After 3.5 years in our home my darling DH and I are finally ready to start remodeling and make it our own.
We have been talking for a few weeks about it, battle for project priorities… he is all about the roof, I am all about the bathroom (I know his is more important….) and so far, it is going remarkably smoothly.
This past few weeks I have spent my spare hours meeting with contractors – the bathroom guy, the hardwood guy, etc. and trying to map out a plan for everything. I never would have guessed there would be so much planning involved. Don’t get me wrong. I like our house and it is completely functional, it just needs to be brought up to date.
Our list of “to-do’s” includes a new roof, a new furnace, renovating our main bathroom, installing carpet in our room, pergo in the family room, lots of painting and new light fixture in the kitchen… it goes on.
On top of everything I am trying to find time to pick out everything, find paint colors that we both like, do you go with a pedestal or a vanity sink, ceiling fan or globes… ughghgh. It is crazy.
If you have any advice I’d love to hear it.
Husband and I are going through the same thing with our 27-year old house now. Yesterday was Day One of “Porch Project”. We are extending our screened porch at the back of our house, which involves knocking out a kitchen wall, partial new roof, raising the porch floor, new hardwoods, and windows to replace the screen. We’ve done a lot already, but there’s so much more to do. One thing that has really helped us is to get a pretty firm master plan in place and see if one project can be incorporated into another. For example, we want overhead light fixtures in our living room and we have saved almost $500 by doing this at the same time as the porch since the drywall and ceiling are already going to be torn up.
Also, I’m in the interior design business so I have lots of personal opinions and contacts for nearly everything…
Good luck! Keep us posted.
We just finished two bathroom remodels. What a lot of work! We had a contractor do the actual construction but I did all the design and procurement work myself.
A few tips:
1)if it doesn’t already have one, make sure you put in a bathroom fan that vents to the outside. I kept hearing that a fan can’t pull moisture out of the air but if you turn on the fan before the shower/bath, it will keep things from getting foggy in the first place. And if you keep the moisture down, you’ll keep the mildew/mold at bay.
2) spend the extra money for a wood (plywood) construction vanity instead of the cheaper, off-the-shelf particle board construction. No off-gasing from the plywood and it doesn’t disintegrate if it get’s wet;
3) stay away from the cheap brands of plumbing fixtures like Price Pfister that have plastic inner workings instead of brass. Moen and Delta are well-known brands for good reason;
4) it’s very important to use a high quality grout sealant, apply as many coats as is needed to completely seal the grout, and re-seal the grout every 3-6 months depending on useage. It will dramatically lengthen the life of your grout and tile work.
Good luck with your remodel!