...of the blog. If you are still reading this, you are one loyal reader and friend indeed. :) What I will do in this post is offer my reflections on the whole renovation process: would we do it again? what did we like best? what mistakes did we make? what do we wish we had done differently? I'll also post a few more photos from the finished product, now that we're all moved in. I had semi-promised a "virtual tour," and I did attempt to make a video. But the darned thing was 11 minutes long and very wobbly (I'm not much of a cinematographer), and the camera angle was too narrow to show off the space well, so I decided to spare y'all.
Would we do it again?
This is an easy question: Without a doubt, yes. We're thrilled with how the project turned out. Our new master bedroom is large and gorgeous, and the master bathroom is sheer indulgence and luxury. Quite frankly, the laundry room itself has made my life so much easier that I would've done the renovation just for it.
People are always curious about whether or how much the project went over budget or past the deadline. It did both, to a small extent, but for understandable reasons. When Wagner first bid the job, I told him that I realized that it would be hard to determine the exact cost ahead of time. He surprised me by saying that, on the contrary, his bid would likely be right on target, unless Jon and I made a bunch of change orders. And this is in fact how it turned out. We went over budget, but in each case it was because of decisions that Jonathan and I made during the process to do things differently. For example, when we didn't like the first skylight and had it taken out and replaced with a wider one, that added to our cost, but we feel it was well worth it. Wagner had also budgeted a certain amount for the tile work in the bathroom, which I greatly exceeded when I picked out the expensive floor mosaic and border options. But these were increased costs we were happy to pay in order to have the bathroom look the way I wanted.
In terms of total cost/value, it's hard to know for sure, but up until the recent real estate implosion, I think we would've been able to sell our house for at least the combined cost of what we paid for it and the renovation. Today things aren't selling so well, so it may be a couple of years before we recoup our costs. But it doesn't matter, as I have zero intention of moving out of this house any time soon.
In terms of total cost/value, it's hard to know for sure, but up until the recent real estate implosion, I think we would've been able to sell our house for at least the combined cost of what we paid for it and the renovation. Today things aren't selling so well, so it may be a couple of years before we recoup our costs. But it doesn't matter, as I have zero intention of moving out of this house any time soon.
We also finished the job maybe a month behind target (well, besides the built-in bookcase, which was delayed even longer--but I'm not counting that because we were able to move in without it). That's not bad at all considering what a lousy winter we had with weeks of temperatures too low to allow for any brickwork, and the two weeks we lost in the ice storm.
This is a photo of the foyer to our addition. The painting is entitled "The Far Side of the World," which is rather fitting, because when the doors to the addition are closed, I can't hear the kids or anything going on in the rest of the house, so I feel like I am in a separate world of my own.The painting was done by Peyton Higgison, an artist I met through the Piano Forum.
Random thoughts and advice, in no particular order, for others thinking about or embarking on a renovation
1. Hire John Wagner, or someone like him. Wagner is the main reason this renovation has been such a positive experience, and I've read enough horror stories of renovations that go badly to know that we are truly fortunate to have been able to work with him. You want a contractor who is accessible, reliable, detail-oriented, and obsessive-compulsive. Wagner often drove his employees and subcontractors crazy with his instructions and tendencies toward micro-management, but as the client, we appreciated it greatly and were delighted with the outcome.
2. Know ahead of time what you want the space to look like and how it will be furnished. Okay, that sounds obvious enough, but this a point where we failed miserably, occasionally with less than optimal results. Some of the delays we encountered on the project were due to my inability to reach timely decisions on major issues like carpet choice or cabinet finishes. I sort of went into the renovation adopting a "just in time" mentality, thinking that I didn't have to, say, select a washer and dryer until the day before we needed them delivered. Had I done all my research and shopping much earlier--in the case of the washer and dryer, before we had even planned the layout of the laundry room--I would've known, for example, to put the hookups in the right place.
As another example, when we designed the bedroom, we sketched out a plan for four smaller rectangular windows and the large picture window. The bedroom was built before we even went furniture shopping for it. As a result, when we bought the furniture and had it delivered, I discovered that if we put our bedside tables in the logical place--i.e., at the side of the bed--they overlapped with the windows somewhat. Had I known what furniture was going to go in there before we drew up the plans, I probably would've put the windows farther apart or located them higher. It's not a big deal and it doesn't look bad the way it is; it just isn't optimally laid out, in my opinion, and it bothers me a little because if I had planned everything in advance better, we could've made it look perfect.
I don't know if I could've done things differently, really, as having all these decisions made in advance would have required a tremendous amount of advance planning and time that I didn't have the luxury of engaging in. But it's something for people planning their own renovations to consider.
3. Take a sabbatical from your job if possible; failing that, free up time SOMEHOW. The only way I was able to maintain my sanity this past year is that we did the renovation while I was on sabbatical. I honestly don't know how I would've coped if not. Most days I was talking with Wagner or doing research/shopping/decision making for the renovation at least an hour a day, and often I'd be putting in six-hour days on nothing but the renovation. This is probably the best advice I can give here: Undertaking a major renovation will suck up more of your time than you EVER imagined, so don't do it unless you're okay with that concept.
The corollary is that you should plan your renovations around major life transitions carefully. Don't decide to renovate during your maternity leave for your first baby on the reasoning that "I'll be sitting home all day doing nothing, anyway." (All experienced parents are laughing hysterically at that premise.) Don't undertake a renovation during a critical time in your job or career trajectory. Recognize that while the renovation is going on, you won't be getting much done on other life projects that might be important to you.
In short, you and your family need to come to be at peace with acknowledging that your project will take very high priority in your life for an extended stretch of time. To this day my kids have developed a conditioned aversion to Home Depot due to the many long hours they were forced to follow me around there.
4. Inspect all work involving subcontractors carefully immediately upon completion. If I had followed this advice, I would've noticed the stain on the carpet right when it had been installed, and we would have had a basis for asking for a replacement from the carpet company.
5. Don't be afraid to spend big money on high-visibility items. From a purely economic perspective, I shouldn't have bought the bathroom floor mosaic. That little square of floor cost $1200. And I knew when I was ordering it that I was giving in to an extravagant impulse. But now that I see the finished bathroom, well, I just love that mosaic. It has become the focal point of the bathroom and transforms it into something special. The tile mosaic may be my favorite individual feature of the renovation. I don't regret it in the slightest. Keep the time scale of the project in mind and don't be afraid to amortize. If you're going to the expense and effort of undertaking a major renovation, it doesn't make sense to feel a little let down every time you walk into your new space. And if this sounds just a little like fancy rationalization for spending big bucks on a tile medallion or an electric blue washer/dryer set, well, you're probably right. ;-)
This advice only works if you adopt the converse, and economize where you can or where you don't care. For example, we took a fairly inexpensive approach to our bedroom closets. We could've gone to a specialty firm and got all sorts of walnut shelving and built-ins, the way a lot of houses with big master suites do. But this was an area I felt we could safely economize, as we'll be keeping our closet doors closed when we have guests over.
6. Tempur-Pedic mattresses are very, very nice. We hesitated before spending so much on a mattress set, but the 90-day free trial convinced us to give it a go. All I can say is... wow! Here's a product that all those commercials and testimonials are actually right on target. We love this new mattress set. I am a light sleeper and used to wake up several times a night. Now, it's not at all unusual for me to sleep the entire night through without waking. Jonathan used to wake up with backaches. No more. And, best of all, the Tempur-Pedic mattresses don't develop those annoying little permanent gullies where you've been sleeping. I wish we had bought some years ago.
7. Take your time to research and measure before determining placement of items. I've talked before about my spatial skills deficiencies. There were a lot of times in this renovation where Wagner would call me over and I'd have to decide where to locate things like towel bars, toilet paper holders, and the like. Most of the time I'd have this slightly panicky and helpless feeling that I had no idea what the exact best spot would be. Most of the time it ended up not mattering much, but sometimes it did. The cabinet above the toilet, for example, ended up being way too high. I can't reach the top shelf, which limits its usefulness. The grab bar by the toilet is also too high. In retrospect, I probably either should've gone around and found examples of object placements in other houses that I liked and then recorded what measurements or dimensions they used, or maybe I should've tried temporary installments of things for a few days to make sure I liked it. Yeah, I could always shift things around after the fact, I suppose, but I also know we'll probably never get around to it.
8. Walk-in showers are wonderful. If you ask hubby Jonathan, he'd probably say that his favorite feature of the new renovation is the walk-in shower. He loves being able to just wander in and out and not have to squeegee any doors. I'm kind of surprised, actually, that this kind of design is not more popular; I guess it's because they require more floor space. Wagner also mentioned a couple of times that they're trickier to design because you have to make sure the floor slopes at just the right angles so you keep the water where it belongs.
9. Honeycomb blinds aren't the best choice if you want to keep windows open. We ended up installing honeycomb blinds on our bedroom windows. I liked the look of them, and I'm particularly happy we went with the cordless design. It looks a lot better without any cords dangling. But now that we've got them installed, I'm thinking we should've gone with draperies instead. Jonathan loves fresh air whenever possible, so we sleep with our windows open if the weather permits. However, we've discovered that if we have the windows open but blinds lowered, the slightest breeze will set the blinds to knock-knock-knocking against the window frame. And have I mentioned that I am a light sleeper? ;-) What this means is that we either have to keep our windows closed or raise the blinds, too, with obvious privacy risks. We're probably going to end up having drapes installed over the blinds just so we can use them on nights we want the windows open.
10. The internet is your friend. Use it. I did a lot of research on the Web during the renovation. Particularly helpful was the Do It Yourself Forum, which has sub-forums on every possible aspect of home construction and desing. The Fine HomeBuilding website was also quite helpful.
11. Stay organized, or rue the day. I accumulated an enormous pile of brochures, business cards, pamphlets, paint chips, receipts, floor plans, etc. over the course of the renovation. My organization scheme was simple, but effective: I bought a large plastic file box from Office Depot and shoved everything renovation-related in there. I could've been even more organized and sorted the stuff by category or room, but this was good enough: If I needed to see a particular brochure, I knew that all I had to do was look through that box, and it would be there.
12. Go to lots of open houses or home tours to get ideas. There are a gazillion home design and architecture magazines out there, but most of them seemed to feature homes that were way out of our league and/or were places where people don't actually seem to live or put possessions in. So they weren't all that helpful. But going to see real people's homes, and lots of them, actually was helpful. I got lots of ideas for color schemes, built-ins, etc.
13. Avail yourself of the advice of people who do this for a living. I am truly grateful to many of the staff I met at various tile, electrical fixtures, plumbing fixtures, and other stores. These people know more about this stuff than I ever will. They could explain possible advantages and disadvantages of various options that never would've occurred to me.
14. Toto toilets are awesome. This toilet more than lived up to its enthusiastic billing on the Terry Love's toilet forum. It has been positively wonderful. So wonderful, in fact, I'm probably going to ask Santa to bring me another one for Christmas to replace our temperamental toilet in the half bath.
15. Marry my husband, or someone like him. Okay, so the first alternative is out, as I have no intention of letting him get away. But throughout this renovation, Jonathan has been fantastic. He'd give an opinion when asked but was also content to let me decide things on my own, and he didn't second-guess a single decision. He cheerfully wrote checks when I picked out more expensive items than originally budgeted. He patiently tolerated the inevitable disruption and inconvenience of the construction process. He has been so wonderful, in fact, that it has been exceedingly easy to remember that the renovation and our house is actually way, way, way low on the list of things that really matter in life. I am truly a fortunate woman, and it's not because I have a nice house. :)
And with that, I bid you all farewell. Thank you for reading my story! I hope you enjoyed it. :)
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