Remodel - In Retrospect

[cschin4]

OK guys, I know that I have discussed my remedel. But, let me give you the voice of experience in good vs stupid spending. Most of what I did I am pleased with. However, I do see some stupid wastes of money.

Kitchen - I am glad I spent the extra money on detailing the cabinets with crown, dentil molding and light rail trim on the bottom. Gives the cabinets a very rich feel and looks great. However, I did the Corian/solid surface countertops with integral sink. I love the integral sink with no caulking. But, really, it is just a place to set stuff. In retrospect, I would have just gone for the laminate and saved myself a few dollars.
I put ceramic tile on the floors and love that. Stick to something simple, don't get too fancy or intricate unless you know your really love it.
Also, I forked out for a 36 inch Jenn Air professional stainless steel range and LOVE it! The stove is something you use all the time. A dishwasher is just a dishwasher. So, if you have to make some choices, I think the money is better spent in the range and a cheaper dishwasher will suffice.

Flooring - I put wood laminate flooring throughout the downstairs. We have kids and a dog and it is pretty much indestructible. It looks great but in retrospect I wish I would have put in real hardwood and lived with the dings and so forth. Maybe next time.

Furnace - I had a new furnace put in and went for zoned heating. I absolutely LOVE it and the house is soooo much more comfortable as well and I think more energy efficient since I can control the hot and cold spots.

Carpeting - In the upstairs I have 4 bedrooms but the hall connects them all pretty close together. So, instead of getting seperate carpeting and color for each room, I choose a neutral color and ran it up the steps and into all the bedrooms. It gives the upstairs some continuity and a cohesive feel. All the rooms are painted in a similar tone and I change the looks of the rooms with fabrics, draperies, bedspread, etc.

Again, your mileage may very. Just offering my experience.

[zetta]

Mileage does indeed vary!

Kitchen -- we went for granite countertops, and 5 years later still love them. Expensive dishwasher is definitely worth it for quiet operation, and I still like the double dish drawer design. (I wonder if there is such a thing as a quiet washer and dryer???) Microwave that can double as a convection oven was not worth it. Still wish we had room for a 2nd oven for holiday cooking. Love our ceramic floor tiles -- they are dark and look similar to slate, and don't show dirt between biweekly moppings.

Carpet -- went for light color 7 years ago. It's really showing stains that come back a couple of weeks after cleaning, and needs to be replaced. I'd like to put wood on the stairs, but DH is worried it will be too slick for the kids. Would choose a more kid-friendly color instead...

Wood floors -- we put a less-expensive engineered wood upstairs, installed it ourselves. It has held up well, but we made some mistakes with the baseboards/quarter rounds that will need to be fixed before we sell. Would probably go for a thicker grade next time.

Ceiling fans -- worth every penny!

Kids bathroom -- I should've taken more time selecting the color of the tile & countertop. I'm not happy with the current combo. Wish we'd gone ahead and replaced the cabinets.

Master bath -- should've gone for a tile floor instead of the fiberglasss pre-form to maximize shower space. Jets were a waste -- used too much water, and have stopped working.

[cschin4]

I had considered putting in a single person whirlpool that would have been the size of a regular tub. After talking with some people, they said cleaning was a bit of a pain. And, also I realize that I would rarely want to fill the whole tub as that would be expensive and a lot of water so I didn't do that.
I also spent a bit of money in the basement. We had some mold so I had the foundation sprayed with muratic acid or something like that. Then, I had the walls coated and parched. (again, not sure of the terminology) In addition, we did some other measures to cut down on the dampness and help with water control and now the basement is greatly improved. The house was built in 1851 so it does have a damp basement and it is just something you live with our spend rebuild the foundation which is cost prohibitive. And, no different than anyone else on the block.
I also did new siding. I put on a grey with red shutters. While it looks really nice, I wish I would have stuck with white and put black shutters on which was the original look.

[cschin4]

And, at some point in life, one has to just be happy with what you have and the way things are. I stopped watching HGTV because it made me dissatisfied or always looking to change things.
I am planning to landscape this summer. I would like to do some myself. Any advice on that or planning?
Also, in the back I am considering a brick patio or other hardscape. But, it may be more economical to put on a deck made that composite material? We have the composite wood on the front porch so I would use the same look.

[disneysteve]

I choose a neutral color and ran it up the steps and into all the bedrooms. It gives the upstairs some continuity and a cohesive feel. All the rooms are painted in a similar tone

Just personal preference, but this would make me feel like I was in a hotel or rental property. We like that each room is a different color, walls painted differently, carpet colors different. I wouldn't want every room to be the same. I had that when I rented and it is part of the reason I like owning my own home, so I don't have to look at neutral walls and floors throughout.

[cschin4]

steve - I didn't think I would like that as well when it was suggested to me. But, I was up for trying something new and thought it made sense, especially because I was on the fence and thought I might have to sell the house as I was undertaking this while living in my other home. As for the "hotel" feel, it doesn't have that feel at all. I am not a very good decorator and I liked how it help bring it together. Also, I tend to get tired of the same old thing after awhile and if I stick with neutral it is much easier to change the fabrics in the room than the carpeting. Again, just offering my 2 cents for those who may remodel in the future to really think about your particular personality, etc.

[disneysteve]

thought it made sense, especially because I was on the fence and thought I might have to sell the house

That's different. If I expected to sell in the not too distant future, I would also go neutral. Not everyone would appreciate our color choices, might not go with their furniture, etc. Heck, when we redid our dining room into a sitting room, we painted the walls a fairly bright pink, not something many people would choose, but we like it a lot.

[cschin4]

In our other house, I painted my daughter's room PeptoBismal pink and then rag rolled a fluffy white look over top and looked great. But certainly not everyone's cup of tea! But, luckily the people buying the home also had a young daughter who probably loved it. But, as I am getting older i find that I really dont' want to spend as much time repainting, etc so it is easier to just keep things on the neutral side for me.

[wincrasher]

Sounds like you made some good choices.

Going high-end on appliances is always a good idea - especially for resale. You can generally find good deals - especially in this economy. One thing I'd like, if I remodeled my kitchen, would be two dishwashers - that would be a nice luxury. The look of custom cabinetry by adding the trim is well worth the money and probably increased the return on your remodel the most.

I love my hardwoods, but they do take some care and caution. Insist on wiping the feet with a good mat and ban high heel shoes from your house. Some laminates have been known to disintegrate after a few years - but it's easy and fairly inexpense to replace.

Personally, I like carpet in the bedrooms. Neutral color is a good choice. You can make it look a bit upscale by doing the hallway in hardwood and just have carpet in the rooms. That way it's not so matchy-matchy as some do not like.

I have Silestone in my current house - with a stainless sink. In my old house, I also did the quartz, but with a corian undermount sink. I must say that I greatly prefer the corian sink - it's virtually indestructable and cleans easily. Seems like something is always scratching my stainless sink. Corian countertops are considered dated now. Laminate even more so. But you can change that out in a few years.

My builder cheaped out by putting acrylic countertops and shower surrounds in my bathrooms. Thankfully he did good cabinetry, hardware and ceramic floors. My next project is to start replacing these vanity tops with granite or silestone. I like the acrylic showers, since they are so easy to clean - probably keep them as is.

[MonkeyMama]

Honestly, I've never seen a home or apartment with varying colored carpets. The thought would never occur to me that one color is boring. I just don't know any different.

Obviously, everyone has their preferences.

CARPET - We got a nice neutral color (throughout house) that hides stains well. We were wise in this decision because our first home had offwhite carpet. Pre-kids, but we had a cat who left hairball stains and such. I am not sure we would have made such a good choice or thought so carefully about it, otherwise. 8 years in and all the carpet is immaculate, except the family room where the kids mostly play. But even that looks fine with an annual shampoo.

Kitchen - Granite all the way. I can't imagine anything else. (The only negative I can come up with is since it lasts forever, that it may become out-dated with time - long before it's time is up, anyway. I wouldn't recommend it if you want to update every decade).

Linoleum - LOVE it in the kitchen and baths. (I think I just really hate tile and grout - too much cleaning and upkeep. I'd be happy to never see tile again, though we have crappy tile in our baths. The baths were the only thing we didn't "upgrade," and I regret that). Zetta reminds me that we picked a floor color that has grey swirls, etc. - it hides dirt, but it also makes it hard to spot dirt. I am okay with that! Ours looks like tile, so looks nice, but is so easy to clean.

Zoned heating and air is awesome, and extremely energy efficient. Interestingly, our heat and air is so energy efficient, we rarely use our ceiling fans. The fans are just so much less efficient and useful, in comparison.

Master Bath - Totally with Zetta. We never use our jetted tub.

All our appliances are energy efficient and quiet, but nothing spectacular otherwise. Just, no complaints. Quiet is good!

I suppose those are the biggies - nothing much else to add. I don't have a lot of perspective since I have only lived in new or renovated homes, as a homeowner. Meaning, they tend to have all the newest and greatest as far as cabinets, tubs, sinks, features, etc., etc. (Always dual-paned windows, as well - good point).

[wincrasher]

Oh, one thing I forgot to mention - you should look into thermal glass if you haven't replaced your windows - that also has a good return on investment, plus will lower your utility bills and make your home more comfortable.

Monkeymama - my own mother shares your opinion on linoleum floors - she hates cleaning tile and was asking my why I'd want it in my house. I probably would have walked out on any house that had granite countertops but a linoleum floor - that would have been a headscratcher - I did look at several that had the laminate hardwoods in the kitchen and baths - that's not such a bad choice really - the stuff is made for wet areas, unlike solid hardwoods.

[Caoineag]

Hmm..glad to hear the opinions on the jetted tubs, was considering one for when we redo the bathroom, probably will skip.

Kitchen - Laminate floor and laminate countertops were worth doing for cheap since they aren't lime green now. The black granite composite sink with nice faucets is the best money every spent (doesn't stain, doesn't splash and looks great, can even be reused if I do go with granite countertops next time). The cabinet resurfacing allowed us to keep the old sturdy boxes but replace doors and hardware and was well worth the money for lightening up the kitchen (the only room in the house without an excess of sunshine). Appliances were worth the money spent on them, glad I did scratch and dent for the most of them.

New Windows- no drafts this winter and I can turn the furnace up to 68-70 without breaking the bank (20+ gas furnace is on the replace soon list).

Bathroom and Kitchen venting - worth installing but I should have paid the extra money for the quieter kitchen vent. Probably will in a couple of years.

New bathroom sink - actually fits in the bathroom and gives us storage space, very worth the small price tag.

Paint and trim - love the colors I chose except for the kitchen which turned out too yellow and only messed up replacing the trim in one room (bigger is better) which was a fairly inexpensive lesson on how to do trim.

I still have lots of work to do though...

[zetta]

Actually I love our jetted tub, and use it fairly often. It was the jets in the shower that were too wasteful of water and went bad.

In CA the default builder countertop seems to be white tile. Hate, hate, hate that stuff! I'd rather have even laminate.

[DayByDay]

We tiled our kitchen floor in our previous place. Never again will I have tile floors! It's like standing on solid rock, and the time I spent in the kitchen cooking made the bottom of my heels hurt 24/7.

[cschin4]

Try some area rugs, a small one by the sink and one by the stove, that should take care of the problem, though I get you didn't put down the flooring to cover it. We have tile now and I really like it but it is a much harder surface. Had wood laminate in my old house and that was also very nice in the kitchen, easy to clean and soft to walk on. And, nothing wrong with vinyl or linoleum either.