Our 1922 Craftsman is in much need of interior remodeling. We are about to attack the bathroom and kitchen/breakfast room. My father in law is a retired architect, so he is taking the reins on design. I think he’s a bit bored by the way, so he is going to be our contractor. Looks like the last time either was fixed up was the 60s, so we are in for a huge job. Would love to hear all your stories good and bad, tips, recommendations and even more so, before and after pics. Here’s what our latest drawings look like, just updated yesterday.
I am in final stages of negotiating home purchase. So remodeling will be on my list. Stove, sink, oven do not meet my high standards. Need to replace very uninspiring gray carpet. Also paint in exciting colors. Get rid of boring junipers so I can plant my stuff.
My wife is not big on tile showers for upkeep reasons, so when we redid the bathrooms, she insisted we go with Bathfitters. They aren’t particularly inexpensive, but they use acrylic instead of fiberglass and, despite my apprehensions, it is great stuff. 6+ years later and it still looks brand new. Don’t let anyone tell you that acrylic is similar to fiberglass. There is a night and day difference. Too, Bathfitters takes all of a day and a half per tub/shower installation. The first day a guy comes in, rips out the old stuff, installs marine board and replumbs things. The next day a guy comes in and installs the tub, the surround and the glass doors (if you go that route). Job finished. In our guest bath we had them take the tub out completely and install a large walk in shower. In the master we went with a soaking tub. We have been exceedingly pleased with both. Again, they weren’t much if any cheaper than if we had gone the “traditional” route, but it was good quality all the way around and way, way, way faster. Lifetime guaranty on materials and labor also.
We recently closed on our home. It's a relatively new home (2016), but my wife hated the wood floors. So, prior to moving in, we replaced them with 7" luxury vinyl flooring (LVF). Very hard to tell the difference between this and real wood floors. Lower cost, plus, zero upkeep....and virtually indestructible! Anyone using this?
We are redoing our front and back decks right now. Trying to decide on a material. Wife is sick of me having to re-do the finish on our present wood decks every spring (or, err, not re-finishing the surface!) Looking at composite like Trex. Anyone have experience with it? Not sure I like the prefab look. I'm leaning towards Dasso bamboo.
I love hardwood floors. Composite just doesn't look the same. Deck, for some reason, has carpet. Will replace with something I can sweep and mop. Really big deck with overhang. Put table and chaise. Lucia and I can sit there on hot days.
We have 2 dogs. Part of what went into the decision. Plus, it eventually might become a rental. Wood is much less durable.
We did our deck with Cali Bamboo maybe 4 years ago. Still looks great. https://www.calibamboo.com/composite-decking.html Specifically, we used the Denali 3G which looks great in person. https://www.calibamboo.com/product-denali-dark-brown-deck-7502004401.html I actually had some extras, so built a matching outdoor table and benches. I converted our front yard to a rock garden and built a small platform for the rocking chairs with Trex. I think the bamboo stuff looks much nicer, but Trex is not horrible.
There's nothing like wood floors for beauty and in the 6 years we've owned our home they have needed no maintenance. The only drawback is that they are a little slippery and you must have a throw rug or coasters under your chair legs to prevent scratching. They need only dry mopping which my wife does much too often because she's a bit of a clean freak.
We changed our deck to T-Rex about three years ago and they still look great. The mounting screws are guaranteed to not come loose for a long time. Because of my disability we put in guard rails and could have made the guard rails lighted but we wanted to saved a few bucks. Now, we have more money and wish I had gone for the lighting. We have lighting along the walkway to the front door, over the mail box in the brick post and shining on the flag on our flag pole. We put in the lighted 20 ft. flag pole about five years ago and Zillow still does not show it in the pictures of our home.
This is our current project (well, looks like one of 2). Main Bathroom. Started with this horrible 70s decor, with the toilet right next to the shower, a horrible useless tub, too small a window above it and a strange half wall in the middle (probably because they had the L shape vanity). Complete Demo, moving the toilet away from the shower so one does not need to squeeze himself... And where it is now, floor is almost done, shower prep is ongoing, cut the wall for a bigger window above the tub. I really like these floors, look like a weathered barn floor or something. We are waiting the custom vanity and cement sinks we bought (went fancy for that one) for the next big piece to install.
It's been 4 years since we bought it - so I do not remember if it is a lot more expensive. It is certainly more expensive and you have to order it direct using a contractor - can't just go down to the local home improvement store and get it - which is why I did not do the front platform all in it, I just used whatever pieces I had left as accents and the new parts I needed to get - I just got Trex. It seems that you can order it in 16' pieces from Lowe's as a special order and it is expensive there - about 3 times the cost of Trex - I do not think it was anywhere near that bad when we ordered through a contractor. I am going to guess maybe 50% more - but it's been a while and pricing might have changed.
Sure. If there are specific items you need suggestions - I have done way too much research recently - so would be happy to share so you at least get a starting point...
