Author Topic: What are you NOT renovating?  (Read 4662 times)

englishteacheralex

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What are you NOT renovating?
« on: January 25, 2023, 11:58:12 AM »
We bought a townhouse a year ago that was in need of some "updating". The 20-year-old tile floors were hard and uncomfortable, with filthy grout, and the tiled, steep staircase was causing us to slip and fall and skin our shins on the edges of the stairs. So we put down LVP on top of the tile, and carpeted the stairs.

The same flooring tile was used for the kitchen countertops and backsplash, so my husband DIYed the demo to get rid of the tile and then this week we had the counter and backsplash replaced with quartz. We kept the cabinets because they still are in fine condition and I think they look fine.

What I've learned is that renovations are stressful and expensive. I don't watch HGTV, but I do read a lot online about interior decorating, and the constant pressure to update because such and such trend is so "dated" and "wrong" has been getting to me.

I'd like to counteract that anxious renovation energy with a thread about things in your house that might be "dated" and "wrong" but are still fully functional and that you're not planning on changing, Zillow be damned. Maybe if we normalize perfectly good decorating we can all just move on with our lives and not feel the need to rip out and replace expensive fixtures that still work fine.

Pictures are a huge plus. @Frugal Lizard posted an absolute stunner of a 70's bathroom on my journal, which is what inspired this thread.

Omy

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #1 on: January 25, 2023, 12:16:54 PM »
As much as I might like to, I haven't touched my oak kitchen cabinets, dated corian counters, old appliances, or vinyl flooring in the kitchen. I find no reason to spend $50k to fancy up a large, perfectly functional space.

I haven't even updated knobs and lighting fixtures from the builder grade options. The house is pushing 20 years old, but if it's not broken I don't fix it.

I still get "wows" when people walk in. It's open floor plan, large windows and view, and 15 foot ceilings steal the show.

Metalcat

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #2 on: January 25, 2023, 12:49:52 PM »
My apartment is 50 years old and I haven't really renovated anything.

I refinished the original orangey oak cabinets, painted the walls, and covered the popcorn ceiling with really beautiful acoustic tiles, but that's it, it's all original and very "dated."

I DO NOT throw out perfectly good parts of my home just because they are not on trend. You can do a lot with customizing a space with just colour and accessorizing.

IMO it's "wrong" to rip apart a fully functional home just because you think someone else might find it dated. I personally see cosmetic home renos in the same light as plastic surgery. I'm not against it, but it's best to be damn sure that it will truly improve your quality of life before jumping to the conclusion that something looking "old" is somehow "wrong."

My other home is 110 years old and the best thing about it is that no one has touched the original character. Again, I painted, refinished the cabinets, and replaced the crumbling front stairs with a deck because the view is worth having a deck.

My last property is an investment property, but one that we might choose to live in in the future. It's a duplex, also about 50 years old, and I spent a chunk of the summer sprucing it up. Again, all of the original details are preserved. I swapped out all of the dated light fixtures, painted, and again replaced some shitty stairs with a new deck, but have no intention of replacing perfectly functional parts of the house just because they're old.

There is nothing wrong with an older house. You don't have to stay on top of house trends anymore than you need to stay on top of fashion and cosmetic trends.

It's literally just consumerist cosmetic stuff that doesn't matter.

I personally always lean into the age of whatever place I live in. I work with it instead of against it, and embrace the age of the building as part of my design esthetic.

My 70s apartment is styled to look like a retro hotel suite from the 70s. It's actually so cool that it's ironically right on trend with a lot of restaurants and lounges that are styled to the same esthetic. I leaned hard into the 70s vibe. The plug and light plates are all gold, the wall colour was specifically chosen to make the parquet floor pop, and the light fixtures are big and bold.

For my 110 year old home, I went the opposite. I styled everything ultra modern to play contrast against the old house. The light fixtures are all stainless steel, the furniture is stark and white. It really plays up the age of the house itself through contrast, because that's such a cool feature.

Spend some time getting to know your home, fall in love with its unique details. Value the old stuff for the fact that it's still preserved and functioning. I LOVE my 50 year old oak cabinets because they have been here for 50 frickin' years!

I refinished them in a.projecy that took several months, doing a wicked cool cobalt grey gel stain and a high gloss top coat, which goes totally against the matte trend, but the end result, in the space looks crazy cool. At least it looks cool to me, and that's what matters.

Invest time and energy in developing you *own* unique sense of style for your home that will highlight the best of what it already is instead of ripping it to shreds and trying to make it look like whatever other people decide is "right" at the moment, which will start looking dated in 5 years anyway.

Frugal Lizard

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #3 on: January 25, 2023, 01:04:41 PM »
Why thank you @englishteacheralex

Cheap and cheerful is my style! Although many a profanity was uttered during the tiling of the tub surround. DH forged on after trying to hire someone to complete it for a couple of days. No one would touch the job.

Our house is architecturally cool.  We just had to get rid of the horrid decorating and scrape back to the good bones. Found a sample of the bathroom wallpaper. Yes this wallpaper was next to a leopard print formica vanity top with a yellow sink.

Sibley

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #4 on: January 25, 2023, 01:36:49 PM »
I renovated my bathroom because:
1. I needed to replace old plumbing, which means opening walls (2 walls and the ceiling as it turned out).
2. the floor was stick on tile on top of luan on top of plywood (benefit of demo, I know what it was), and it had been peed on by the previous owner's kids. And the stick on tile was coming up.

In other words, there's good reasons why I did the bathroom.

Kitchen? Ugly, functional, and I really should paint it but haven't in the past 4ish years.
Upstairs bath? I did paint it, it took nearly 5 years to get around to it. It will get get gutted at some point - because I'm going to have to replace old plumbing which means I will have to open the walls, so a bunch of tile will come down.
Roof? It was leaking.
Utility room? Broken pipe, really old plumbing, and trying to mitigate the reasons why the pipe broke. If I'm going to do that work, then I'm going to make the room more functional and less ugly.
Painting everything? Just because I wanted to.

There's levels of renovating. Feel free to repaint every few years if you want. Get new curtains, rearrange. But tearing up a floor or something? That's a much bigger deal, and it's perfectly ok to decide to leave it alone.

YttriumNitrate

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #5 on: January 25, 2023, 02:20:40 PM »
Since moving to my current six years ago, the only renovations I have made have been for safety (e.g., reducing slat spacing to prevent toddlers from falling off deck), because repair was needed (e.g., peeling paint), or to save money (e.g., adding more insulation).

MoseyingAlong

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #6 on: January 25, 2023, 04:39:48 PM »
Since I bought my condo in early 2016, I've been thinking of redoing my kitchen. I don't like the layout or looks. But...I'm not a big cook so don't actually use it that much.

In the last couple months, the waste of renovating fully functional stuff really hit. I'm making progress in reducing my garbage output - it was never very high but I'd like it to be lower. The thought of the waste doing a renovation counterbalancing all my efforts over the last couple decades is painful. So I'm sticking with my current kitchen and focusing on other areas of life.

I don't hate my kitchen. And I had the floors redone and it painted in soothing colors before I moved in.

I may take some cabinet doors off because I like the look of open shelves for function and seeing my pretty dishes. I'll keep the doors so if I or a future residents wants them, they can be put back on.

Look the idea of this thread. Thanks for starting it.

Freedomin5

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #7 on: January 25, 2023, 04:48:15 PM »
I’d like to introduce you to my white, now yellowed, fridge, and my oven. Yes, the numbers have rubbed off, so we have settings of “hot” and “hotter”. Yes, the bottom piece fell off and we now have plywood covering it to prevent rats from getting into the kitchen. The pilot light in the oven also doesn’t work so we light the oven with a lighter. Ohhh…and our dishwasher is an oldie. I think it’s the original one that was installed when the apartment was built.

I don’t think our kitchen has been renovated for at least 15-20 years.

I’ll see if I can dig up a picture of our builder-grade kitchen in our condo from the early 2000s. Dark cabinets? Check. Busy granite? Check. Brown on beige on brown? Check.
« Last Edit: January 25, 2023, 05:03:42 PM by Freedomin5 »

Dicey

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #8 on: January 25, 2023, 05:02:17 PM »
I'm fully aware of the irony of this, having just done a full reno of a condo for my Bonus Kid, but we aren't doing a damn thing to our own house. It's full-on Mediterranean, replete with travertine everything, and I'm not about to rip it out. Kitchen's granite with travertine subway backsplash and a tile inset over the stove. Another in the primary shower. Not changing any of it. I would be up for lightening up the walls a bit, but DH can do that...maybe next winter...

Mr. Green

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #9 on: January 26, 2023, 10:33:36 PM »
Keep it long enough and it'll be in again. Mid-century modern is big again. I'm a fan of anything that is well built, functions well, and doesn't look ugly. A lot of modern stuff is not well built any longer. Dated doesn't mean ugly if you can look past what trends try to sell you on.

LiveLean

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #10 on: January 27, 2023, 01:25:25 PM »
Keep it long enough and it'll be in again. Mid-century modern is big again. I'm a fan of anything that is well built, functions well, and doesn't look ugly. A lot of modern stuff is not well built any longer. Dated doesn't mean ugly if you can look past what trends try to sell you on.

So true. We bought our house in 1999. By 2006, we were looking to re-do the kitchen. We added granite counters and new appliances but with a large kitchen we didn't want to replace the white cabinets, which were not in style at the time. Good thing we didn't replace them with an oak or some other light wood since white is now what everyone wants. And since we're looking to downsize soon, we're in good shape.

englishteacheralex

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #11 on: January 27, 2023, 01:52:03 PM »
Great point about how cyclical the trends can be and how they come around again all the time. True for some things...seems like not so much for other things, though. Those weird shell-shaped bathroom sinks...it's kind of hard to imagine them being in style again.

Freedomin5 I love the pictures of the old appliances. How cool that they're still functional!

Metalcat

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #12 on: January 27, 2023, 02:16:14 PM »
Great point about how cyclical the trends can be and how they come around again all the time. True for some things...seems like not so much for other things, though. Those weird shell-shaped bathroom sinks...it's kind of hard to imagine them being in style again.

Freedomin5 I love the pictures of the old appliances. How cool that they're still functional!

Oh, for sure, some trends stay stuck in the past. But the more important point is that no trends stay stuck in the present, so there's no point in ruining perfectly good house features just to chase trends that will be out of style shockingly fast.

Now that's not to say that no one should renovate their home, but no, they shouldn't do it *just* because something is dated, because whatever they replace it with is just a few years from being dated anyway.

If someone has a shell sink and just hates it, then replacing a sink isn't really that big a deal, nor is it very expensive to do, and certainly doesn't necessitate a whole bathroom gut job.

My current bathroom was a vomit-inducing eyesore when I bought it. Fake wood panel cabinets, yellow countertops, yellow square shower tiles in a different shade of yellow, yellow walls in a clashing shade of orangey yellow, a crusty old cheap looking stained sink with crusty old cheap looking faucet, and an almond toilet that clashed with the ivory tub and sink.

My realtor was like "obviously the bathroom needs to be completely redone" and I was like "why???"

The only colour I was stuck with was the shower tile, which was only ugly against everything else. I painted the faux wood and walls a dark royal blue, replaced all of the handles and hinges, covered the yellow countertop with dark blue marble pattern, replaced the toilet because it didn't work, and swapped out the sink and faucet.

Replacing the toilet was the only expensive part because the valve was seized and I needed to hire a plumber to fix it.

So even when something is painfully, nausea-inducingly dated and ugly. It's usually not all that involved or expensive to make it reasonably nice.

It's only when stuff really doesn't function optimally that structural changes are unavoidable. My friends recently redid their entire main floor because the layout was so heinously bad that it was non-functional, which is fucking hilarious since they had the house built that way.

Why? Because when they were young, dumb, making good money, and trying to impress people, the big trend at the time was massive "statement" entrances with huge staircases right when you walk in. That was the dream, but they didn't understand architecture enough to grasp what they were sacrificing to get such a ridiculous, ostentatious feature in a house that was not quite big enough to support it.

Thankfully the fucking Dynasty stairs trend died out, but not before absolutely fucking a whole bunch of suburban home layouts along the way.

englishteacheralex

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #13 on: January 27, 2023, 02:23:20 PM »
OMG the Dynasty stairs! By any chance are you a fan of McMansionsHell.com, Malcat? It's hilariously full of that sort of thing.

Nice tip on renos that just change the look of the room without having to totally redo it. Our upstairs bathrooms could use this...

Metalcat

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #14 on: January 27, 2023, 02:41:50 PM »
OMG the Dynasty stairs! By any chance are you a fan of McMansionsHell.com, Malcat? It's hilariously full of that sort of thing.

Nice tip on renos that just change the look of the room without having to totally redo it. Our upstairs bathrooms could use this...

Hilariously, someone posted McMansionsHell on another thread, I don't remember why, but one of the first photos included this absolutely ginormous monster 4 poster bed, which made me to a spit take because it was the *exact* same bed that DH's tacky, tacky ex wife bought.

He came home one day and she had replaced all of their furniture with just fucking HUGE pieces instead because in her mind, big=fancy.

I had originally picked out the house years ago (long story), so when I finally moved in, it was quite the adventure rehabbing it back from the depths of tacky hell.

Yet again, I didn't need to do anything structural to it, just replace some light fixtures, cabinet pulls, and a new laminate countertop because the old one rotted, really minor stuff, but with mostly paint and styling, I completely transformed the place. People who had seen it before really thought we did an enormous renovation. But it's quite amazing how substantially you can transform a place with just well coordinated colours.

An ugly tile can often be made to look great, or at least decent if you put it next to the exact right colour to make it work. I brought in a professional colour consultant for that job. The end result was so airy and beautiful.

I've moved so many times and lived in so many rentals where paint was the only thing I could change, I got really good at working with spaces and what they have to offer, while still establishing a really cohesive and intentional style and design to each place.

SunnyDays

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #15 on: January 27, 2023, 05:14:33 PM »
I bought my house in 1993 and updated all the flooring because the vinyl was ugly and the carpet was falling apart.  I painted the dark, grungy kitchen cabinets in white and put new knobs on, replaced the bathtub, sink and toilet because they were blue, replaced the fake tile with real ones around the tub and painted the entire house, inside and out.  Oh, and replaced the kitchen and bathroom light fixtures.  And the vanity, kitchen sink and counters and both sets of faucets.  So, basically everything.  And expanded one doorway to add French doors.

I repainted the whole house in 2008, but otherwise have done nothing else.  (Except for new windows because all I had were single panes with storm windows, and now I have triple pane, gas filled ones.  I live in a very cold climate, so this was a functional improvement.). It’s now dated, but I still like it because I chose everything myself.  The kitchen faucet will be replaced soon because it’s not working properly in spite of attempts at repair.  I changed and added some furniture over the years and that has updated the look of the house and for now, that’s good enough for me.

The carpet is getting a bit worn, but it was very high quality when I bought it, so as long as I keep it shampooed, it looks decent enough.  As long as I have my current pets, I’ll live with it.  I periodically consider redoing it all in hardwood or lvp, but then decide I’d rather vacuum and shampoo than sweep hair balls every day.

I have no ambitions to live in a show home and prefer a comfortable, cozy feel rather than a designer look.
I want to be able to relax in my home and not worry about everything looking perfect.  So it will mostly stay as it is for a good while yet.

Mr. Green

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #16 on: January 27, 2023, 07:04:23 PM »
Great point about how cyclical the trends can be and how they come around again all the time. True for some things...seems like not so much for other things, though. Those weird shell-shaped bathroom sinks...it's kind of hard to imagine them being in style again.
You know I'd have said the same thing about mullets but...

Metalcat

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #17 on: January 27, 2023, 07:11:01 PM »
Great point about how cyclical the trends can be and how they come around again all the time. True for some things...seems like not so much for other things, though. Those weird shell-shaped bathroom sinks...it's kind of hard to imagine them being in style again.
You know I'd have said the same thing about mullets but...

I like that mullets have become adopted by the non-binary community. Fucking fantastic, and I have seen some truly glorious NB mullets.

I can't tell you how much I love that a former symbol of white, cis-male, country music is now a queer fashion symbol.

mspym

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #18 on: January 27, 2023, 07:25:24 PM »
Our midcentury home has only had two owners in its 60 years and the people we bought it off only owned it for 2.5 years. They painted it, added insulation and a heatpump and updated the shower & hotwater system. Everything else is basically as it was built in 1962. I love it. Various people have told me "oh you'll need to update the laundry", "the garage is a teardown", and "when you redo the kitchen..." and I'm thinking we'll probably not change a lot of the interior at all. The kitchen has these great original cupboards and I'll clean them, maybe re-paint the shelves but otherwise it's functional and looks great. 

Shuchong

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #19 on: January 27, 2023, 07:33:55 PM »
Things I am not updating:

  • Oak trim
  • Purple laminate kitchen counters (I did replace the purple laminate island with butcher block, but that was a DIY project that cost under $200)
  • 90s kitchen wallpaper with purple accents (I will get to this eventually, probably, but no rush)
  • Pinky-purple tiled shower and laminate vanity top in master bath (instead I painted the upper walls a dark gray that goes well with the pink-purple), and am working on doing white board and batton on the lower walls)
  • guest bath that is full-on carpeted and clad in 90s green and purple wallpaper with a hunter green laminate vanity top (I never use it, my guests can deal)
  • cream carpeting, in both the living room and the dining area, likely also from the 90s (I was going to replace but I borrowed a shampooer instead, and that did the trick)

I did take down all the purple floral wallpaper borders in the kitchen and master bath (purple was a theme in this house, clearly).  And I replaced some purple lampshades with maple wood veneer shades that I made myself.  After all the sweat that went into that, I decided life would be better if I just made my peace with purple.  So far, it's going pretty well. 

It helps that my house, despite the purple, is freakin' gorgeous.  Cathedral ceilings.  Southern exposure high in the hills with an incredible view and huge triple-pane picture windows to show it off.  It makes me happy every day.


Mr. Green

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #20 on: January 27, 2023, 08:44:55 PM »
Great point about how cyclical the trends can be and how they come around again all the time. True for some things...seems like not so much for other things, though. Those weird shell-shaped bathroom sinks...it's kind of hard to imagine them being in style again.
You know I'd have said the same thing about mullets but...

I like that mullets have become adopted by the non-binary community. Fucking fantastic, and I have seen some truly glorious NB mullets.

I can't tell you how much I love that a former symbol of white, cis-male, country music is now a queer fashion symbol.
I swear half the kids (teens) I see these days have a mullet. Though we are in the South. I suspect Morgan Wallen may have something to do with that.

englishteacheralex

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #21 on: January 28, 2023, 12:04:16 AM »
Things I am not updating:

  • Oak trim
  • Purple laminate kitchen counters (I did replace the purple laminate island with butcher block, but that was a DIY project that cost under $200)
  • 90s kitchen wallpaper with purple accents (I will get to this eventually, probably, but no rush)
  • Pinky-purple tiled shower and laminate vanity top in master bath (instead I painted the upper walls a dark gray that goes well with the pink-purple), and am working on doing white board and batton on the lower walls)
  • guest bath that is full-on carpeted and clad in 90s green and purple wallpaper with a hunter green laminate vanity top (I never use it, my guests can deal)
  • cream carpeting, in both the living room and the dining area, likely also from the 90s (I was going to replace but I borrowed a shampooer instead, and that did the trick)

I did take down all the purple floral wallpaper borders in the kitchen and master bath (purple was a theme in this house, clearly).  And I replaced some purple lampshades with maple wood veneer shades that I made myself.  After all the sweat that went into that, I decided life would be better if I just made my peace with purple.  So far, it's going pretty well. 

It helps that my house, despite the purple, is freakin' gorgeous.  Cathedral ceilings.  Southern exposure high in the hills with an incredible view and huge triple-pane picture windows to show it off.  It makes me happy every day.

This sounds like a treasure. No pressure, but I'd love to see some pics. Especially of the maple wood veneer shades. And all that purple. :)

Cassie

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #22 on: January 28, 2023, 04:42:01 PM »
I have owned 10 homes and often you can change things that aren’t that expensive and it makes the entire room look nice. I have painted cabinets and I have stripped them. In my present condo the bathroom was ugly. I painted it and replaced the lights, toilet, sink and faucet and that was enough to make it look nice. I changed all the light fixtures and wall plates for the switches another way to spruce up a place. If I end up replacing kitchen countertops I do it once and then live with it no matter how long I live in a house. I don’t get sick of my choices.

calimom

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #23 on: January 28, 2023, 09:46:38 PM »
I have owned 10 homes and often you can change things that aren’t that expensive and it makes the entire room look nice. I have painted cabinets and I have stripped them. In my present condo the bathroom was ugly. I painted it and replaced the lights, toilet, sink and faucet and that was enough to make it look nice. I changed all the light fixtures and wall plates for the switches another way to spruce up a place. If I end up replacing kitchen countertops I do it once and then live with it no matter how long I live in a house. I don’t get sick of my choices.

I'm so with you, @Cassie! I moved into my 1970s ranch style house and have changed lots of fixtures, painted most of the ugly builder-grade cheap cabinets and outsourced the kitchen countertop and learned how to put a backsplash in (thank you Youtube) I've never been tempted to blow out a wall or totally redo the bathrooms or kitchen. I did, however, rip out the horrible original carpets and have bamboo floors installed that I got wholesale via a friend. That made an enormous difference. And, oh It did annex the primary bedroom when I had a conundrum of more kids than bedrooms. That project involved a heavily pregnant architect/client who did the work pro-bono (though I paid her back with babysitting) and acted as my own contractor and learned how to pull permits and boss around subcontractors. I love that little room so much - it's my bedroom and I created a patio outside it with flagstones and a water feature.

But I'm done, I swear! Just living in the house and all my choices now.

LD_TAndK

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #24 on: January 29, 2023, 05:09:01 AM »
My ancient but functional kitchen. I redid two baths that actually needed major functional improvements. Taking all the old destroyed material to the dump felt wrong. Bringing loads of newly manufactured material into my house felt wrong.

I'm going to use up and wear out this kitchen completely and enjoy doing it. Like the joy you get from driving a car till it's scrap metal, or wearing jeans till they're rubbish.

Dicey

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #25 on: January 29, 2023, 07:36:43 AM »
I've posted this on the forum before, but since I sold the property and see the new owners regularly, I'm loathe to do so again. Short version: The property in question had a good layout, but ugly Eurocabinets. The cabinet boxes were great, so I kept them and ordered new doors from HD. The original Formica counters were damaged, so I replaced them with...Formica countertops. I replaced the crappy shallow sink and faucet. Everything else stayed the same. It made an incredible difference.

clarkfan1979

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #26 on: January 29, 2023, 08:00:44 AM »
We bought a townhouse a year ago that was in need of some "updating". The 20-year-old tile floors were hard and uncomfortable, with filthy grout, and the tiled, steep staircase was causing us to slip and fall and skin our shins on the edges of the stairs. So we put down LVP on top of the tile, and carpeted the stairs.

The same flooring tile was used for the kitchen countertops and backsplash, so my husband DIYed the demo to get rid of the tile and then this week we had the counter and backsplash replaced with quartz. We kept the cabinets because they still are in fine condition and I think they look fine.

What I've learned is that renovations are stressful and expensive. I don't watch HGTV, but I do read a lot online about interior decorating, and the constant pressure to update because such and such trend is so "dated" and "wrong" has been getting to me.

I'd like to counteract that anxious renovation energy with a thread about things in your house that might be "dated" and "wrong" but are still fully functional and that you're not planning on changing, Zillow be damned. Maybe if we normalize perfectly good decorating we can all just move on with our lives and not feel the need to rip out and replace expensive fixtures that still work fine.

Pictures are a huge plus. @Frugal Lizard posted an absolute stunner of a 70's bathroom on my journal, which is what inspired this thread.

For me personally renovations get more stressful if I am short on time or money or both. I have done 3 "live-in flips" that were originally a primary residence and transitioned into a rental.

Flip #1: My first flip was a house hack in which I took on 3 roommates. I closed during summer break (May 2007), so initial renovations were easy because the semester was not in session. I painted the inside of the house and laid some flooring during the first 4 weeks before roommates moved in. I paid a handyman to re-do some plumbing for the washer, dryer and hot water heater. I also paid to have a new furnace installed. I did the rest of the renovations over the next 3.5 years. We didn't replace the kitchen cabinets. We have painted them twice. The first time was a light brown (2007). We painted the same cabinets white in 2022. 

Flip #2: The second one was stressful for two weeks because my wife and I agreed that we were going to paint the inside of the house before we moved in. We were eager to move-in, so we painted every day after work in addition to weekends. After that, the rest of the renovations we did at a very slow pace (3.5 years). Part of the reason for the slow pace was that we were low on funds. We didn't replace the shower in the master bathroom and we didn't replace the tub in the guest bathroom. We did pay to re-glaze the tub in 2021 which cost $500.

Flip #3: I planned on all renovations to take two years at a slow pace. However, I applied for a dream job and got it after 14 months. My new job started in 4 weeks, which was in a different state. We rushed to finish as much as we could during the next 4 weeks. We were busy, but it wasn't that stressful. I had a very reliable handyman that would finish whatever work we didn't finish. I was motivated to do as much as I could to save money, but I wasn't desperate. We have Parkay flooring from the 1980's in the living room. It's so old, it looks vintage and cool. Guest bathroom has green tile above the tub. I'm not an interior designer, but the look of the house is a funky 1970's or 1980's Malibu beach house type theme. I love it. 

I really enjoy transforming a place from ugly to pretty. I enjoy the process and final product. If something was dated but still looked nice, I don't think I would enjoy destroying it. Because we kept the houses as rentals, I continue to appreciate my work and renovations 15 years later. If I was selling flips, I think the emotional satisfaction from making something pretty would be much shorter.


iris lily

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #27 on: January 29, 2023, 08:05:35 AM »
We are nearing 70 years old and have been renovating for decades.

With this last one, we hired an architect and contractor to do really BIG stuff, but DH is doing all of the finish work.It will take 2 years. He works 6 hours a day, M-F on this house.

I don’t mind it, having lived in the midst of renovation for decades. When it does bother me I escape to my tiny condo which has been renovated and is (nearly…one more area to fix up) a small jewel of perfection.

Dicey

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #28 on: January 29, 2023, 08:06:46 AM »
Flip #3: We have Parkay flooring...
Is it slippery?

clarkfan1979

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #29 on: January 29, 2023, 09:34:33 AM »
Flip #3: We have Parkay flooring...
Is it slippery?

I never noticed it to be slippery.

Omy

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #30 on: January 29, 2023, 12:26:47 PM »
Parquet isn't typically slippery, Parkay would be...

NaN

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #31 on: January 29, 2023, 01:09:26 PM »
I love this discussion. A few things the top of my "NOT renovating" list: dark stained hollow core doors with brass handles, chain link fence in back yard, and pink tile backsplash in kitchen. :)

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #32 on: January 29, 2023, 03:37:39 PM »
Flip #3: We have Parkay flooring...
Is it slippery?

omgroflmao 🤣🤣🤣

Cassie

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #33 on: January 29, 2023, 06:13:46 PM »
Spartana, we always rip up the carpet and lay pergo ourselves. For my condo I was newly divorced when I bought it but thankfully my youngest son is as handy as his dad so he did all the remodeling including the floors. It saved me a small fortune and I gave him free rent for as long as he wanted:)).

PMJL34

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #34 on: January 29, 2023, 08:48:47 PM »
I've only purchased major fixers so there's nothing that's keep-a-ble. Renovating EVERYthing is part of the deal. It definitely gets overwhelming sometimes, but the finished product is always satisfying.

AMandM

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #35 on: January 30, 2023, 06:30:54 AM »
I am not renovating my oak kitchen cabinets. I love the look of white cabinets, and they would brighten up the room, but it would be a lot of work to paint them and I'm not sure I could keep them clean enough to really look nice. I would hate to spend all that time and energy painting, only to end up with a kitchen that quickly becomes dingy-looking.

I'm also not renovating the granite countertops, even though the pattern is so busy that it borders on non-functional because you can't see whether they are dirty or not.

Quite a few of the floor tiles are broken and pieces are starting to fall out, leaving sharp edges and exposing the subfloor, so I will have to replace the floor pretty soon, I guess.

Dicey

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #36 on: January 30, 2023, 07:47:32 AM »
I am not renovating my oak kitchen cabinets. I love the look of white cabinets, and they would brighten up the room, but it would be a lot of work to paint them and I'm not sure I could keep them clean enough to really look nice. I would hate to spend all that time and energy painting, only to end up with a kitchen that quickly becomes dingy-looking.

I'm also not renovating the granite countertops, even though the pattern is so busy that it borders on non-functional because you can't see whether they are dirty or not.

Quite a few of the floor tiles are broken and pieces are starting to fall out, leaving sharp edges and exposing the subfloor, so I will have to replace the floor pretty soon, I guess.
Tiles don't typically shatter like that. Be sure to figure out why it happened and remedy that before you install something new.

AMandM

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #37 on: January 30, 2023, 02:18:30 PM »
Tiles don't typically shatter like that. Be sure to figure out why it happened and remedy that before you install something new.

Thank you! Based on the workmanship of the other work done on this house by the antepenultimate owner, I'm guessing it was due to improper installation (not truly level subfloor). It will be tricky because the tile goes under the cabinets. We will probably hire the job out, since the last two times we tried tiling a floor ourselves were not a success.

ChickenStash

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #38 on: January 30, 2023, 03:13:42 PM »
When buying, I try to make sure the layout/flow of the house is what I want so I avoid any structural changes. Beyond that, I am a very plain, boring, fashionless person so anything that's not an eyesore is probably not going to be touched unless/until it breaks or will be convenient to replace because something next to it broke. I'll use HGTV and the like for ideas on what's available or in style but I still lean towards function over form so I tend not to be "in style" - story of my life, really.

As an example, when I bought my current home the carpets were pretty worn. So now I'm going through replacing them with bamboo flooring. Then, since the room has to be emptied, I'm also repainting and fixing drywall issues as I go. I'm not sure if bamboo is still in style but it checks the boxes I need/want so that's what I went with.

On the flip side, my kitchen has a Corian counter and molded-in sink that I don't like (Corian is a poor choice for a sink, IMHO) but is perfectly functional so I have no plans to do anything with it. The kitchen floor is vinyl and also not particularly attractive but it's in good shape so it stays until something happens that would require replacement.

Shuchong

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #39 on: January 30, 2023, 03:25:06 PM »
Things I am not updating:

  • Oak trim
  • Purple laminate kitchen counters (I did replace the purple laminate island with butcher block, but that was a DIY project that cost under $200)
  • 90s kitchen wallpaper with purple accents (I will get to this eventually, probably, but no rush)
  • Pinky-purple tiled shower and laminate vanity top in master bath (instead I painted the upper walls a dark gray that goes well with the pink-purple), and am working on doing white board and batton on the lower walls)
  • guest bath that is full-on carpeted and clad in 90s green and purple wallpaper with a hunter green laminate vanity top (I never use it, my guests can deal)
  • cream carpeting, in both the living room and the dining area, likely also from the 90s (I was going to replace but I borrowed a shampooer instead, and that did the trick)

I did take down all the purple floral wallpaper borders in the kitchen and master bath (purple was a theme in this house, clearly).  And I replaced some purple lampshades with maple wood veneer shades that I made myself.  After all the sweat that went into that, I decided life would be better if I just made my peace with purple.  So far, it's going pretty well. 

It helps that my house, despite the purple, is freakin' gorgeous.  Cathedral ceilings.  Southern exposure high in the hills with an incredible view and huge triple-pane picture windows to show it off.  It makes me happy every day.

This sounds like a treasure. No pressure, but I'd love to see some pics. Especially of the maple wood veneer shades. And all that purple. :)

I made an honest attempt to post pics, but they're apparently too large for the system to handle.  I do love the veneer lamps though.  Cost about $75 for two, so not cheaper than just buying new lamp shades, but they make me happy every time I use them. Plus I have leftover veneer and wood glue now that I can use for other projects:)

Metalcat

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #40 on: January 30, 2023, 03:45:57 PM »
I have never been able to post pictures here. I've tried many times, but I always get the notification that the file is too big no matter how small it is.

*shrug*

Too bad, I really wanted to see the purple house. 

Dicey

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #41 on: January 30, 2023, 06:31:18 PM »
I have never been able to post pictures here. I've tried many times, but I always get the notification that the file is too big no matter how small it is.

*shrug*

Too bad, I really wanted to see the purple house.
It's better than it used to be, but still tricky. However, resizing is usually pretty easy. I've been posting pics on the Condo Conversion thread. Sometimes they go, sometimes I have to resize them, re-save, then try again.

Metalcat

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #42 on: January 30, 2023, 06:39:01 PM »
I have never been able to post pictures here. I've tried many times, but I always get the notification that the file is too big no matter how small it is.

*shrug*

Too bad, I really wanted to see the purple house.
It's better than it used to be, but still tricky. However, resizing is usually pretty easy. I've been posting pics on the Condo Conversion thread. Sometimes they go, sometimes I have to resize them, re-save, then try again.

No matter how I realize them, I'm never able to post them. Tried for years, can't do it.

Turtle

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #43 on: January 31, 2023, 07:55:59 AM »
We bought a townhouse a year ago that was in need of some "updating". The 20-year-old tile floors were hard and uncomfortable, with filthy grout, and the tiled, steep staircase was causing us to slip and fall and skin our shins on the edges of the stairs. So we put down LVP on top of the tile, and carpeted the stairs.

The same flooring tile was used for the kitchen countertops and backsplash, so my husband DIYed the demo to get rid of the tile and then this week we had the counter and backsplash replaced with quartz. We kept the cabinets because they still are in fine condition and I think they look fine.

What I've learned is that renovations are stressful and expensive. I don't watch HGTV, but I do read a lot online about interior decorating, and the constant pressure to update because such and such trend is so "dated" and "wrong" has been getting to me.

I'd like to counteract that anxious renovation energy with a thread about things in your house that might be "dated" and "wrong" but are still fully functional and that you're not planning on changing, Zillow be damned. Maybe if we normalize perfectly good decorating we can all just move on with our lives and not feel the need to rip out and replace expensive fixtures that still work fine.

Pictures are a huge plus. @Frugal Lizard posted an absolute stunner of a 70's bathroom on my journal, which is what inspired this thread.

We bought our house from the original owners.  Still has the early 70's double wall oven and it still works great.  Master bath tub is that blue porcelain that was all the rage back then.  I'm definitely a function over fashion person and couldn't possibly care less about keeping up with "trends" unless the trend includes functional improvement.

The only renovations we've done is to take out the bathroom carpet (Ewww) and while we were at it we replaced with taller height toilets.

This year I'm replacing the front door because of wood rot at the base of the frame and also fix the drafts around it.  Because of how the house is oriented, that door bears the brunt of bad weather. i don't think it's the original door -- looks like a 1990's update from the style.

At the same time as the front door, I'll also be replacing an original back sliding door  with a much more efficient new one, both of which qualify for tax deduction.  The only major remodel I'm even slightly contemplating would add a front porch that would protect that entrance from some of the weather and add a bit of space for main floor laundry in my old age. 

The original cedar siding is definitely starting to wear in places as well, so replacing that is next on my list.  It's likely 2024 will be my timing choice in order to spread out the tax deduction. (Before I FIRE so that if they are running any sort of no interest finance deals I'm more likely to qualify)

tygertygertyger

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #44 on: January 31, 2023, 08:20:50 AM »
We bought our house just over a year ago. The kitchen at a glance looks pretty new - probably it was done in the last twenty years - beautiful wooden cabinets. But like so many other things, we realize a lot of the work must've been done on the cheap. One wall has fake brick paneling, and between the bricks was painted black. But... it's not paneling. The spacing between the fake bricks grows and grows as you follow it along the wall. By the time you get to the "paneling" over the sink, it's more than double the original spacing.

The opposite wall has wood paneling. Because part of it is coming away from the wall, we found the original wood paneling behind it. Why.

In the one foot space between the fridge and the wall, the previous owners built a fridge-height rolling cart thing. It has a fridge-depth single panel of peg board. When we rolled it out, we realized the original kitchen had yellow tile, because it's still there behind the cart.

But, who cares. At some point, we want to make the foot-wide space between the fridge and wall more usable, but in the meantime, everything in the kitchen is fine.

Unfortunately, the bathroom that the previous owners did is less workable... they had a beautiful shower put in, but decided not to change where the sink or the toilet go. They must have reused a previous sink vanity, but got a new elongated toilet.

Basically, you have to turn your body sideways to walk through the space between the sink and the toilet, in order to get to the large beautiful shower. The owners were elderly! I don't understand why they'd be okay doing a sideways shuffle to get through there everyday.

We're living with it for now, but some day...

 

Metalcat

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #45 on: January 31, 2023, 09:31:47 AM »
We bought a townhouse a year ago that was in need of some "updating". The 20-year-old tile floors were hard and uncomfortable, with filthy grout, and the tiled, steep staircase was causing us to slip and fall and skin our shins on the edges of the stairs. So we put down LVP on top of the tile, and carpeted the stairs.

The same flooring tile was used for the kitchen countertops and backsplash, so my husband DIYed the demo to get rid of the tile and then this week we had the counter and backsplash replaced with quartz. We kept the cabinets because they still are in fine condition and I think they look fine.

What I've learned is that renovations are stressful and expensive. I don't watch HGTV, but I do read a lot online about interior decorating, and the constant pressure to update because such and such trend is so "dated" and "wrong" has been getting to me.

I'd like to counteract that anxious renovation energy with a thread about things in your house that might be "dated" and "wrong" but are still fully functional and that you're not planning on changing, Zillow be damned. Maybe if we normalize perfectly good decorating we can all just move on with our lives and not feel the need to rip out and replace expensive fixtures that still work fine.

Pictures are a huge plus. @Frugal Lizard posted an absolute stunner of a 70's bathroom on my journal, which is what inspired this thread.

We bought our house from the original owners.  Still has the early 70's double wall oven and it still works great.  Master bath tub is that blue porcelain that was all the rage back then.  I'm definitely a function over fashion person and couldn't possibly care less about keeping up with "trends" unless the trend includes functional improvement.

The only renovations we've done is to take out the bathroom carpet (Ewww) and while we were at it we replaced with taller height toilets.

This year I'm replacing the front door because of wood rot at the base of the frame and also fix the drafts around it.  Because of how the house is oriented, that door bears the brunt of bad weather. i don't think it's the original door -- looks like a 1990's update from the style.

At the same time as the front door, I'll also be replacing an original back sliding door  with a much more efficient new one, both of which qualify for tax deduction.  The only major remodel I'm even slightly contemplating would add a front porch that would protect that entrance from some of the weather and add a bit of space for main floor laundry in my old age. 

The original cedar siding is definitely starting to wear in places as well, so replacing that is next on my list.  It's likely 2024 will be my timing choice in order to spread out the tax deduction. (Before I FIRE so that if they are running any sort of no interest finance deals I'm more likely to qualify)

Blue and pink bathroom porcelain came back in style recently. It's actually on trend, lol. People were selling their old blue toilets for a premium.

We had a poster here a few years ago who had a blue bathroom and I *think* we all talked them into keeping it as is. They were asking about products to paint over porcelain vs replacing it all, and we were pretty universal at the time with our recommendation to just style the rest of the bathroom and embrace the blue.

Oof, I can think of so many cool ways to style a blue porcelain bathroom, that would be a lot of fun. I would struggle with pink, but I could do something very cool with blue.

iris lily

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #46 on: January 31, 2023, 10:41:53 AM »
Parquet isn't typically slippery, Parkay would be...
this is the joke that was needed.

iris lily

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #47 on: January 31, 2023, 10:43:34 AM »
I am not renovating my oak kitchen cabinets. I love the look of white cabinets, and they would brighten up the room, but it would be a lot of work to paint them and I'm not sure I could keep them clean enough to really look nice. I would hate to spend all that time and energy painting, only to end up with a kitchen that quickly becomes dingy-looking.

I'm also not renovating the granite countertops, even though the pattern is so busy that it borders on non-functional because you can't see whether they are dirty or not.

Quite a few of the floor tiles are broken and pieces are starting to fall out, leaving sharp edges and exposing the subfloor, so I will have to replace the floor pretty soon, I guess.
Tiles don't typically shatter like that. Be sure to figure out why it happened and remedy that before you install something new.

Me, trying to figure out why granite too busy to see dirt is a problem…

Frugal Lizard

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #48 on: January 31, 2023, 10:43:54 AM »
Parquet isn't typically slippery, Parkay would be...
this is the joke that was needed.
I laughed out loud.

tygertygertyger

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Re: What are you NOT renovating?
« Reply #49 on: January 31, 2023, 11:18:27 AM »
I am not renovating my oak kitchen cabinets. I love the look of white cabinets, and they would brighten up the room, but it would be a lot of work to paint them and I'm not sure I could keep them clean enough to really look nice. I would hate to spend all that time and energy painting, only to end up with a kitchen that quickly becomes dingy-looking.

I'm also not renovating the granite countertops, even though the pattern is so busy that it borders on non-functional because you can't see whether they are dirty or not.

Quite a few of the floor tiles are broken and pieces are starting to fall out, leaving sharp edges and exposing the subfloor, so I will have to replace the floor pretty soon, I guess.
Tiles don't typically shatter like that. Be sure to figure out why it happened and remedy that before you install something new.

Me, trying to figure out why granite too busy to see dirt is a problem…

Ours aren't granite, but it's a busy pattern and I too hates it.

The problem is that every time you set something down or touch the counter, it turns out that there were crumbs all over it or something gross and now you need to clean 1- the counter and 2- whatever touched it (your hand, the clean dish, whatever).

Hates it.

Same problem in the bathroom. I can't tell you how much time I've spent staring at it, wondering if my partner's trimmed beard hairs are secretly waiting for me. Sometimes they are, sometimes they aren't.