For me, like I’m sure it does for many, mini fridges conjure up images of dorm rooms and garages. Surely there are other spaces a mini fridge makes sense too, right? Small, infrequently used kitchens could certainly benefit from a mini fridge. Or perhaps I just have that thought because I can’t stop daydreaming about the future kitchen remodel at my Grandma’s little country house. Either way it begs the question: Can a mini fridge be stylish?
[Read more…] about Can a mini fridge be stylish?Renovations
home improvements with a good return on investment
One of the toughest things about home ownership is choosing what to live with, what to improve, and what to completely replace or reconfigure. It’s really hard to find a house that not only ticks all the boxes but that also doesn’t warrant improving in any way. So what do you improve? Obviously fiscal resources will dictate a lot of what you can and can’t do. But what’s really worth it? Sure you may want something, but does it make sense for your neighborhood, the market or long term goals? Let’s dive into things that are pretty much always a good return on investment.
Roof Repairs/Replacement
Your roof is a very precious part of protecting your home. There’s no point in making anything below it better if the roof isn’t going to protect it.
Replacement Windows
A brand new home shouldn’t need this and if you’ve done this fairly recently you shouldn’t need to either. But efficiency matters, leaks aren’t a joke, and outdoor noises are no fun to listen to inside.
Basic Exteriors Work
Old siding, Foundations that need repairs, Broken gutters/shutters/etc. These things keep your home looking and functioning properly. It’s really important to maintain the outside of your home just like it’s important to maintain your furnace. Too quickly the list of small repairs becomes overwhelming.
Maintenance & Upgrading Plumbing/Air Conditioning/Furnaces/Related Systems
It’s easy to take these things for granted. And it’s better for your wallet if you plan on upgrading and servicing these things before you run into problems. And then potential buyers don’t want to factor in the fact that they may need to shell out money just to live comfortably in the house.
Kitchen & Bathroom Upgrades
What makes sense for one person in their neighborhood won’t make sense for someone else. If you’ve got 2 bathrooms in a predominately 2 bathroom neighborhood and you’re thinking of taking on a master bedroom addition that would add a third bathroom but your kitchen is from the 70’s – that doesn’t make sense. On the other hand, if you only have 1 bathroom in homes in your neighborhood have 2, it’s probably smartest to add the second bath before throwing a ton of cash at your kitchen.
If all of these things are in good order with your home and you’ve got the room to improve in your neighborhood and the cash, you’re all set. But you should probably focus on making sure these upgrades are checked off before moving onto anything else.
What You CAN totally DIY in a bathroom remodel
So we’ve been slowly chugging away at a complete bathroom remodel and I’ve mentioned before how I’ve begrudgingly handed over most of the bathroom remodel to a contractor. As someone who spends an awful lot of time on Pinterest, it’s really hard to look at my own failures and hand over large amounts of cash that are explosive compared to the numbers you see from DIYers. But there are things that I have DIYed myself for the space, even if it’s not tile work or electrical. So I thought I’d share what I’ve been able to do for any of you who may also be feeling exasperated with your own skills.
Here are things you CAN totally DIY in a bathroom remodel
(for those of us limited in time, skills and money)
- Paint: Having a room painted is ridiculously expensive. Skip the pro and do it yourself. With quality paint tools and a decent paint, the job won’t be as difficult as you may imagine. And starting with a small space like a bathroom can give you confidence to put those quality paint tools to use in other spaces (and you’ll earn back your money spent many times over with this DIY job).
- Assist Your Contractor: This may not be an option depending on who you work with, but many are happy to cut you a discount for helping them get the job done faster. Whether it be helping unload materials, or if you’re extra skilled, helping install floors, drywall or tile, you could save yourself some cash by helping them save time.
- Build Pieces: A lot of times, cabinets and vanities come dismantled to make it easier for shipping and storage.
- Install Shelves and Cabinets: Anything that’s not connecting to plumbing or electrical- totally try to put it in yourself! The worst that could happen is that you may have to have your contracor do it anyways. And I doubt that’ll happen because you can totally do this.
- Install Lighting: Installing new lighting is actually pretty easy. I spent a long time terrified of doing anything with wires, but I’ve practiced and I’ve taken precautions. If I can do this, you can do this (unless you’re dealing with questionable electrical or a complicated light fixture- please do not hurt yourself or your home).
- Hang Window Treatments: A power drill is so easy to operate. Start practicing on small things like hanging curtains and blinds. They’re never as complicated as they may look. Have fun looking for a style that suits your space and put it up according to the instructions. You can even find youtube videos that will walk you through the process for most types of window coverings.
- Make decisions: I’ll call this “project manager.” If you’ve got a bit more time, you can skip a contractor and contact individual craftsmen to do the work in the bathroom. An initial phone discussion should let you know who needs to come first so you can schedule those appointments in an order that goes smoothly (and be prepared if you’re going with #7). Plumbers, Tilers, Drywallers- they all work individually with clients outside of a contractor.
- Make purchases: A contractor isn’t going to scour craigslist for a good deal, nor are they going to spend a lot of time choosing the best bang for your buck for the look you want. Even if they did, you’re paying for their man hours searching for that product. By ensuring your contractor/floor guy/tiler is willing to work with the product you choose, you cut out paying for their shopping time and you’ll save money. Many contractors get special deals by working with certain companies. But they get those deals because the product is already more expensive (hence why they have room to wiggle). Be careful with taking on the job of buyer, you don’t want to ruin a good relationship by bringing in tile completely different than what you and your tiler agreed on. They quote you based on labor and a large tile takes less time to install versus a small one. One light over the mirror involves less time than two sconces flanking the mirror.
- Demolition: It’s fun! Have your bathroom tested for asbestos and lead and if you’re clear, tearing out tile and drywall is an easy way to save some money. There’s a few tools you’ll need, but they aren’t nearly as expensive as paying someone to do the labor for you. It doesn’t require much skill and a friendly contractor will give you a bit of guidance.
- Final Clean Up: You may not realize it, but to get a shiny bathroom for reveal day, cleaning up has to happen. Do you really want to pay someone to clean or do you want to save yourself some cash and clean it yourself. You’re going to have to clean the bathroom again anyways, so might as well get in there when it’s (hopefully!0 it’s worst.
With a willingness to use your own time and labor, you can totally play a part in your bathroom remodel. No fancy tools required! From as early as demolition, to choosing tile and hiring tradesmen, to cleaning up your finished space, DIY is more than Pinterest deep. You can do this!
My biggest full bathroom remodel regret
So I hate to be a debbie downer or sorts but I feel like this post is necessary to get off my chest. Taking on a full bathroom remodel has been an awesome experience for the most aprt. Everything from finding our contractor, to picking tile to scoring on a better vanity than I’d imagined. I’ve spent so much money on the space. Even though it makes me so happy to enter the space, I don’t feel like I’ve wasted money. Except for the tile installation.
You may or may not know the breif story I told about my first attempt at tiling. We initially tried giving the bathroom a “facelift” and I attempted tiling the floors with 2″ white hexagon tiles. I loved the tile and was pumped to get it done. I watched so many youtube videos and the guys and lowe’s, home depot and the tile shop assured me it was an easy DIY. Time consuming, but easy. I feel like the only person on this planet that doesn’t find tiling easy.
When we came to the decision to hire a contractor, I was happy to pass the tiling responsibility off. I didn’t want to touch anything that wasn’t cosmetic. I’ll share later what I did do, but today is about my regret. The one thing that makes me cringe everytime I use the bathroom.
When our contractor asked us about how we wanted to do the bathtub/shower situation, I excitedly showed him pictures of built in shelves I’d found on Pinterest. He said it was doable but gave us an additional list of supplies we’d need to get it done. For the shower wall alcove we were also going to need border and bullnose tiles to match the gorgeous jeffrey court tiles. I cannot beleive how difficult it is to find bright white tiles. We eventually found them at The Tile Shop and spent an arm and a leg and our last bit of patience getting the pieces we needed (short story- they promised us tiles on a certain day and it didn’t come).
So what was the big regret?
But after the contactor got to laying in the tile, I started to worry about how things lined up. I marked the especially noticeable ones and had him fix them. But there are still so many imperfections. Many of the tile sheets aren’t spaced correctly. Some are raised off the wall more than others. The corners didn’t match up (and he neglected to use caulk and used a messy thick line of mortar). And the alcove border is sloppy. Some of the tiles are crooked and the moroccan inspired tiles around it weren’t properly cut to fit.
I think it looks pretty bad.
So what could I have done differently?
I should’ve stuck to my guns and required the border be done the way I wanted it be done.
I should’ve asked for proof he’d know how to work with uniquely shaped tile like these ones.
What can I do now?
I can take a tiling class. I know that the big home improvement stores have classes pretty often. And I can learn how to fix this myself. Or I can bring in someone with proof of experience to remove the worst tiles and lay a cleaner borner of tiles. Supervised. So I can have adjustments made before everything is set and “permanent.”
I’ve learned a lesson. I have to wait until after we replace the roof and windows and give the kitchen a facelift (aka forever) to get this fixed but I know for sure it’s not going to happen again. Expensive mistakes are hard to swallow but I had to share. A terrible tile job isn’t something I’ll have to live with forever, but it’s made the elation of the other progress not as exciting.
Have you had a home improvement project go wrong? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. I hope I’m not the only one!
Hot Water Heater Moved & Installed
One of the single biggest struggles we’ve had since moving into our house in 2012 is having hot water from anywhere in the house. That’s because our hot water heater had always been located in our garage. Our garage is not insulated, it’s not attached to the house, and the temperature is not regulated.
So for most of the cooler months, showers and baths are unbearable. I have arthritis so a hot shower does a lot to help loosen up my joints and so I’ve spent most of the past few winters feeling crippled and curled up in bed.
And even during the warm months, the lines were so far from the house that we would have to waste quite a bit of water before warm water was coming out.
So at the end of last winter, I decided I’d had enough. If nothing else but one things got done in 2015, we needed to move that damned hot water heater into the house.
We have a large pantry and we don’t utilize well so the space was there.
So over the summer we began the process of a bathroom renovation. And part of this renovation involved rerouting lines for the hot water heater (as well as doing some electrical upgrades to accomidate the unit in the house). The joke was on us though, apparently at one point in time the hot water heater was exactly where we requested it be moved- go figure (thank you whoever blew up our budget having that moved back into a sane place).
We are now in December. We’ve been working on this project for 5 months. We are finally finished with the work (minus some storage and decorative stuff in the bathroom, but that’s for another day).
And we have hot water! So not only will we be wasting less water, but I imagine our utility costs are going to lower, too. The unit won’t have to work so hard in the winter and because we’ve upgraded to a newer, more efficient hot water heater, it’s going to run more efficiently on the power it draws.
We’ve installed the Performance Platinum 40 Gal. Medium 12 Year 5500/5500-Watt Elements Electric Water Heater with LCD Touch Control Display (it’s a mouthfull, but with so many different models I wanted to make sure I included the full name) and we have the EcoNet Home Comfort WiFi Module for Select RheemPerformance Platinum Electric Water Heaters. Both are available at The Home Depot.
I couldn’t be a happier person right now. I aim to be a fairly earth friendly person so this situation is ticking off a lot of boxes on my checklist.
I am proud to bring you a collaboration between A Designer At Home and Rheem to bring you real time numbers on whether or not upgrading to a high efficiency unit (and even making the investment to moving a unit to a better suited location) will make a difference in your utility costs.
Over the next 12 months you’ll see a post here on A Designer At Home covering reports of my utility costs versus last year, as well as details about the unit we’re using and the econet system and collaborative initiatives to bring you information on ways to lower your utility costs.
I hope you find this collaboration a source of helpful information and that it helps you make decisions on everything as big as units to small changes you can make around your house to make the comfort in your home top notch.
We’re falling right into winter and I won’t be chatting with you much more until after the new year so I wanted to get a head start and share this infographic with you so we can start preparing for the cooler season.
Shower & Tub Surround Tile and Grout
Hey guys,
As I promised, I’m checking in with an update on our bathroom remodel. Things slowed down quite a bit with the Thanksgiving holiday but there’s still a bit of progress to share with you.
I had a few questions from you all about grout. Originally the plan was to use turquoise blue grout. And then my contractor used it as adhesive for the shower tiles. And then told me he couldn’t use it to grout the tiles because he needed unsanded grout for the measurement of gap between the tiles. How discouraging!
I was pretty bummed out that he used the grout as adhesive without speaking to us about it first. The cost difference between generic ol’ adhesive and the turquoise grout is hefty. And I have used it in a tiling project where the grout size was quite small (remember my tiled ottoman tops?). So the whole ordeal has been really frustrating.
With the use of the turquoise grout out the window because it’s a sanded grout, we went shopping at The Home Depot to check out their selection of grouts. We chose an inexpensive unsanded grout by Polyblend in the color “New Taupe.” It’s a very pretty color. Striking against the white. A very classy combination. Not exactly the vibe I was going for, but I think that it’s offset by the patterned tile insert quite nicely.
Speaking of the insert, I’ve had to put my foot down and demand that he use the turquoise grout here. I know it can be used in a smaller tile gap and I really wanted it used in the space. With only 1 tub left (out of the 8 I had), this is going to have to be the unexpected pop of fun I crave.
I don’t want to come off completely underwhelmed, ungrateful, or pissed off. I appreciate all the hard work my neighbor has done. And I’m not pissed off. Things didn’t go quite according to plan. While I would have preferred he discuss the use of the product in this way with us, he wouldn’t have used it to grout the whole shower surround anyways. And it really is beautiful how it’s turning out. I’m betting this color will be a whole lot easier to keep clean looking anyways so this could just be a blessing in disguise.
So that’s what we’re looking at for progress on the shower surround.
The floors are really exciting. They’re actually going perfectly according to plan. We’re using the same Polyblend grout in “Tobacco.” The floor tile is from Lowe’s and it’s GBI Tile & Stone Inc. Madeira Oak Ceramic Floor Tile. It’s a touch warmer than the picture online shows. We bought ours online and picked up in store.
*Lowe’s & The Home Depot are Ebates stores so you get cash back when you buy online and pick up in store 😉
So there’s a lot of really good things moving forward right now. With the holidays upon us, I’m not so much focused on getting projects done for the bathroom. Our contractor is doing what he needs to do on his end, but I won’t be picking back up on any projects until after the new year. I’ll still keep updating, but keep a look out for a few holiday themed posts. It’s the most magical time of year 🙂