Second Life for a Second Empire

Where I splurged: Granite kitchen counters and $6-a-square-foot hexagonal black-and-white tiles for the master bath.
What I would do differently: Devise a game plan and do things in a logical order, rather than whatever we felt like doing that day.
Biggest challenge: Getting rid of 100 years’ worth of paint. Between the exterior and interior moldings and the doors and floors, I thought the sanding would never end.
How I solved it: To keep motivated, I tried to look at only the area that I was able to finish rather than at everything else that had to be done. Seeing progress helps keep you going.