these are some ideas that I was using as an inspiration:

I dont think I want to go white on any of the cabinets though. I have mentioned above I would consider greige, mushroom, shades of green.

Fireplace mantle (although, I would ass drywall and paint same as walls in order to keep it neutral)

" I only want to focus on items that will definitely change the look, and give me a sure return on investment, even though we are buying this as our primary residence. "

Live with it for 6 months to a year before dumping dollars into it. Clean, paint and minor things until you determine exactly what does not work for you and what does. Don't send good money after something that will not help the overall layout,

I agree, the house looks fine, except for the awful yellow walls in the kitchen and other areas. Leave everything until you have lived there 6 months to a year, and then decide what you want to do. The cabinets all look nice. I wouldnt even think of painting them. If you do, you can expect chipping occasionally and touching up regularly. I love your floors. Its a beautiful house. Congratulations on your new home. Just dont get excited and paint something that you will be sorry for 6 months or a yr down the road. Excitement over a new home results in doing things, too fast, that really dont need redoing, and results in being sorry later.

You will not get the changes you want, in a house this size, with a tight budget. I did a similar project in our previous Spanish style house in CA, but we bought the house knowing we had the funds for a full remodel. We lived in the house for 18 months before we started making changes.

Have you done any remodeling? Do you have any idea of remodeling costs? Your master bathroom gut/remodel would be an $80K project to look like your inspiration photos.

NY advice as mentioned do not do anything until you have lived there for a MIN. 6 months where hyge changes are planned. I think the house seems liveable right now so wait to do it right . The flooring issues have me baffled you say saltillo then pecan which is where . I think if you must do something to start I would doa ll the walls one color and maybe white . That is all I would do right now. I see the pecan in only one space . For me that floor is more obnoxious than the tile .

Your inspiration rooms are quite varied and you also mentioned there is a limited budget. I’d therefore step back and make the flooring decision first as it will have a major influence on most other decisions. Suggest getting quotes to provide you with a base to move forward. In the meantime, save inspiration rooms that resonate/are complementary and you’ll start to see a similar feel, which will help with decisions.

There are so many lovely possibilities. Good luck!

The interior blends well together. Instead of spending alot to change it, I'd sell it when you find something that is priced because it needs a renovation. The other consideration is your personal taste. It isn't as easy to add value when you prefer non-current finishes. Both things aren't happening at a minimum budget level.

The flooring is the best part about the home. There's no point in spending 100K on new floors and a remuddle.

I think that tile flooring is beautiful -- hardly dated! Please don't be too quick to tear out everything that distinguishes your home from every HGTV makeover. If it were mine I'd lean into the classic Spanish-syle architecture, including the flooring. So much potential!

Living with saltillo tile is not easy! A slightly uneven surface might be fine for an outdoor patio, but in sucks in the house. Kids couldn't play on the floor ... try building lego on a wavy surface. Rolling an office chair ... chunk, chunk, chunk sounds as you go over the wavy floor! Ours was dark red, dirty looking and was a cheap material choice when the previous owners installed it.

We removed around 4000 sq ft of saltillo tile from floors, walls and patio ... no regrets!

Except for the floor and a couple of beams all the Spanish Hacienda style of the house is non-existent. The house has no details that impart a soul into the house. The kitchen cabinets and details are meh. Changing pulls on cabinets & countertops is the least of the issues with this home.

There is something terribly wrong with the color of the lighting throughout. I don't think it's just the wall color that is affecting the overall appearance. I'd be interested to know if the recessed downlights have PAR or R bulbs. DO NOT USE ANY R BULBS IN FIXTURES.

How can a space that has so many recessed downlights installed have almost no light bouncing off the island???? The problem is in the lamping I'm sure. You can see how dim your kitchen is when compared to other kitchens with recessed downlights.

Once you get the lighting right, you'll be able to tackle the other stuff. The next orde of business is the general paint on the walls but you can't make that decision until the lighting is fixed.

This house is perfectly sellable as is. A cost analysis will be beneficial here. When you total the cost of the changes, I expect the sum will be significant enough to see the savings of using that amount to do the same scope of reno to a house in less sellable condition. A house that will be available at a lower initial price. You end up at the same place when done in the same time frame while either saving a lot of money or spending the same total but getting a higher level of finishes. Add things up before proceeding.

Paint all of the walls a warm white - kitchen, living room, bathrooms, everything (Don't try to match your walls to the floor grout. That will be a mistake.)

Replace the black counters with stone to match the island large white top island stone. Square off the new top on the island with seating. The curved shape is dating it. Once it is squared and has stools, you won't notice the curve on the tile or of the island itself.

New backsplash.

Replace the hanging kitchen lights.

I agree the wood floors are pretty terrible but I don't believe that restaining them is going to even out the tones - you will be left with a large range of tones just of a different color. So yes to your suggestion of covering them with inexpensive throws. I find large jute rugs from NuLoom are perfect for that.

Don't touch the fireplace. It is the least of your worries. Let it be stone, don't add to the mantle. Hang something large and captivating above it.

Live with your mater bath. Nothing about gutting a bathroom is inexpensive.

Enjoy creating a new look in here doing as little and spending as little as possible.

Who would destroy the character of that home by removing those great floors? Only a vandal bent on "depersonalizing" something that is so deeply personal that they ought not to have bought it if they don't like it.

Hey Everyone, The OP said they do NOT want to update the tile. They only want to update the wood flooring.

Not sure I would even spend money on the wood floor. If most of the wood is covered with rugs, I'm not sure it's undesirable.

@Maria R0250, I am not a fan of the Brazilian Pecan (Guajuvira) floors either - they are so busy. Refinishing them would be great, but the grain is so tight I’m not sure you can effectively get rid of the striped appearance. Contact a floor refinisher and ask what he can do. To me this would be the first project of many, absolutely worth it even if you have to wait to do your other projects. I would replace them if you can’t refinish them. They’re not attractive.

Do you have HBO Max? If so, take a look at a series called Restored. Many of the homes are old Spanish Revival homes and their restorations are beautifully done. Before you invest in gold faucets and caricature ”hacienda” touches, immerse yourself in the real deal. It could change your plans for your home substantially. Good luck!!

The first thing you might want to do is get the tile floors cleaned and the walls painted a beautiful ivory. Then start getting quotes on all the other projects.

I think you will find the cost of your renovation ideas are much higher than expected. We all do that. I love your inspiration photos. But every room can be quite costly - especially bathrooms. (For example: my 9’x3’ powder room renovation was $11k for new tile floors, wood wainscoting, wallpaper, sink/faucet/mirror, new toilet.) You can barely turn around in that room. Your new house has glorious spaces so knowing the true current cost of any renovation will help you plan properly.

Keep collecting photo ideas but start calling reliable contractors for estimates. Only then will you know what you can realistically do and for what cost. If you can paint and climb ladders, the initial painting of the walls and trim will save you A LOT of money.

Final thought on “return of investment”. You might make a profit if you choose to sell this house at some point, or you won’t. The forces that dictate real estate sales in the future are unknown. I’ve bought 4 houses and sold 3. The market at the time greatly affected my ability to sell any of them. Right now there are more houses for sale than buyers so you probably have a good negotiating position. But every area is its own market, so if you love it and can afford it, you buy it. There is NO WAY to know what it will be worth whenever you choose to sell, if ever.

Keep us posted. Your new house is really lovely and you can make it fabulous with your ideas.

Thank you for all your comments. I was not going to remove the Saltillo tiles, even if I may not love them that much. They add to the character of the home, and must stay. I will start with paint first, as most of you have advised. If possible, I will see if I can refinish the wood flooring, however it is engineered and I’m not yet sure on the thickness, so refinishing may not even be an option. I will definitely hold off on bathroom remodel and countertop changes until we move in and I get a better feel of the home. Its a very unique type of home for us, not anything we thought we would ever buy. But it was hard to pass on the beautiful courtyard that is on the middle of the home.

Someone made a comment about the lighting. I 100% agree they need to go!! This may be my project #2, but also not anything that needs to be rushed.

I have done an extensive remodel of a bare bones home (much larger) several years back, and it turned out absolutely beautiful, and on a limited budget. So I am not intimidated by the scope of the project and have pretty good understanding of the costs involved.

Someone else mentioned squaring off the round countertop. 100% agree. This will likely be project #3. My plan is to add corbel/legs and extend it to make it a little bigger, as well as to remove the rounded front.

I will update as things evolve. Thank you again for all the helpful comments.

I have painted the interior in Benjamin Moore White Sand on walls and white down on trim. I feel it turned out a smitch too creamy but the lighting has not yet been changed. So it will have to work. I did try BM Swiss Coffee in one of my rooms at first and it was very white, although it was prior to us painting all the trim. Regardless, the paint is done and I can not go back without spending a lot of money again.

Now I would love to get help with lighting, countertops/backsplash.

All thoughts are welcome.

Assuming these cabinets are staying as they are, my best advice is to remove one door and go shopping at the stone yards with it. Let us know what product you might want (granite, quartz, quartzite, solid surface, marble, soapstone, laminate….). I would look for something light that complements the rich cabinets.

Are you keeping or removing the backsplash? For me, the gray goes against the rich colors in your house and doesn’t say “Mediterranean” at all. I would look for fabulous tiles that scream handmade (even if they just look that way) and surround the gorgeous deep cabinets with pattern. I would also use the same countertop throughout the kitchen.

Interesting backsplash tiles

More unusual tiling

Lighter route.

Using the same material on the countertop and backsplash is always pretty.

The paint color is good! I like the existing white and iron cylinder pendants over the living room area - they suit the style of the house IMO. However, the elongated skinny glass shades over the very weird second island need to go, and hopefully the fan in the middle of the kitchen too unless you have airflow problems in the kitchen! I would do matching black iron chandeliers in an airy design over the half-round island and the fan island. This is a popular style, for good reason.

I would do off white/creamy counters and backsplash. I'm not a statement backsplash person, and if you don't have a lot of colorful eclectic/bohemian accessories to make the style cohesive, it will look out of step.

@RedRyder - I love your advice on the kitchen countertops. I was actually leaning towards something similar to your second from the last picture (white/grey), just need to make sure it suits the rest of the home. Again, I want to leave some Mediterranean/Spanish feel to it to tie in with the Saltillo tiles. I like the idea of adding colored handmade tile backsplash, but would need to be very careful with what I pick as I don’t want to overdo it. I want to keep a neutral pallet that works for everyone not just me, in case we are to ever sell the home. if I did colorful tiles it would need to be something that either goes with the Saltillo (gold/orange tones) or picks up the greyish grout tone from the flooring. It must tie in to something in my kitchen though else it might be weird.

@Julie S - I also agree with your advice on off white/creamy countertops. I will be trying different samples for countertop/tile combination.

I also don’t mind the idea of the same material for all countertops including backsplash, but concerned if this will be to much or an overkill for such a large kitchen, and if break in pattern is indeed needed for that reason.

And you have an interesting advice for leaving the 4 large pendants in the living room and adding two same chandeliers for the two islands. And no, I don’t love the fan and I hate those little tiny whatever they are pendants hanging off the ceiling now. I feel like ripping them out myself actually before the contractor can do it (but I think I will spare my ceiling. and will wait).

@Julie S - would you have a picture of the lights idea you are talking about? I have not seen anything like that over the islands so its difficult to envision.

As far as bringing the second countertop to the same level , do you think it would not be too much, espicially if I keep space for a rectangular formal dining table infront of the second island ?

Thank you All!!

I just googled chandelier over island and you can too ;) I have always liked the look, and here I think you need some contrasting type of light fixture if you have long drop pendants in one part of the space.