinstallation	$8,300 Drywall	$6,435 Flooring
$3,200 Millwork	$7,250 Interior Painting	$25,000 Deck
$30,000 Exterior Siding	$4,500 Exterior Painting	$6,850 Entryway
$2,700 Wood Slat Wall	$1,500 Handrail & Cap	$24,800 Kitchen Cabinets
$6,000 Countertops & Backsplash	$1,800 Appliance Installation	$900 Quartz Shelving Installation
$12,113 Appliances & Fixtures	$26,658 Main Bath	$18,121 Guest Bath
Grand Total: $242,827

Before the transformation, the house was plagued by a lot of brown: brown kitchen cabinets, brown exterior siding, brown floors. Alli—together with her husband, Jeramey Crawford, and her cousin, architect Sarah Merriman of SarMerr Design—has instilled a much lighter palette imbued with cozy textures, light wood tones, and handmade tile. Views are directed outside to the trees.

It all began on a bit of a whim. Alli and Jeramey were living in Seattle when they saw the house on its riverside lot, surrounded by trees. It was love at first sight. “There’s just a certain ambience with the whole property,” says Alli. “The views of the river, and being right on the riverfront, were really special. We knew that it was a property that would be pretty hard to find again though it needed extensive renovations.”

The renovation proved to be a full-scale undertaking indeed. “We spent a weekend or two doing [demo] and realized how much effort it was taking for us to be weekend warriors on the project,” says Alli, who is the chief of staff at a healthcare software and analytics company, while Jeramey is the head of data operations for a global green energy company. “It takes four times longer than expected when you only have weekends free for project work,” she says. She estimates they’ve completed 60% of their remodel with contractors and 25% of it themselves, and there’s still 15% left to be done.

When it came to the budget, there were many lessons to be learned throughout the process. For instance, when Alli was feeling pressed to choose new flooring in the living areas, she ended up opting for laminate, which ran $6,435. “I scrapped my plans to spend my entire budget on flooring, which I had set aside,” she says. “I said, ‘Let’s just do something cheap and basic to get us through five years, and I can get everything else done. Then I can make a decision about my lifelong floor.’”

The material choice has since proven very durable, and it’s given her a great sense of what color looks best in the whole space. “That’s an example of where scrapping your plans and doing something cheap that you’re willing to change down the line worked out really well,” says Alli.

In some cases, when a certain treatment proved too cost-prohibitive, being flexible with the design resulted in a less expensive solution that Alli now prefers. For instance, she originally had plans for a modern steel stairwell leading up from the entryway, but after crunching the numbers, she brought the idea of a slat wall to the contractor. “He said, ‘I can do that. And I think it could be half the cost,’” she says. “It ended up being 20 times cooler than what I was going to do in the beginning.”

Other times, splurging on wish list items proved to be absolutely worth it. Case in point: the main bathroom, which features inky, handmade Fireclay tile, waterproof cement plaster wall coating from Milestone, and the aforementioned walnut vanity made by North Coast Modern. “The design turned out even better than what I had in mind,” says Alli. “So, I had no regrets on the expense. No regrets.”

Shop The Look

The Rejuvenation mirrors cost $506 while the three circular sconces by Nino Shea Design totaled $660. A new window brings in more light and a view of the river and trees, and heated flooring ($1,200) ensures comfort." layout="" credit="Alli Devlin" photoUserId=""/>

Keep up with Alli’s renovation at @the.hoss.homestead.

More Budget Breakdown:

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Project Credits:

Architecture: SarMerr Design / @sarmerr_design

Builder: Weaver Construction

Design: Alli Devlin

Cabinetry: Ranier Cabinetry and Design

Exterior: Pacific Exteriors LLC