Doing a whole house remodel, new windows, doors, trim, flooring, etc.
Trying to decide on a look, picking something that will look good and keep costs down. The windows are the biggest cost, going with white seems like the way to go. If I go with pine it costs a bit more, and then on top of that the finishing of the pine costs money.
So with the white windows, I had initially figured we would just go with white trim. But then I found out white pre-finished trim costs the same as white clear coated pine. And white 6 panel doors cost the same as pine 6 panel doors with clear coat.
So I guess the question is whether the white windows surrounded by clear coat pine trim would look fine. And second, if the pine would be better for resale than the white. We will be selling in 8-10 years, so keeping costs down while having it seen as value for buyers means a lot.
Finally, clear coat oak costs about 30% more for the doors and trim. Overall that doesn't add a tremendous amount to the remodel, so is that the way to go? Oak certainly "looks" more expensive, and is harder so it shows less wear, but spending more for oak just seems like a waste if we don't care much.
Thoughts? We live in the midwest, upper Wisconsin, so I don't know that there is any "standard" for what a nice house would have. But that is what I want, just the cheapest option for a "nice house", nothing super fancy but also nothing cheap. It is in a very nice neighborhood so quality will be expected when we sell, I can't go too cheap. And I do believe the whole remodel will mostly pay for itself when we sell, it is so old and dated right now it was a steal to purchase a couple years ago, and we want to make it nice while we live here the next 8-10 years.