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I understand this if it was a temporary landing spot for five years or less, but if you live in a place for 15-30 years, it seems like at some point you would have said "hey! I can make this a little nicer" and done even minimal work. Doesn't it depress anyone to think that you are spending effort to create a nicer living space for a buyer than you ever spent time in? Or is this just not a concern to anyone but me? The only exception I see here is if you have a period correct home from 80 years ago or more with all original features. Then I get why you would keep it pristine
People get comfortable. Their surroundings become background noise, not focal points.
A younger family has different priorities. Kids take money -- do I pay for soccer this season, or buy new drapes? Do I get the couch recovered or do I splurge a bit on a Christmas gift for my son? My daughter needs to pay for her costume for her recital. The dog swallows something he shouldn't and that $2,000 you had planned to spend on new tile in the bathroom is suddenly being handed over the vet. School fees, growing kids and clothes . . . it all adds up. Life is what happens when you're making other plans. :-)
If you are in a stable job, you are probably getting raises fairly regularly and keeping up. But just one little setback -- being laid off or the company going out of business -- can upset the apple cart for months or even years. A medical emergency in your family -- your own or a member of your family -- will freeze your home decor in time for decades. Do you take the money away from your retirement fund? Maybe . . . but probably not.
Then, the kids are on their way to college -- if you have more than 1 child, this is usually a process that takes at least 4 years. 3 kids, 2 years apart, and you're looking at almost a decade's worth of college support.
Yes, I know -- you could always tell your kids to get loans, or tell them their education is their responsibility. Good for their character, etc. Am I going to tell my child that they have to sit out a semester and earn money just because I want to redo my kitchen? Nope. I throw a pillow at the corner of the sofa where the kids spilled Capri Sun and left an orange stain that never came out, and call it a day.
Then, one day, the kids are out of college and doing their own thing. You start watching HGTV and see them making fun of an "ancient" kitchen oven -- and you realize you have the same oven in your kitchen. Designers are rhapsodizing over the "new grey neutrals", and you are silently congratulating yourself for never painting the living room from the pale grey it was in 1989. You LOVE your red dining room and rosewood inlaid dining table, and spent a boat-load of money on it -- why would you want to go buy another dining room table and paint the room "Agreeable Grey" just because this one is a little "dated"?
But then you decide to move, and you realize that your market is you, only 30 years younger. They are in love with different color palettes, dark hardwoods instead of wall-to-wall carpet, granite on practically EVERY flat surface in your home instead of cultured marble or corian.
So you take a deep breath, get estimates, and then update your house, because most young couples buying a house today are working two jobs to make ends meet and the prospect of remodeling is too daunting. It doesn't sit quite right, like a borrowed sweater -- comfortable, but not yours. And you look around and congratulate yourself that it looks very nice -- and then smile, because you remember just how long those sharp accent pillows would have lasted if the kids were still using them for mountains for their Brio train set :-)
It's all good. And if you come into my house and turn your nose up at it because I haven't decorated it to your satisfaction -- oh, well. Your problem, not mine.
I think I am just a weirdo. I change furniture, paint and and decor like my underwear. I switch rugs, sofas, paintings depending on the house, the season, or even my mood. With more permanent things like a kitchen, I might take my time to consider what I want as there are tons of options, but once I decide, its all systems go for a new look. It makes me happy to see how rooms can transform and look totally different with a few easy changes. I guess that isn't how most people see it.
That's how I see it too. I hate moving into an ugly house and bare yard, then doing nothing to change it. It's always so rewarding to see ugly change into pretty! Coming home to a pretty and stylish house and yard makes it all worthwhile. It would be very depressing to be surrounded by ugly. I love decorating and gardening and don't do ugly very well. And of course, when it comes time to sell, that hard work pays off.
my house is 12 years old.
We updated the kitchen 4 or 5 years ago, and won't change it when we sell next year.
We painted last year; if we'd been planning to sell then, we might have chosen slightly different colors. House is light gray, trim is soft, grayish turquoise, decks are slightly grayed blue. Front door is coral.
We also made other changes to the house and grounds for our pleasure, which may or may not increase house value.
Location: Formerly Pleasanton Ca, now in Marietta Ga
10,345 posts, read 8,557,056 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by elhelmete
I'll be sure to schedule my updates according to your "shoulds."
Seriously, nothing better to do than dig for something to chastise others about?
I don't feel the op is elitist at all. I think it's a fair question considering they think it's normal and fun to do. I know most people don't update or decorate that much. You get used to things as they are and just call it home.
Of course it's the expenses. Sometimes it not just adding a fixture or two. It becomes an all or nothing deal.
I've always considered it bad policy to upgrade just to sell a place. My current temporary/former rental home has old formica, banged up kitchen sink, and even dowdy wallpaper (which, of course, I'll remove.) Replacing all of that will make a difference of maybe $5000 in selling price, but an investment probably twice that in order to do it right. And then, there's the buyer looking for a bargain, or "no sale." Way more likely the case, here. So... Pfft. This place I'll sell clean, neutral - and "as is." Because I want it sold - nothing more.
It really depends on the market.
I own a townhouse condo at a ski resort that was built in 1986. I bought it in 1993. The kitchen is classic 1986 with the oak boxes with white doors and oak trim as the pulls, laminate counter, and one piece vinyl floor. I've replaced appliances as they failed with high quality ones but I have not touched anything else.
When I go to sell it, it's going to rot on the market with a kitchen like that. The local market expects a 2017 kitchen. It's affluent out-of-state cash buyers who don't want to remote control remodeling projects. It would be pointless to remodel the kitchen now because that time locks it as a 2017 kitchen. I'll remodel it before I sell it. I have lots of data points on it. Units with all new flooring, a good paint job, new kitchen, and remodeled baths sell pretty much the day they hit the market at premium prices.
The irony is that old houses retain their original design charm only when they are continuously owned by people who are the exact opposite of the OP: they do only necessary structural repairs and updates, they NEVER remodel simply to follow the latest fashion. That's why those houses retain those desirable features that everyone else destroyed over the decades because they were chasing design trends.
My grandparents' Victorian farmhouse looked authentic because (with the unfortunate exception of the kitchen and one bathroom, both of which had been badly remodeled at some point) it WAS. None of the original finishes, furniture, or decor elsewhere in the house had ever been changed. The entryway and parlor had flocked wallpaper that was over 100 years old. Most of the furniture was solid mahogany. Every room had a fireplace, all with appropriate Victorian mantles, and all the floors were hardwood covered by very old wool area rugs. The biggest updates apart from the (botched) kitchen and bath remodel that had been done to the house were the addition of a coal-fired furnace (with appropriate ductwork installed) and the addition of electrical wiring with overhead light fixtures (probably added around 1920).
The house retained its charm because no one tried to turn it into something it was not just because Victorian style fell out of fashion later. It was permitted to stay a Victorian.
Absolutely.
What the OP describes is a fidgety, restless and Nervous Nellie approach to home design. "I'm like sooo bored with that kitchen island. Let's go bold. I want deep blue!!! And Japanese - it has to look Japanese!!!". "We've had that backsplash, like, forever. I want plum!!!". "Joan has a darling new vanity. OMG, I just HAVE TO have one...". "Granite is so boring. Let's send it to the dumpster. I saw on HGTV that metal is THE thing to have now."
Nothing wrong with this if that's what makes you happy in life but this kind of approach to design has ruined many good houses. When I see a house like this, it feels like how the OP is written - all over the place and completely unfocused. No design integrity and a feeling that random updates were done as a hobby to stave off boredom. Again, fine if you enjoy this stuff but to imply that there's something wrong with people who don't enjoy this pedestrian, HGTV driven hobby, is why there is a strong reaction to this nonsense.
So that's another reason why I don't see this as elitist post. I don't think design elitists or elitists in general change things because they are bored or because they wake up and decide that they want more color in the backsplash. Their lives are consumed with 'hobbies' other than willy-nilly changes to their house because they are bored. I've never seen elites sitting around talking about their backsplashes.
This is a hobby for humdrum suburbia, not the elite.
For the same reason I clean differently when people I don't know or don't like are coming over. There's cleaning for friends and there's cleaning for a playdate. I go to my front door and walk through, making a list of all the things I'd mentally pick on if I didn't like me. The dust and some stray dog food pebbles under the rolltop desk in the entry. The disheveled stack of towels in the small bathroom because my kids wanted to help and I didn't want to micromanage them so I let them fold as they know... in quarters instead of thirds. The dusty windowsills. The coffee stain down the front of one white cabinet (because my oldest daughter and I are terrible at a clean pour.) The watermarks on the front of the stainless dishwasher. The stack of random crap on top of the fridge... those old pictures you sorted out and have meant to send to your SIL, half a can WD-40 for when the front door gets squeaky in the winter, a stack of schoolwork that graded well but have retired from the fridge, a few tupperware containers you have to fill with *something* to give back to your friends, etc.. A pile of laundry on the sectional, waiting to be folded. That all gets cleaned, put away, painted, etc. It would eventually, of course, but the burst of energy that comes on with the unknown of how people will judge you, your family, and your home is helpful to actually accomplish it.
You want to PRESENT at peak to garner the best reaction. That can't happen all the time because life demands you have other things to do with higher priority... and priorities change. Typically.
It's wonderful, for you, that you've chosen to keep your home in peak condition all the time. It's your priority; it's not others'.
I just believe that the people who live in the house NOW should be the people who get their full complement of enjoyment out of the space. Not some future stranger.
I agree - if someone is going to remodel for a complete stranger, why not do it for themselves and enjoy the house for awhile before selling it.
I want to spend my time and treasure living and enjoying my family, not messing with my abode. There is a limited pool of resources for both. We are DIYers and have done tons of home improvement projects on every home we have lived in to make them functional or even prettier, but we are totally burned out from the endless time and money it takes to do that on top of normal home maintenance when we have half a dozen kids to raise and a single income. NO. Done. Fried.
We are building and doing everything the way we like it. I told my husband I may reserve the right to pay a painter every ten years or so to freshen things up, but that’s about it. Trying to continually work on things while we live there has been nothing but a nightmare and disruptive our whole marriage. We are doing what we love right, the first time, and then just moving in to other hobbies.
Updating to sell sucks but is often a necessity. Updating prior to that can be even worse when you’re trying to navigate around the busyness and needs of daily life with a bunch of people.
This is the flip side to my other post - yes, I don’t want to remodel every few years and have neither th time or the money for it, but that doesn’t mean my home isn’t crucially important to me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by thinkalot
I always wondered about people that "enjoyed their house". I enjoy people, events, and activities not the place where I sleep and keep my stuff which is all a house is for many people. When reading a great book it doesn't get better if there are new kitchen cabinets. I never noticed a meal being better because of the flooring in the kitchen. If updating improves the quality of a persons life I wonder what qualities they have or lack?
This thread probably belongs on the psychology forum.
I think this is a lifestyle and introvert/extrovert thing, to some extent. For me, my house is an external expression of my internal world. It reflects intimate things about me in the art, textures, forms, and even layout. I am home 98% of the time, except for errands and church. I am here with my family constantly. So this is literally the shape of my world and my very favorite place. It’s where I do life and the people I live it with. And it’s my canvas for expressing the beautiful functional parts of myself just as much as my clothing or makeup.
Some people are very much more utilitarian about their residences. But I don’t get a thrill from a vacation I go on once nearly so much as that perfect chair that always greets me or the mural I’m having made by my very favorite artist, so I can have some joy and beauty while I cook (which takes up an 1/8 of my day, minimum, every flipping day).
I’m not wealthy and can’t spend on remodels and interior decorating changes like I’d like. But I do my best to get my environment just right to function and reflect something special about me that sets me apart from others. That’s why my home is mine - it’s an extension of me.
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