When Jim and Lisa Bergman bought their 1960s split-entry home in south Everett, they had big plans.

Those plans certainly didn’t involve the brown carpeting in the kitchen or the gold foil wallpaper that came with their house when they bought it 1995.

And yet they lived with many such

dated features until they could afford to make improvements, including replacing that kitchen carpeting with linoleum after eight long years.

They could have done more much sooner if their septic system and roofing hadn’t need replacing too.

Lisa Bergman was a stay-at-home mom when they first moved in, and she wanted their two kids to be her top priority.

Though interior decorating was important to the Bergmans, they weren’t willing to go into big debt to make upgrades.

Still, Lisa Bergman kept a scrapbook over the years and compiled dreamy pages from magazines and catalogs.

Then, in 2009, after saving money from her job at Boeing and her husband’s job with Puget Sound Energy — and a helpful home equity loan — the couple took their remodeling to the next level.

It was time to knock down some walls.

The Bergmans wanted to remodel not only their kitchen, but also their dining and living room areas to create one cohesive space.

And they wanted to do it on a budget. They weren’t going to wait 15 years just to go into debt.

Working with Mukilteo-based contractor Kevin Chrisman of Custom Mizer Plus and a handful of other contractors, they achieved the kitchen of their dreams with golden granite counters, a custom tile backsplash, honey-colored alder cabinets, new lighting, crown molding and sparkling new appliances.

Chrisman took down the walls between the kitchen, the dining room and the living room to create an expansive great room.

“We love to entertain,” Lisa Bergman said. “I’m a big family person. I just wanted that open feeling, the open concept. It’s exactly what I had hoped for.”

With the walls removed, the Bergmans had enough room for a dining table for eight as well as four comfortable barstool chairs at a granite bar next to the range, right where a huge wall had been.

The Bergmans used a lot of old-world colors, rich golds, oranges, browns and blacks in their decorating. But they didn’t hold strictly to any specific decor style.

“I’m truly what they call eclectic,” Lisa Bergman said, noting the space-age-style stainless pendants hanging over the bar and the contemporary works of art in the living room.

In the living room, the Bergmans added new furniture, a sound system and a flat-screen TV over a new fireplace mantel flanked by custom bookcases.

The Bergmans, she 49, and he 52, say their granddaddy of a home improvement project was worth the wait.

“It’s really hard to be patient. You want to be like everyone else. You want to get there. You want to arrive,” Bergman said, sharing her advice for young budget-strapped couples wishing they could build their dream kitchens right away.

“You need to wait. Know what you want. Take your time. Enjoy the journey,” she said.

And what about the Bergmans’ once-carpeted kitchen floor?

It’s now covered in large elegant ceramic tiles set at an angle.

Bergman is so delighted with their new spaces — and the improvements they are now making throughout the rest of their house — that she feels a bit guilty, a bit of “survivor’s remorse,” she said.

“It’s still a little surreal,” she said, adding that the family lived in north Everett for six years before coming to their current home.

“Twenty-one years we had to wait.”

Sarah Jackson: 425-339-3037; sjackson@heraldnet.com.

Resources

Boyko Custom Tile, Viktor Boyko, Everett, 425-239-6987

Custom Mizer Plus, Kevin Chrisman, Mukilteo, 425-931-6973, cmizerplus@aol.com

Hatloe’s Carpet One Floor & Home Decorating Center, 3701 Rucker Ave., Everett, 425-259-5104, www.hatloespaint.com.

Lowell’s Stained Glass Studio, Paul Lowell, 209 Fourth Ave. S., Suite 102, Edmonds, 425-775-3770

Big-ticket items

Here’s a look at some of the costlier elements of Jim and Lisa Bergman’s remodeling job, which included changes in the kitchen and living and dining rooms. Splurges included crown molding throughout the spaces, high-end appliances (because they love to cook) and slab granite counters. They had planned to go with a lower-end countertop material, but they fell in love with the look of natural stone.

Carpentry, cabinets, lighting, plumbing, dry wall and demolition: $23,800

Range, refrigerator, vent hood: $7,300

Granite and installation: $6,600

Tile floor and backsplash (materials and labor): $3,300

Contractor’s custom bookcases and mantel: $2,000

Carpeting: $1,800

Two stained glass cabinet door panels: $1,100

Faucet: $400

Two pendant lights: $300