Why bother asking?
I spent the good part of 2006-2009 doing home improvement projects and landscaping projects. Some of my jobs consisted of the following:
- Dug out a small hill in the backyard
- Cut down and removed over 15 trees and bushes from the backyard
- Leveled the entire backyard and then "planted" grass
- Planted over 15 plants and various bushes in the backyard
- Brought in over 10 tons of river rock for the backyard
- Installed over 4 pallets of 8" wall retaining pavers in the backyard (about 800 or so)
- Took down two hand railings and replaced them with new oak railings
- Took down wallpaper in the kitchen and master bath
- Framed out the kitchen window
- Put new hardware on all the kitchen cupboards and drawers
- Took down all the lights in the master bath, painted them a stainless steel color and then rehung them
- Replaced the old shower doors with new stainless steel doors in the master bath
- Took down and replaced all the door handles and hinges on all the doors in the house (11 in total)
- Took down old closet doors and replaced with mirrored doors or new bi-fold doors (3 sets)
- Painted the ceiling and walls in the family room
- Painted the ceiling and walls in 2 spare bedrooms
- Put in a new shower door in the spare bathroom
- Helped tile the entryway, garage entrance and spare bathroom
- Installed two toilets
- Replaced ALL the electrical plugs with new plugs (GFIs where necessary) and ALL the light switches with lighted rocker switches
- Installed shelving in two closets
- Helped take off old shingles and put new shingles on the house as well as install a roof vent
- Helped removed old two-story deck and rebuilt the two-story deck, added a bridge and another deck
I've done remodeling from painting, to drywall, to electrical and everything in between. Some of the stuff came naturally to me... I've either learned it along the way or somehow I just knew what to do. Over the past several years, HGTV has become very popular and shows about decorating and flipping houses has become the norm. Since moving to Florida, we've had the opportunity to see many houses and different styles of houses as well as different decorating ideas.
So it was no surprise to me when a friend of mine asked me for some decorating suggestions, needed help with some electrical issues and wanted an extra hand removing some old cupboards. I've grown to like doing that kind of stuff and I readily admit that I miss it now that we have a house with no projects on the horizon.
Now, when I go to look at a house that's for sale or go to visit a friend at a house I've never been to before - I don't look at how they've decorated. Rather, I look at the structure of the house, whether the angles are straight or not, the layout of the entire house, how the tiles were installed, the colors of the walls, the lighting fixtures, the trim, etc. I look at the house as if I were considering buying it and what I'd like the house to look like, what things would need to be replaced or redone. Because I've done so much house remodeling, I look now to see how others have done and whether their work was worse or better then mine - and whether they've done it right. I've also done enough remodeling and have watched enough television shows to know what helps in the re-sell department.
I spent several hours in Home Depot and Menard's looking over lighting, tiles and cupboards to help give them some ideas and find out what they liked. In the end, I provided this friend with 2 different options for lighting and 2 different options for tiles based on the colors they already had in the room and the colors they were going to use for counter tops and cupboards. The options I gave them were very nice looking and would have brightened up the room as well as made it look like a remodel you'd see on a television show.
I just got off the phone with this friend and found out they didn't use either option I gave them for a backsplash and instead went with something that was cheap, easy to install and made the area look dark and closed in. Further, this friend still hasn't installed any lighting and the wires I exposed when helping to take out the cupboards are still exposed. When I asked about the lighting, she said that they don't know what they're going to - they still don't have the electrical box installed for an electrical plug because the "electrician" they hired didn't want to do what I suggested (which was the easiest, cheapest and by code). It's undone because they're too scared to work on the electrical themselves.
And really, when it boils down to it... the things they chose to use to remodel their kitchen were the easiest and cheapest things they could get. Because really for them, it has less to do about what looks good, what is popular or what brings a good resell value. For them, it's all about what's the cheapest and what will get them by for now.
For me, it's disappointing because while I don't mind spending time in Menard's or Home Depot... they could have made their kitchen look really nice and inviting. It's an area you WANT to put a bit of money in if you're ever considering selling your home because kitchens and bathrooms are what sell the house (most of the time). But instead, they sent a "little" money... and it shows.