Upgrades to house, how much do they add? (neighborhood, price)

[Eastcoasting]

Originally Posted by cBach

Thanks for the info.

What is your opinion on slate for the bathroom floor? I love the look, although it is not smooth on the feet and I hear it chips, but it seems to be the latest thing.

My main flooring is tile in foyer, kitchen, breakfast room, laundry room, and all bathrooms. Flooring is carpet in office, dining room, bedrooms, and living areas.

Just be careful about slate. You have to spend the money for the best you can get your hands on, inferior slate tends to spall and can be outright dangerous.

A reputable dealer should be able to steer you in the right direction, I would stay away from the big box stores on this one.

[riaelise]

Hey, to each his own. Every person is different and it all comes down to personal preference. There is no one way to eat a Reese's. I'm just sharing my experience as a buyer. There are a lot of homes in his price range that have tile floors and they get contracts. They weren't discounted either. My home was 90% tile on the first floor and it looked anything but dated -- in fact, it looked pretty good. Maybe it's because I didn't use builder grade Level 1 tiles in blah beige. The ones that look dated are standard flat types of tile that are basic. Saltillo, porcelain (especially Italian porcelain), slate, travertine, even some ceramics..those are timeless. I'm indifferent to wood flooring. If the place has it, that's nice. If it doesn't, but meets everything else? That's nice too.

Not gonna turn this into a flooring debate, but I will say that the OP clearly wants to update on a budget and his home is mostly carpet and tile. I don't think he should spend $14k on hardwood floors when that money could be used elsewhere to spruce up his home. I see no reason why he shouldn't leave the tile on the floor..unless of course, it's the blah, flat builder grade tiles. If it's nice tilework, heck no! Digressing here, I have a friend/neighbor who is a tile installer and he did mostly all of my home's tile work and it's a work of art. I love pretty designs using tile - mosaics, glass, metal tiles...

OP, maybe you might want to also do a nice kitchen backsplash of your choosing. That adds to the aura of updating as well.

[cBach]

Originally Posted by mm57553

Who did you use to replace your fluorescent kitchen light? We are getting ready to do that, but I'm not sure who to call.

Yours truly.

I just went to Home Depot, picked out a light I liked, took it out and put it in. Probably took all of 30 minutes to put in.

[cBach]

Originally Posted by mm57553

I'm just the opposite. I live in Steiner too (quite close to the OP, so we probably have very similar houses), and I absolutely, positively hate houses that have all tile. In fact, when we were home shopping, we told our Realtor to not even show it to us if the whole main floor was tile. Tile is very cold to me, both literally and figuratively. It also can get quite dated. And it is a royal pain in the keister (i.e. expensive) to remove if you don't like it. Wood never goes out of style and real wood can always be refinished. Our house was mostly carpet, which we promptly removed and replaced with wood, which can be refinished. We did keep the tile in the kitchen, half bath, and laundry areas though.

Honestly, for most of the year in the Texas climate, tile is awesome. On those summer days if I've worked out in the yard, sometimes I lie down on the tile just like my cat... Instantly refreshing. It is a royal pain in the neck in the winter though. Wood though is cold in the winter as well. I had wood in KC and remembered how cold it could get. Carpet is nice and warm but gets dirty easily.

[cBach]

Originally Posted by riaelise

Hey, to each his own. Every person is different and it all comes down to personal preference. There is no one way to eat a Reese's. I'm just sharing my experience as a buyer. There are a lot of homes in his price range that have tile floors and they get contracts. They weren't discounted either. My home was 90% tile on the first floor and it looked anything but dated -- in fact, it looked pretty good. Maybe it's because I didn't use builder grade Level 1 tiles in blah beige. The ones that look dated are standard flat types of tile that are basic. Saltillo, porcelain (especially Italian porcelain), slate, travertine, even some ceramics..those are timeless. I'm indifferent to wood flooring. If the place has it, that's nice. If it doesn't, but meets everything else? That's nice too.

Not gonna turn this into a flooring debate, but I will say that the OP clearly wants to update on a budget and his home is mostly carpet and tile. I don't think he should spend $14k on hardwood floors when that money could be used elsewhere to spruce up his home. I see no reason why he shouldn't leave the tile on the floor..unless of course, it's the blah, flat builder grade tiles. If it's nice tilework, heck no! Digressing here, I have a friend/neighbor who is a tile installer and he did mostly all of my home's tile work and it's a work of art. I love pretty designs using tile - mosaics, glass, metal tiles...

OP, maybe you might want to also do a nice kitchen backsplash of your choosing. That adds to the aura of updating as well.

The backsplash in my kitchen is one area I will definitely NOT be updating. I absolutely love it. Seems the original owners sprung for a really nice tile there. Also, seems the original owners were tile fanatics to begin with.

This discussion has been great. I didn't really fancy taking the tile out of the kitchen, so this is nice.

So I will only have to pay to put wood in the office, dining room, master bedroom, and living area.

One quick question. I priced the various vents and drains and such for the master bath jacuzzi tub and it works out to $300. Is that about right? Seems like highway robbery to me. A brand new jacuzzi tub is around $1300 so for a thousand more I could replace the darn thing. What do you think? It is in great shape, everything works, just the drains and such are faded from the heat of the water I guess.

[CarnivalGal]

Originally Posted by cBach

Yours truly.

I just went to Home Depot, picked out a light I liked, took it out and put it in. Probably took all of 30 minutes to put in.

Did you replace it with can lights? We want to replace ours with about 7-8 can lights but have heard it's a real pain due to all the studs and duct work that you have to run wires around and over without ripping your ceiling off. If you have a one-story house, you can go through the attic, but ours is 2-story.

[CarnivalGal]

Originally Posted by kylerboys

Imo, the "old world" look is on its way out (rod iron, heavy dark wood floors, oil-rub rubbed bronze fixtures, etc) and a more modern clean look is what is trendy now--think white kitchens, gray paint, stainless steel fixtures and appliances. We built a house in 2005 and old world was the "thing". When we build another house last year there was no way I wanted to put that look in my new house.

I completely agree with this. I think dark hardwood always looks good, but I think the hand-scraped trend is on its way out.

[cBach]

Originally Posted by mm57553

Did you replace it with can lights? We want to replace ours with about 7-8 can lights but have heard it's a real pain due to all the studs and duct work that you have to run wires around and over without ripping your ceiling off. If you have a one-story house, you can go through the attic, but ours is 2-story.

No, I replaced it with an oil brushed bronze and nouveau frosted glass type fixture. Hard to describe.

[cBach]

Originally Posted by mm57553

I completely agree with this. I think dark hardwood always looks good, but I think the hand-scraped trend is on its way out.

Yes, hand scraped is on the way out. Only real wood with no imperfections (fake or real) for me.

[riaelise]

Originally Posted by cBach

The backsplash in my kitchen is one area I will definitely NOT be updating. I absolutely love it. Seems the original owners sprung for a really nice tile there. Also, seems the original owners were tile fanatics to begin with.

This discussion has been great. I didn't really fancy taking the tile out of the kitchen, so this is nice.

So I will only have to pay to put wood in the office, dining room, master bedroom, and living area.

One quick question. I priced the various vents and drains and such for the master bath jacuzzi tub and it works out to $300. Is that about right? Seems like highway robbery to me. A brand new jacuzzi tub is around $1300 so for a thousand more I could replace the darn thing. What do you think? It is in great shape, everything works, just the drains and such are faded from the heat of the water I guess.

It's not just the price of the tub but the installation. When you factor that in and the fact that the tub works perfectly fine, then a $300 repair is worth it.

The backsplash is good? All the better for you then. If you want to put wood in your home for personal preference, by all means, but not if it is going to be beaucoup money. Might want to look at engineered, bamboo, or even the thicker, beveled edge laminate floors. Or, for consistency, use tile.

Diverting from your post for a moment, I don't think oil rubbed bronze will ever go out of style. It can be "old world" and it can be modern at the same time.