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We’re planning on a home remodel. We did it once before, tripling the size of our house. Then we added a pool. But time has gone by, and just like a mother forgets the pain of going through childbirth, we’re not remembering very clearly the inconvenience, the mess, the irritation of having strangers around all the time. I sort of suspect it’s going to mean a huge disruption to my life and that I’m going to want to commit murder once or twice, but right now I’m still hovering in that rosy phase where all things are possible. Images of warming ovens, refrigerators that cost the same as small cars, and a new cooktop are dancing in my head. We’re thinking of adding a new back deck and another on top of the garage/storeroom we’re going to build. It’s a very big undertaking.
And every time I get overwhelmed I look around my well-lived-in house and realize the place that everyone always praised as so “homey” has, over the years, become more like “homely.” All I see these days is where a kid made a gouge in a wall or where some water damage buckled the family room ceiling…for over a year we had a fake leg sticking out of the hole. Once Surfer Guy finally repaired it, apparently he could not find the exact paint match so…yeah. Homely.
I’m ready for a castle! (Well, just a great room and a new kitchen. And that garage. The Ridgways have limped along with a single car garage all these years for long-story reasons and it’s time to have more storage! And the back deck. And the other deck. Okay, maybe a castle.) So I asked the architect and the contractor about a timeline. How about next Thanksgiving as the must-be-done-by date? I was looked on with pity. Foolish homeowner, their expressions said. I turned my gaze on Surfer Guy who looked the other way. (I could swear he said it was reasonable, but now I think about it, he’s a math teacher. What does he know about castles?)
So I have no idea when we can get it done. And I find this more than disappointing. In preparation for this new project I’ve been watching a lot of shows on HGTV. How long are they? 30 minutes? 60 minutes? In that time people find the home of their dreams or the home of their dreams is created out of a fixer-upper, or they go to some exotic locale and find the home of their dreams there. Do you blame me for thinking this could all be done by the next holidays? And by guys who look like this! 
Maybe we’ll start taking bets on when I’ll be in my newly renovated digs. Did I mention I want new curtains in my living room and new shelves in my office close toot? ::sigh:: I’m starting to fear the long road ahead.
If you could change one thing about your current abode, what would it be? New curtains, a new vanity in the bathroom? And if you want to add remodel advice, I’m listening!
68 Comments on “Home Remodel or He__?”
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I would want to change so many things here. We have no fly screens so we have a number of flies bugging us, the stove is a heap of crap. I grew up with a gas some and I can tell you that a gas stove and oven will cook things beautifully and you can manage the heat a heck of a lot better too. Then there’s the colour of the walls. They are green and I really detest them. A nice white with a hint of blue running through would give the
Impression that the room is bigger than it really is and that it looks cleaner too.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 4:15 am.
I grew up with an electric cooktop but now have gas. I do love it. The new ones are even more fab…so many choices!
I’m with you on the screens…I hate bugs!
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 10:08 am.
There are too many things to get remodeled, but for my own space (i.e. my bedroom), I would LOVE to change my flooring from carpet to hardwood. In MI weather, carpet is probably the best, but for cleaning, I rather have hardwood.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 4:30 am.
Hardwood is cold on the toesies! We have hardwood downstairs and carpet upstairs because we were told kid clatter would be bad with hardwood upstairs too. But kids make messes on carpets!
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 11:29 am.
Space. If I could change anything about my tiny, tiny bedsit flat, it would be magically adding another room. I now live in a flat which takes up 30 square meters in its entirety – room, kitchen, bathroom, hall, all of it.
But, looking on the bright side, living in such tight space is very good for de-cluttering your life. Having to cram all your worldly possessions in 30 square meters makes you a demon of selectivity.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:31 am.
It’s so great to be de-cluttered, even if your small space is forcing that. I am swearing I’m going to go through everything and throw/give lots away as we go through this. I have way too much stuff–like old cookie sheets or tablecloths I never use anymore.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 11:32 am.
Good luck to you, you’re going to need it with such a massive undertaking.
I’m a renter so of course I’d sooner move than renovate my digs. My last 2 places before this one were corner units with floor to ceiling windows, a water view and doorman service. Those are the things I’d change but you can’t have everything.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 7:40 am.
That’s what’s so true. You can’t have it all–whether renting or remodeling. I’m trying to prioritize so I know my must-haves.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 11:33 am.
Oh wow, I am SO jealous that you are able to at least consider having a massive remodel! Granted, my home is only 8 years old but there are definitely things that need work. First and foremost, my my master bath!!! Being the idiot first time home builder type, I took much the “builder guy” told me at face value… in my defense, my munchkin was only a year old so I was still in baby brain mode. He swore up and down that we needed to replace the caulk in our shower every 6 months to keep it from mildewing etc. I have no idea why I believed this tripe since my parents had tile showers and NEVER had to replace it.. or if they did, it was NOT every 6 months! Also, my flooring has peeled up all around said shower too, meaning somewhere along the line I had a leak and crappy floors! OH and did I mention, there is no door to my bathroom from the master bedroom? Talk about lack of privacy. Sheesh! With any luck, we MIGHT get to work on this project this year. Its only been 8 years!!!
I do have some lofty plans for my kitchen too but those will just have to wait. Good luck if you do manage to find people to TRY to get your reno done. Maybe a little bit at a time??? Oh yeah, and Johnathan Scott can always seem to get an entire reno done in less than 5 weeks!!! How is that possible???
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 7:58 am.
Yes, I blame the Scott brothers for my skewed idea of how long the project would take. I think they must bring in a million people.
And that whole thing about no door between master bedroom and bath…I have that design too! I didn’t realize how much I wouldn’t like it until it was too late.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 11:38 am.
I am a big fan of doors. Everywhere. You can always open them, but without them? No options at all.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 11:47 am.
We pseudo remedied that problem because we have that long hallway that connects the 2 rooms with closets on either side. I have a walk in and my DH has the bi fold doors kind. Anyway, he took the door off its hinges in my closet and flipped the hinges so it opens out instead of in now. We can butt the 2 doors together to make a covering so you cant sit on the bed and watch the other person shower anymore. At least it is something. I really want to wall in that hallway and put a door into my closet from the bedroom and make a big L shaped master closet by combining both of our closets. Would alleviate the privacy issue along with creating a much bigger closet area. *sigh* If only I were rich and famous….
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 11:51 am.
I would really like a larger office. I feel like all the piles of paper and books are creeping up on me whenever I’m looking at the computer.
My remodel advice is not to let your contractor husband exchange contractor favors for upgrades. It took us 10 years to remodel this house and by the time we were done, the first thing we’d started on needed to be started again.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 8:19 am.
LOL on the favors, Lori! My friends with contractor husbands say their projects are always the last to get worked on. My office is very small and the books are drowning me. But we’re adding a storeroom where I hope I can store some of them. I had to choose bigger office or bigger family room area and I decided to keep my office as is.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 11:41 am.
I would love to have a master bathroom. I keep threatening to have the bedroom adjoining ours turned into a walk-in closet and a master bath. I don’t think that will eve happen though.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 8:45 am.
Ah, that would be lovely, wouldn’t it? My closet is walk-in but it’s not huge and it needs a purging. I find it very hard to part with shoes, though.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 11:47 am.
Maybe you can barter something with Drew and Jonathon (@MrDrewScott and @MrSilverScott, respectively, on Twitter). I follow them, and they are funny. There are also two other gorgeous ones–Cousins on Call. Anthony Carrino and John Colaneri (@CarrinoAnthony and @ColaneriJohn, respetively). They are also very funny, and fantastic. Both sets of guys seem to get everything done very quickly and very well, although I’m sure their time frame and experience level would not come cheap.
Personally, I sacrificed my big kitchen for an extra room. I’m still glad that I did, but if I had the time and $$, I would definitely knock out the wall of our little kitchen nook and expand and open up my kitchen. I’d probably do the same in my master bath. Of course, by the time I spend all of that money on a suburban house, I’d probably just as well buy a house that already has what I want because that would decrease the size of our already teeny back yard.
Speaking of…..Ahmed Hassan could certainly come and crash my yard, too.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 9:29 am.
Thank you for supplying those Twitter handles! I’m going to follow them now. Love the cousins, too.
I’m getting rid of my dedicated dining room. Knocking out a wall so I have a “great room.” It’s weird because we’re taking some of my current family room for a big pantry but in the end the whole thing will feel bigger, I think.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 11:51 am.
I would love to renovate my kitchen. The cabinets are white which I am not a fan of. With kids and pets I am always having to wipe them down. I would also like to change the layout of it. Right now it is an L shape, but I would like it more in a U shape. I would also like to change out the floor tile. I am not a fan of the colour and the grout is a light colour which is impossible to keep clean. The only thing I really like about it is the backsplash, which we added a few years ago and the breakfast area, which is nice and roomy.
I would also remodel the master ensutie. I would change the corner tub to one of those free standing ones, and change out the shower to one that is all glass.
I don’t like the thought of going through renos, though. It is such an inconvinence. I would love to go away on holiday and come home to a fully updated kitchen like they do on some of those design shows.
We finished our basement a few years back and it was done on time and on budget, which I was so thankful for. They even managed to contain the drywall dust to the basement, which was a plus.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 9:40 am.
Oh, just thinking of the dust makes me squirm! I was just telling the dh we need to make sure we have a lot of that plastic up to keep the upstairs at least a little bearable.
I know, wouldn’t it be nice to go on vacation and come back with it done? But then you wouldn’t be able to make any last-minute changes (which might be a good thing).
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 11:52 am.
I desperately want a new kitchen, and we’ve had plans drawn up that I LOVE. It was an expensive year with new car and trip to New Zealand, however, so we will wait a bit.
I am sure the remodel will be worth very minute of pain and suffering!
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 9:45 am.
I’m excited about my new kitchen. I actually like my current kitchen a lot and it works great, but I hate my refrigerator and it’s going to be fun to have new countertops, etc. I didn’t know you have the plans for your kitchen! We must talk…
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 11:54 am.
Good luck, Christie!! It’s always worse than you expect.
Yeah, Little Mary Sunshine has spoken. I’ve lived through it. I have not forgotten a single episode.
I’d want a new master bedroom closet for Big D. My closet is great. His is a disaster. On the surface, it seems like an easy peasy project—take down a non-structural wall and grab some of my closet space and shift it over to him (I’m a giver)—but that would mean a new ceiling, new trim work, new carpet. Ugh. Not happening.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 10:09 am.
Yes, sometimes what seems easy is so not. LOL on Mary Sunshine. I think what’s keeping me halfway sane is that when we did it the first time we did a lot of the work ourselves. This time we won’t be, so that it at least sounds easier.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 11:55 am.
Sigh…I’m so biased when it comes to remodeling. DH has been in the contracting industry his whole career, and can do it all. He did our kitchen remodel a few years back, and just put in new cabinets in our bedroom. One tip of advice I would give….buy your own appliances and have them delivered to the site. If your contractor won’t let you do this, then insist on seeing the invoices before you pay him. Contractors/designers/decorators invariably mark this stuff up on the back side. Disclosure laws about how much stuff costs on a remodel job varies by state. KS has no laws pertaining to this, and I’m not sure about CA. Be smart with your money. Insist on detailed invoices and know what you’re paying for.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 10:43 am.
Thanks, Amanda! Great advice. I went out and priced appliances last weekend. Wow.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 11:58 am.
Best of luck on the remodeling Christie! We did the kitchen, master bath and new porch and deck about 10 years ago. Our contractor was in our home so long we still send him birthday cards.
I would like to remodel our family room. It is a long narrow room. The french doors to the porch are in this room so it does not get much natural sunlight. I would like to rip out the shelves around the fireplace and replace all the wood with the warm oak that match the french doors. With the new puppy, having a tile floor would be much nicer than the very light carpet in there. Washing puppy paws is not my favorite thing!
Enjoy the chaos of remodeling.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 10:47 am.
I love that you still send the contractor bday cards.
Puppy paw prints is one of the reasons we ultimately pulled up the carpet in our family room and made it hardwood. Much easier to clean.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 12:15 pm.
Oh Lord, I have pipe dreams about renovation all of the time! I would knock down the wall between my kitchen and living room and redo the kitchen….I would also cut in an egress window in basement and rip off the current garage and make a 2 car garage….you know, minor stuff
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 10:51 am.
Your dreams are as big as mine, Haley! I’ll keep you posted on how my “minor stuff” goes.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 12:17 pm.
Bathrooms are the place for me – I will find that a sunken tub, or clawfoot, even the exotic with waterfall water in the shower makes me think oh, how beautiful – I want, I must have. Please don’t forget the chandelier, a must in a bathroom. Calgon will take me away. But reality sets in and the “dream” must be replaced with the reality. So I will paint walls, change up furniture, even just change the drapes to make the house feel new in a way. One of my favorite things is to find pieces of furniture and strip it and repaint it – making flowers on a wooden footstool with my daughters name, painting a mural in the front of an old hutch – a new look for something old and a way of creating my own style.
When I look for advice I watch DIY – step by step instructions, gives great ideas, and easy solutions to problems you once thought couldn’t be solved without a contractor. Good luck on your renovation!
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 11:27 am.
You must be very artistic, Carla! I’ve done my share of stripping furniture but I couldn’t manage a mural. I have done some extensive stenciling in my master bedroom which I love, though. I’m thinking I’m going to do some more in my downstairs bath once it’s renovated.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 12:19 pm.
Remodeling your home is a huge undertaking. When my husband and I prepared for our retirement and subsequent move to Florida, we did a lot of updating to our big home in Virginia. It really paid off because it sold quickly and for more than we thought. We then bought a home in Florida for a good price. While living there for five years, we did more remodeling and updating of that place and sold it for more than double what we paid for it. We had decided that the upkeep of a home, pool and yard was more than we wanted to do, so we bought a condo in a gated community. That was seven years ago and we could not be more delighted. I love my home and have no complaints at all. It’s central to everything and we love it. Good luck with your remodeling. Don’t worry about wondering if you can do some of the work because you can. Just jump in and do your thing.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 12:13 pm.
Wow, that’s great on increasing the value of your property, Connie, and that now you’re living in the ideal place. We thought a little about moving instead of doing all this remodeling but we love our neighborhood.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 12:21 pm.
Wow. Good luck. Sounds like your renovations will be marvelous.
If I got a do over in my house, I’d have bigger walk-in closets. They were big when I moved in. Now they are crammed.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 12:13 pm.
That’s my problem, Rachel. Whenever I have space, I seem to put too much stuff in it. I’m hoping to get ruthless about keeping things… We’ll see how that works out.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 12:22 pm.
Mine would be the bathroom. I want a walk in shower. I rent, so the landlords and I have been talking about some improvements. We are doing some paint in the bathroom this week as the landlord had to fix some problems where dampness had disintegrated part of the wall in the bathroom. They let me pick out the colours.. So that will have to suffice for now. They are also going to be putting new carpet in my living room and bedroom… again they are letting me pick out the colours. So in the next couple of years they are going to work on getting me that walk in shower.. I just have to be patient.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 12:24 pm.
Oh, fun to get to pick out the colors! Sounds like you have nice landlords. I have a walk-in shower now (we had to redo the master bath because of some water damage a few years back) and I really like it.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 1:49 pm.
Right now, I would love all the boxes to be unpacked, ceiling fans to be installed and the rest of my curtains to be up
I am sure after the shiny of my new place wears off, I’ll find a few things I wish were different
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 12:31 pm.
You’re at a fun (though busy!) stage, Sheridan. Getting curtains up makes a big difference and soon you’ll be all comfy in your new place.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 1:50 pm.
I live in a mid-sixty’s built Cape. Being Architecture trained, I see a lot of potential, but it is currently wasted on bad design. So what would I do?
First off, I would tear down the current garage. It is not original to the design and the idiot who owned the house before us didn’t know what he was doing when he constructed it. He was a “Jack of All Trades and Master of None,” if you will. So we have a garage with a 1” x 6” for a center beam resulting in a saddleback roof, not good in the winter. We have framed plexi-glass sheets instead of actual windows, resulting in MASSIVE water leakage under the openings. We have an incorrectly poured garage foundation so that the water that drips from vehicles when it rains or snow melts pools against the wall instead of flowing out or down a drain (there isn’t one!). And since the garage included an addition to the house, he decided to use wood paneling instead of sheetrock on the interior walls, and NO INSULATION. I estimate a cost of $40-50K for this screw up alone.
Then there is the kitchen. While he was mucking up the garage, he ignored the kitchen. It still has its original cabinets and they are as crappy as they can be. Usually, with kitchen tear outs, I suggest donating gently used cabinets to Habitat for Humanity to be reused in their new builds. I wouldn’t inflict these poor excuses for cabinets on my basement, much less HfH!!! I would also remove the non-loadbearing wall between the kitchen and dining room and create one large eating space. It would open up the space and instead of a small cubby for a dining room, I would have the luxury of breathing space, something currently missing.
The downstairs (main) bath has no power outlets of any kind. If you need to use a hair dryer or curling iron, you need to run an extension cord from the hall wall socket. There is also no exhaust fan for steam from the shower. This has resulted in a constant battle with mold and mildew (I’m losing!).
Under the crappy carpeting in the living room and dining room, there is exquisite genuine hardwood flooring. It needs only to be refinished to be glorious again. The easiest fix of all.
The two upstairs bedrooms have absolutely no closet space. NONE!! I have a space the width of a hanger and about 5’ long to hang all of my clothing. I would love to take some of the space upstairs and create a walk-in closet so I could hang clothing appropriately.
I’m sorry . . . did you say ONE thing??? Boy, did you get the WRONG person started on a topic she loves to talk about!!!
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 12:31 pm.
Well, it sounds as if your house has found the right person with the right vision to fix its ills! We are taking out the wall between our kitchen and dining room but we’re pretty sure it’s loadbearing so that’s going to require some engineering. I can’t imagine a bathroom with no outlets! What were they thinking? (Clearly a man.)
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 1:58 pm.
Try decorative columns in place of your load bearing wall. It will solve the problem of the load but still allow you to remove the wall and open the space. A good contractor should know how to reinforce the load and tie both the columns and the reinforcement into the current structure.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 2:06 pm.
Try decorative columns in place of your load bearing wall. It will solve the problem of the load but still allow you to remove the wall and open the space. A good contractor should know how to reinforce the load and tie both the columns and the reinforcement into the current structure.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 2:06 pm.
My sister and I (we share a house) almost always make plans to remodel the house!
In the years since we own this house, we’ve gone through two major renovations. The house was built in 1929 and of course it did not have any modern convenience. Imagine, the toilet was not in the house, but you had to go outside to a side building!
So that was the first thing we did: demolish some of those outbuildings and build a couple of rooms to the house, one of which became our (very spacy) bathroom. Later on we added a toilet and douche on the level of the bedrooms.
About five years ago, we had more walls thrown down so our kitchen became more to our idea of a perfect one. We love to cook and eat, so we need a kitchen that is fit to cook in and where you also can eat. It’s the place where we come down to after waking up to have our bread and first cup of coffee.
But there is not much to be done with an old house. If I have the money, I’d throw it down completely and build a new house on the same site. I have the plans for it already, we made them ourselves. Btw, we also used our own plans for the second renovation, the architect only made them official!
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 12:32 pm.
That’s cool on making your own plans! The dh is doing a lot of the drawing and then passing it on to the architect, though he’s had some really good ideas himself.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 2:00 pm.
I want another bathroom!!! With 5 kids and a husband, it would be nice to have 2 bathrooms.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 12:37 pm.
Oh, Carrie. Yes, I can see you’d want another bathroom!
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 2:09 pm.
I did a home remodel last year (not the whole house, just the downstairs), and it was definitely a schedule-disruptor. It took about six months to have the downstairs repainted, the bathroom and kitchen cabinets refinished, two bathrooms entirely remodeled, new carpet in the bedrooms (3, though one is used as an office for Hubby), new bedroom furniture (ours was a hand-me-down from my sister-in-law from 20 years ago), new dining room furniture, new living room furniture, and built-ins put in the living room.
Hubby is still recovering. I’M still recovering. But it’s beautiful, and I love it. I don’t regret one minute of it.
Even though it will take me another year at least to catch up on my writing schedule. *G*
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 12:42 pm.
I’m going to have to learn to work at the library or at Starbucks, I think. I can tune a lot out, but probably not full-on construction sounds. Your project sounds so ambitious and I’m glad to hear that you love it.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 2:11 pm.
My kitchen is functional, but the cabinets and tile are original – 1960. Five years ago we got rid of the faux navy blue and olive faux paint splattered linoleum that hadn’t even been laid as one big piece. That made a huge difference and so did painting the lower cabinets a different color than the upper cabinets. There are so many ways to make it better.
What I really want is a jewelry studio. I’m trying to convince my dh that we could build it in the backyard. Under a certain size and in our city, it doesn’t require a permit. Then, I wouldn’t have to haul my supplies out to the kitchen or dining room table when I wanted to make something, and haul them back when I’m finished. Everything would be accessible. But this year since we’re going to Sicily for Christmas to see my brother (and seeing some other parts of Europe as well), it’s going to have to wait.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 1:19 pm.
I can see it would be nice to be able to leave your supplies out…but a trip to Sicily is not to be missed. Next year for the studio!
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 2:12 pm.
Christie, Christie, Christie. Take some advice from someone who did a big overhaul of her abode last year: DO. NOT. WATCH. HGTV. Because if you do, just when you see light at the end of tunnel, you will watch that channel and think, “as long as they are here…”
Good luck with the renovations! I suffered gravely through the whole ordeal, because construction guys like to gab. And gab. And gab. But I love my home’s makeover. It’s worth it in the end if you can get there!
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 1:21 pm.
I was waiting for you to chime in, Julia.
HGTV has already gotten to me. I was going to leave the downstairs bath alone (we have 2 others upstairs). It has the original pink and maroon tile from 1942. I thought it was kind of charming until 2x in one week I saw a similar bathroom on an HGTV show and they pointed and laughed. So away goes that tile now.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 2:14 pm.
It all sounds awesome and horrifying, Christie! I’ve never been through a remodel, but my mom & dad had their family room redone, and on Monday they’re having the main bathroom remodelled. I think they’re still in the excited/possibilities stage. I give them till Wednesday before they enter the he** stage. *g*
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 1:59 pm.
Yeah, you get excited for a while…and then the banging and the sawing starts and the dust flies all over the rest of the house. Hank-the-Pup will enjoy the excitement but I’m kind of worried how Goblin-the-cat will take it.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 2:17 pm.
I’d like to add a three season room with an door opening out to the garden.
I love being able to read in my sisters, I have 3 season room envy.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 3:16 pm.
I went to look at images of 3 season rooms and they’re beautiful! We’re doing a little something like that by adding the covered deck/patio thing. One side will have a wall and a fireplace and since we live in SoCal it will be warm enough to really enjoy it most of the time.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 4:19 pm.
Christie, I had to laugh at the leg sticking out of the ceiling. There’s nothing more fun than a family of jokers and it sounds like you have one.
I’m an HGTV fanatic so this is an easy question for me. I’d add new countertops and a wall of storage to the kitchen, put in new French doors and tile/wood flooring in the great room and wall of built-in shelving, and I’d add a master bath onto our bedroom and make the existing bathroom a walk-in closet. That took me about ten seconds to type, but I think about this ALL OF THE TIME. Will it ever be done? Maybe, but not in the near future. Meanwhile, I’ll think about it some more and maybe even watch some more HGTV while I’m waiting.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 3:52 pm.
What’s fun about the dreaming/planning stage is you don’t make any wrong decisions! Thinking about it has been the most fun.
About the leg…it got so bad that I forgot it was there and was always reminded when newcomers stopped and stared. It was quite real-looking. I kind of miss it now.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 4:21 pm.
Just the idea of contractors/contractor in/around my home makes me cringe. When we had our roof done a few years ago, I could hear the roofers conversation…couldn’t get away from it. I thought they would never go away. My friend had a the back of her house extended. They moved to an apartment next door to her house for a year and a half while that work was being done. It’s wonderful now, but I still remember this giant plastic thing hanging over their home. I didn’t know visqueen came that big.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 3:57 pm.
Oh, man, that reminds me of my first remodel. The conversation of the framers was raunchy and the dry wall guys were so dang boring…and they talked all day long. And listened to loud music. I’m definitely going to have to find a place to work.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 4:23 pm.
My kitchen is on the books for a make-over again, this time it will be the definitive make-over; she said with a straight face. For years my kitchen was a one-butt kitchen with no flow, obviously designed by a man or a woman who never cooked. It had an island dead center in the room,in and of itself not a bad thing unless it is too big for the space. placement of the dishwasher in said island prevented using refrigerator if you were loading or unloading dishwasher. Leaking pipes in sink necessitated floor repair so we had the island moved to the back wall under the window we had to raise six inches; better but still not good because we still have that ugly corner pantry that is not very efficient. So what I want is the pantry removed, more cabinets installed, the space for the refrigerator enlarged, and new doors on the existing cabinets.
Now this in addition to plans for enclosing our 10 by 30 foot deck, and adding to our front porch so we can put a ramp in for the days I’m shuggly on my pins.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 4:19 pm.
That’s several big projects too! My kitchen is going to have 48 inches between countertops and island which is said to be “right” but I have to admit feels a little big to me (I’m short). But everyone insists and they say will be so much better for when there is more than one cook in the kitchen.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 4:25 pm.
When we were looking for houses for a friend the three of us did the kitchen waltz in any prospects. That consists of the three of us going from sink to stove to refrigerator to island if there was one. Any kitchen we could “waltz” in made the short list.All one=butters were immediately discounted because she loves big gatherings so she needs a kitchen that accommodates more than one person at a time. So I would suggest waltzing in your kitchen for sizing.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:26 pm.
Hah! I love that…waltzing in the kitchen. Going to remember it.
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 7:38 pm.
I’d love to redo the kitchen. New cabinets, new stove …. some partitions between the cooking area & the rest of the house
Posted on March 6, 2013 at 1:38 am.
I’d love to build a room over the garage. It would be mine for craft & reading etc. Just a dream really.
Posted on March 6, 2013 at 4:22 am.