Turn off HGTV - your house is probably fine

[folivier]

Be very careful when updating your fixtures. Brass may be making a comeback!
Also re: the expensive wall clocks. A few years ago we bought an expensive outdoor rated clock to put out by the pool. Expensive being $100. It looked great and the finish weathered beautifully. Unfortunately we found out that the movement is the same cheap battery movement used in all clocks. Not weatherproof! So it was alway 5pm around the pool....

 

[Music Lover]

I watch HGTV all the time

I have completely renovated my house...entirely myself, except for the furnace. It was a lot of work and I'm done now except for regular maintenance. I won't be re-decorating other than to paint:

- replaced every single window and door
- replaced all the door casing and baseboards
- removed a wall to open kitchen and living room
- installed hardwood flooring
- new roof
- increased the insulation in walls and attic
- built a large double garage
- built 3 decks
- built a sunroom
- installed a new high efficiency furnace furnace
- finished the basement (drywall, suspended ceiling, etc.)

 

[erkevin]

My house is so out-of-date. I don't have open concept, big clocks on the walls or a vase full of limes on my kitchen counter.

Oh crap....I got it all wrong; the vase of limes is nailed to the wall and the big clock is on the counter. No wonder I never have counter space to cook anything!

 

[JoeWras]

Great article. The author wasn't saying "Don't remodel" Instead, they were questioning the huge makeovers for seemingly no good reason except to make room for the big clock on the wall and vase of limes.

I couldn't take the yellow bathroom tile and yellow countertops. I replaced both myself. I replaced my kitchen countertops with new faceted laminate. OH THE HORROR! No granite! More laminate!

Looks great, BTW. Many people see it and think it is granite (due to the facets). I like the warm give of laminate over the cold hardness of granite. There must be something wrong with me.

 

[travelover]

.......... So it was always 5pm around the pool....

Not so bad - time for a beer.

 

[jetpack]

I live in a 200 year old house.. it's definitely dated! guests love it though. it's like going back in time.

 

[Meadbh]

I haven’t had a TV for about 6 years, so I don’t watch HFTV except at the dentist’s office, where I can request my channel of choice on the TV in the ceiling. The only problem is that they always finish cleaning my teeth before the winning home is declared!

 

[bbbamI]

Tread lightly on the big clocks. I have one of those non-working clocks from Magnolia Market(Fixer Upper ppl). A relative sent it to me as a Christmas present. I have it set at 5:00pm.

https://shop.magnolia.com/products/relic-metal-clock

Now that, I love!

Oh crap....I got it all wrong; the vase of limes is nailed to the wall and the big clock is on the counter. No wonder I never have counter space to cook anything!

I think I've been doing it all wrong. I managed to get most everything off my counter space, so that means I have enough room to cook. There went my excuse to go out to dinner.

 

[aja8888]

I watch HGTV all the time

I have completely renovated my house...entirely myself, except for the furnace. It was a lot of work and I'm done now except for regular maintenance. I won't be re-decorating other than to paint:

- replaced every single window and door
- replaced all the door casing and baseboards
- removed a wall to open kitchen and living room
- installed hardwood flooring
- new roof
- increased the insulation in walls and attic
- built a large double garage
- built 3 decks
- built a sunroom
- installed a new high efficiency furnace furnace
- finished the basement (drywall, suspended ceiling, etc.)

You might have well built the place from the ground up and not paid for a "built house" in the first place.

 

[Music Lover]

You might have well built the place from the ground up and not paid for a "built house" in the first place.

I had bought land with intent to do so, but this property came along and it was too good of a location, size, and price to pass up. I knew how much work was required and was willing to take it on.

I did almost all the work myself for under $40k.

 

[GravitySucks]

My house is so out-of-date. I don't have open concept, big clocks on the walls or a vase full of limes on my kitchen counter.

I don't have the bowl of lines on my Harvest Gold Formica countertop.

 

[Tallman4123]

Probably wise. We have a friend who decided to DIY his 2 story living room and fell. He had terrible injuries and has never really fully recovered.

Do we know each other?? Nine years ago I was painting my cathedral ceiling'ed living room and fell off the ladder onto our hardwood floors and shattered my hip. The replacement still gives me problems today, but I was extremely lucky it was "only" a hip and not my neck or back! I had done all my own interior and exterior painting from the time I was a young man without one accident. But I found out it only takes one mistake.

Now I hire out any ladder work that requires more than a step stool. Fortunately I'm tall, so that's a rarity...

 

[bbbamI]

I don't have the bowl of lines on my Harvest Gold Formica countertop.

Whew....glad to hear I'm not the only one without limes...

btw, Formica countertops at my place too. The color is a couple of shades lighter than this little guy >>>>

 

[aja8888]

I had bought land with intent to do so, but this property came along and it was too good of a location, size, and price to pass up. I knew how much work was required and was willing to take it on.

I did almost all the work myself for under $40k.

Nice work!

 

[grasshopper]

Removed the popcorn ceiling in three rooms and gave up that endeavor on the remaining part of the house. If you're thinking of doing this yourself...DON'T. All it does is reveal the crappy sheet-rock work underneath. Easy, albeit messy to remove. Most of the work is "fixing" the ceiling afterwards. When guests look at my popcorn ceiling in the living room, I tell them it's custom installed very expensive acoustics for my home theater system.

We took out popcorn in the public areas of our house 10 years ago. And 7 years later we covered the whole mess with whitewashed tongue and groove pine.

 

[RobbieB]

I've never watched HGTV or any of the "home improvement" shows.

I just do it because I want to or it needs it. And when something needs replacing it gets replaced with something better than was there originally.

 

[Walt34]

So it was always 5pm around the pool....

And that's a bad thing?

 

[Scuba]

Before we retired, we did a complete remodel of our condo. It was only 10 years old but we bought it new and had no input into the finishes. Everything was beige/earth tones and we wanted blues and greens and white. We completely gutted it and redid everything. Since we were still working, we did whatever we wanted without worrying about cost. We also bought all new furniture except for our home office. We are very happy with the results.

DH says never again. I’m OK with that for now. If we still live here in 20 years, we’ll see. I’m sure we wouldn’t do a remodel of this magnitude again, but I could see replacing appliances, painting, replacing some of the furniture, etc.

 

[ABQ2015]

I live in a desirable, downtown neighborhood. As elderly residents leave, the homes get snatched up and remodeled. In the 20+ years I have been here at least 7 of the 12 homes on my block have been expensively remodeled by new owners with new kitchens and baths and opening up the walls. Some more than once. If this was my forever home, I'd remodel but it is way too big for one person and I'm relocating in my retirement. I put in a laundry room when I first brought the place but it now looks outdated. I figure who ever buys the house will want the finishings to their taste.

So am just going to do the minimum that my realtor recommends. My home has the original 1962 kitchen except for the refrigerator and dish washer and one 1962 bath.

 

[JoeWras]

So am just going to do the minimum that my realtor recommends. My home has the original 1962 kitchen except for the refrigerator and dish washer and one 1962 bath.

The minimum seems to be moving up, according to my friend who is selling. A whole list of improvements to be made by their realtor. Be careful.

Remember, they work on commission, so your investment means more $$ for them, and potentially a shorter wait time and larger buyer pool (more volume). Maybe that's good if you don't have the time, but it is going to cost ya.

 

[Tree-dweller]

Be very careful when updating your fixtures. Brass may be making a comeback!
Also re: the expensive wall clocks. A few years ago we bought an expensive outdoor rated clock to put out by the pool. Expensive being $100. It looked great and the finish weathered beautifully. Unfortunately we found out that the movement is the same cheap battery movement used in all clocks. Not weatherproof! So it was alway 5pm around the pool....

I got gypped. My big clock froze at 5 A.M.

 

[Amethyst]

This is a good story because it was all your own choice - not influenced by "oh you have to think of the future buyers" or HGTV, or anything but your own tastes. That's the spirit of FIRE, I think.

Before we retired, we did a complete remodel of our condo. It was only 10 years old but we bought it new and had no input into the finishes. Everything was beige/earth tones and we wanted blues and greens and white. We completely gutted it and redid everything. Since we were still working, we did whatever we wanted without worrying about cost. We also bought all new furniture except for our home office. We are very happy with the results.

.

 

[W2R]

When I bought my dream home, I got a lower price because the seller had not renovated. She planned to have that done while the house was on the market, but I bought it the first day.

I am so glad I got an unrenovated home. It was built in 1965, and still has the original bathrooms. They look as good as they did in the 1960's and it's like stepping back in time. I love them just as they are, and do not plan to update. Sure, they are old, but then so am I. I think the kitchen was updated at some point, because it has stainless steel double sinks which were not yet "a thing" in 1965 IIRC. It has some kind of formica countertop but it looks fine to me. The whole house has beautiful hardwood floors which I think are probably fairly new.

Basically, I do not plan to sell so I have no motivation to update in order to attract future buyers. And for me, the house is just perfect as is.

I live in a desirable, downtown neighborhood. As elderly residents leave, the homes get snatched up and remodeled.

Same here, mostly elderly residents that bought the small, single story homes back in 1965 when the neighborhood was first built. But here the homes are getting snatched up, bulldozed, and replaced by bigger two story homes that look like something out of HGTV. Each has an obligatory palm tree in the front yard. The palm trees that they plant are not native here and Herculean efforts must be taken to protect them during the slightest freeze. Being from Hawaii, I sneer at the palm trees and think the faux tropical landscaping is so dumb. We laugh but approve because our home values rise with the neighborhood.

I was so excited to discover yesterday, that a house right on the nearest corner to us was bulldozed! Wow. One day it's there, the next day it's a pile of rubble. Can't wait to see what they put up. Plus, there's another one under construction on our block this year (and two were done last year). Our neighborhood has really been gentrifying and looks pretty posh compared with a few years ago.

 

[bloom2708]

A 1 year old house is dated. Styles, designs, colors, layouts change every year. Can't keep up.

I hope honey oak is the color of the year again someday. Carpet, linoleum, white appliances, formica countertops, more of a closed concept. These will all be back in at some point in the near future (I hope).

 

[Amethyst]

I love honey oak, always have.

Don't like "stainless steel" appliances. Too assertively "cold gray" in hue. Yet every real estate agent has advised us to swap out any other appliance finish for the SS look, as it is what "buyers expect."

A 1 year old house is dated. Styles, designs, colors, layouts change every year. Can't keep up.

I hope honey oak is the color of the year again someday. Carpet, linoleum, white appliances, formica countertops, more of a closed concept. These will all be back in at some point in the near future (I hope).