Mid Century Warmth
A homeschooling family of six traded twenty years of builder-grade finishes for a kitchen and bathrooms that finally match the life they've built — without missing a day of school.
Key Features
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Custom cabinetry with appliance garage, tray dividers, and tailored drawer heights.
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Quartz countertops extending up the kitchen backsplash.
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Expanded primary shower with rain showerhead and body sprays finished in porcelain panels.
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Custom storage cabinet replacing the unused whirlpool tub.
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Full kids' bathroom facelift with new vanity, linen cabinet, flooring, and fixtures.
Timeline
12 weeks
Location
Cedar Falls, Iowa
Investment Range
$150,000-$180,000
The Family
For twenty years, a Cedar Falls family of six made their home work. They homeschool, so the house is never quiet, never empty, and never not being used. The kitchen and bathrooms they built on a budget two decades ago had served their purpose.
But the family had grown into something fuller, and the home had not kept up. Countertops stayed cluttered because storage was never designed with intention. The primary bath had a corner whirlpool tub that nobody used anymore, eating up space that the family needed.
Room by room they had built a warm, colorful mid-century aesthetic they were proud of. The kitchen and bathrooms were the last rooms that still felt like outdated choices.
They were ready for spaces that reflected their family.
The Challenge
The frustration was less about style and more about daily life. A kitchen without smart storage makes every meal harder than it should be. A bathroom with wasted square footage and an undersized shower is a missed opportunity every single morning. With four kids at home full time, these were not minor inconveniences. They were daily friction that added up.
Their hesitation was real too. Losing a functioning kitchen while homeschooling four children is a serious disruption. They needed a builder they could trust to respect that.
Working Together
They came to us originally thinking about cabinet refacing. After one phone call and a home visit, the conversation shifted. We listened to how they actually lived, asked the right questions, and helped them see that if they were going to invest, they should do it in a way that truly solved the problem.
We built the entire project schedule around their homeschool routine before construction ever started. Every material selection was made in advance. Communication was consistent throughout. Their family's daily life was treated as a constraint worth designing around, not an afterthought.
The Plan
We held several in-home planning sessions to understand how each space was used before putting anything on paper. From there we developed conceptual designs and refined them together. The family visited our cabinetry showroom to work through every kitchen detail, from custom drawer heights and tray dividers to the appliance garage that would finally get their countertops clear. Once selections were locked, we built a construction schedule around their routine and got to work.
The client's aesthetic trended toward the modern style, so we chose flat drawer and door fronts, but chose a warm toned walnut to bring in the mid-century influence without leaning too austere. The warm veining in the countertops and backsplash brings a factor of elegance.
Choosing a full transformation over a surface fix was not a small decision. But they had lived with the limitations long enough. They moved forward, and the work began.
The Transformation
The kitchen now has custom cabinetry built around how the family actually cooks, with a dedicated appliance garage, tray dividers, and quartz countertops that extend up the backsplash. The countertops stay clear. The space works the way it always should have.
In the primary bath, the old whirlpool tub is gone. In its place is a custom storage cabinet for linens and supplies. The shower was expanded and finished in full porcelain panels with a rain showerhead and body sprays. New vanity, flooring, lighting, and accessories complete the room.
The kids' bathroom received new flooring, a fresh vanity and linen cabinet, countertops, lighting, and fixtures throughout.
One detail worth telling: matching the quartz veining in the kitchen left just short of enough material to complete the primary bath vanity. Rather than ask the clients to purchase a full new slab, we called every stone supplier in Iowa until we found a matching remnant. They got the cohesive finish they had imagined.
Customer Experience
"We built our house 20 years ago, and when doing so, chose the cheapest version of everything. After 20 years of use and appliances starting to cash out, we decided our house needed some major TLC and a refresh.
Big Woods tackled our primary bathroom, main bathroom, and our kitchen in the span of 3 months. I had a good idea of how I wanted our spaces to look and feel, and it was helpful to have Megan pull all my ideas together and make them reality. Brandon and his team were careful to plan each of the projects so that our lives were disrupted as little as possible in the process. We appreciated their quick communication and that they were always moving the ball forward to ensure that the projects were done in a timely manner. Their team was pleasant to have around, kind, & professional.
The team's attention to detail and craftsmanship was fantastic!! In any construction project, there are bound to be surprises and hurdles. In every bump, they were quick to provide a solution and make sure it was taken care of correctly. We are so very happy with the finished spaces."
