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This actually disagrees with the OP. She(?) thinks after you move in you're not enjoying the home unless you refresh everything every 10 years or so while you're living there.
No that is not what I said. I said you should remodel while you live in it, update while you live in it, and not when you are going to sell so that its for someone else.
You hate everything about my posts. Yes. I know. Again, IGNORE LIST-- its calling you.
No that is not what I said. I said you should remodel while you live in it, update while you live in it, and not when you are going to sell so that its for someone else.
Reading comprehension...it's what's for dinner.
MaryleeII said she's remodeling BEFORE she moves in and leaving it AS IS until they get hauled off to the old folks home. No remodeling while she lives in it and no updates.
We just bought a house, our sixth home in 35 years. This will be our last home purchase before retirement. Every home we've bought had some things about it we didn't like, mainly cosmetic, but we lived with it anyways, saying we would get to it.....later. Well, later came and went, and we adjusted around the features we didn't care for. Then, it was a mad scramble to fix it up to sell.
This time, I said we're fixing it up for ourselves.Although we closed two months ago, we have yet to move in. I REFUSE to move in until we fix it the way I want it. That includes new interior paint and hardwood floors and quartz counters. Like I said, this will be our last major home purchase. Next move, they will haul us off to the old folks home. Meanwhile, I want to fix up MY home for MY enjoyment. Once you move in, you never get around to doing it, especially paint and flooring. Its 10X harder to work around a house full of furniture. As we get older, we don't have the energy, strength, or flexible budget to do those things, especially as we continue to feed the medical industry. Hopefully our upgrades will add value to the home, but regardless, its for our enjoyment NOW!
BTW, we spent about 20K total for all upgrades, cash. At our age, 20K really isn't that much. If younger, and you save and invest it, well, that's another story. But our time horizon for investment payback is short. If we did hang onto that 20K for future gains, it wouldn't produce that much in the few years we have until retirement. Now's the time to reap the rewards of our working life. Its not like that's the last money we have! We might as well enjoy our "golden years" (geez, how did that happen so soon?) Whatever, I'm going out in style!
Exactly. You are doing what you want, and before you even move in. I love that. Its a luxury for sure. In our case, that was the plan with the current house until we found some great tenants who needed to move sooner than we did. So we hoofed everything over to the new place toots suite and lived with a remodel the first 6 weeks. But we will get years of enjoyment out of it. When it starts to get stale, we will update.
Life is too short to live in a space you don't love. Doesn't matter how humble or sumptuous. You can always make it your own and make it beautiful to you.
If you loved the way it looked and didn't want to change it, I understand that. But when you changed the fluorescent light, did you see a big difference? That's not a terribly difficult thing to do. Did you hesitate just out of indecision?
Most definitely we saw a big difference---I won't deny that.
We hesitated out of indecision plus not knowing what type of light would fit best there. Also, I did worry that we would choose something that would turn out to be outdated when it was time to sell. So...we rarely used that light as I've never liked fluorescent lighting. The realtor told us the light needed to go and we agreed with him. The construction manager was there at the time and he told us he would send us some suggestions and where we could purchase them Once we chose, we bought a light and it got installed.
ETA: We painted our finished basement by ourselves. However, when it came to the rest of the house, we have an entryway that has a 2 story ceiling. We weren't about to tackle that on our own.
We just bought a house, our sixth home in 35 years. This will be our last home purchase before retirement. Every home we've bought had some things about it we didn't like, mainly cosmetic, but we lived with it anyways, saying we would get to it.....later. Well, later came and went, and we adjusted around the features we didn't care for. Then, it was a mad scramble to fix it up to sell.
This time, I said we're fixing it up for ourselves.Although we closed two months ago, we have yet to move in. I REFUSE to move in until we fix it the way I want it. That includes new interior paint and hardwood floors and quartz counters. Like I said, this will be our last major home purchase. Next move, they will haul us off to the old folks home. Meanwhile, I want to fix up MY home for MY enjoyment. Once you move in, you never get around to doing it, especially paint and flooring. Its 10X harder to work around a house full of furniture. As we get older, we don't have the energy, strength, or flexible budget to do those things, especially as we continue to feed the medical industry. Hopefully our upgrades will add value to the home, but regardless, its for our enjoyment NOW!
BTW, we spent about 20K total for all upgrades, cash. At our age, 20K really isn't that much. If younger, and you save and invest it, well, that's another story. But our time horizon for investment payback is short. If we did hang onto that 20K for future gains, it wouldn't produce that much in the few years we have until retirement. Now's the time to reap the rewards of our working life. Its not like that's the last money we have! We might as well enjoy our "golden years" (geez, how did that happen so soon?) Whatever, I'm going out in style!
In X number of years when your paint colors are outdated, the color of your hardwoods are outdated, and your quartz countertops are outdated (quartz replaced granite and I'm certain something will replace quartz at some point) will you do another update or will you think "Meh, I still like it and it works for me!"
MaryleeII said she's remodeling BEFORE she moves in and leaving it AS IS until they get hauled off to the old folks home. No remodeling while she lives in it and no updates.
Sigh. She's living there until "the old folks home" which we hope won't be in her future. So she's not selling. Therefore, she will not scramble to do updates for someone else. I am sure if she gets tired of it and budget permits, she will make changes as she has said she wants to enjoy it.
Most definitely we saw a big difference---I won't deny that.
We hesitated out of indecision plus not knowing what type of light would fit best there. Also, I did worry that we would choose something that would turn out to be outdated when it was time to sell. So...we rarely used that light as I've never liked fluorescent lighting. The realtor told us the light needed to go and we agreed with him. The construction manager was there at the time and he told us he would send us some suggestions and where we could purchase them Once we chose, we bought a light and it got installed.
ETA: We painted our finished basement by ourselves. However, when it came to the rest of the house, we have an entryway that has a 2 story ceiling. We weren't about to tackle that on our own.
That's good insight. Maybe some people just don't know what the options are. Because there are an overwhelming number and mistakes can be costly.
That's what I think, until I think about actually getting started. And I decide tomorrow would be a better time to start.
I can't say its my favorite activity. I love picking the colors, but the painting itself is kinda meh. When you are done, you feel pretty awesome. Its a very big impact!
Now that is valid. Remodels are a pain. I get it. I would argue that putting it off until right before selling adds stress to stress. But yes, you have a point.
Not all work is difficult. Painting is pretty simple to do. Changing cabinet hardware super easy. Hanging lights in existing locations also easy.
We enjoy our home and freshen/update as we see fit. When the time comes to sell we won't have to do anything.
Our neighbours have done nothing to their 45 year old home and feel that their home should fetch the same $ as an updated one. They think that because they have lived in the home for 25+ years and never felt the need to update anything that other people should do the same. It is weird.
We have two full bathrooms that could use an update. My husband and I do not have the skill nor tools to do it ourselves so we would have to contract it out. We've been here 7 years, and will probably be here for another 7-10. I can't imagine sinking $15k-20k into updating these two bathrooms now and then they're outdated again when we it's time to sell. In the meantime, they function well and we certainly have no problem living with how they look now. When or if we update them, it will most likely be no more than 3 years out from selling so that so they won't be terribly outdated.
I also don't believe that a home with outdated features means that it's not been well maintained. Just because someone doesn't change the flooring or countertops or cabinets each time the trend changes doesn't necessarily mean it hasn't been meticulously maintained.
There are always things you can do to a bath that are timeless and not easily dated. I would say even more so than a kitchen. But yes, cost is a factor. And noise. And dust.
I had a friend in your area who did Miracle Method on their tile for a very dated bath-- just plain white. (Tis is a resurfacing formula that can change the color and fill in cracks in tile. Usually a small percentage of the cost to replace, and creates less dust and waste in your home.) Looked AMAZING. She painted the vanity with a kit from Home Depot and did new lights and mirrors-- voila! All new bathroom!
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