Once upon a time, not too long ago I was a Lisenced Realtor. I loved that job. It was the best job I ever had! I loved my clients, I loved being on the road, and I loved looking at other peoples homes. The best joy was watching the client at precisely the moment they fell in love with the home they had been looking for. It's certainly an emotional revelation. Priceless!
I learned a lot being a realtor. What I learned most that whatever you do to your home, in decorating it or renovating it, you have to think of resale, always! Because you never know if the "home of your dreams", the home you swear you'll live in for the rest of your life, for many reasons may have to be sold. So whatever you do, think about resale. Remember, your home is your biggest investment, and you want a handsome return.
We all know that updated kitchens, bathrooms and finshed basements add tremendous value to your home. But they are also the most expensive. Easily a kitchen can cost upwards to $30,000 or more depnding on your style. At minimum, a new bathroom can run into the thousands, to finish my basement, with the bare minimum of changes was priced at $25,000. That's not including sometimes, the appliances for the kitchen or furniture for the newly finsihed basement!!
And often we resort to color as the first choice in renovating, which realistly should be the last. I've changed the color so many times in my home, that my son often jokes, the walls will fall down from all the paint! But it was easier and cheap. What I didn't realize that it cost me more in the end because I always had to buy all the accessories, new furniture, and whatever, to go with the new color, when in the end, for many reasons it still dissatisfied me.
I've gone from beiges, to all types of greys, which in some ways I loved dearly but also bordered too much on the color blue and made the room feel "cold" especially if the room was north facing. Oh I spruced it up with lots of tourquois and silver, even various shades of orange during those autumn days you want it to feel like fall! But it failed for me.
So when I finally invested in making a major renovation to the main floor, which was instigated by my desire to change the front entrance, that's when the real process and commitment to your decisions begins. What I knew were these things:
- I couldn't change the kitchen cabinets, they are Oak, in good condition, and I had no budget to chenge them.
- I had oak floors, that required re-finishing
- And that I had to go with vinyl in the diniing room and kitchen because I couldn't afford wood, and I don't like the coldness of ceramic.
- And whatever I chose, had to somewhat hide some of the filth that the dogs bring in, so I' didn't have to resort to cleaning every 5 minutes! I'm very OCD!
So I decided the biggest investment was the flooring. I refinshed the floors and chose a vinyl, that not only complimented the Oak cabinets but allowed for a variety of color options in accessories or furniture. I only had $10,000 to make all the chnages I wanted.
So I chose a good quality vinyl! Don't underestimate vinyl! It's cheaper to instal, less expensive to purchase and the options are far more lovelier than in the past!
I made subtle changes to the kitchen. I changed the sink faucet to a dove tail design...love it, all the light fixtures, and all the cabinet hardware. The kitchen was in pretty good shape when I bought it. I did think about changing the counter top, but talk about expensive!! That would have eaten up a third of my budget just doing that as I have tones of counter space. And then of course I would have wanted a new kitchen sink...you know where this is going! I had to prioritize. But in the end, both the counters, the oak cabinet all blend together. Some would say black appliances would look best here...but again not in the budget as they are all white!! If I had any regrets, and they are huge, I would have had the electrician instal recessed lighting in the bulk head. My one true regret!!
Opening the front entrance which was a pretty expensive plan was what started the whole renovation idea.!It went from this
To this!
And as you can see I used the same vinyl I used in the kitchen for continuity.I had the floors refinshed, and updated all the light fixtures. But like all renovations you always find "problems" you didn't know existed. I found out that the wiring in the kitchen was under code and needed a lot of updating! That was a shocker as it could have burnt the house down.
The colors I chose for some might be quite boring. I thought I might even go white as I do love sometimes that swedish look or cottage look of brightness, and understedness. But it too can be a very cold color. However, I do love it. But in the end I chose Benjamin Moore Stone Hearth. I wanted to return to a color that was warm, neutral so I could add any color as an accessory, and it would again hide any dirt from the dogs! Well better than white would have!
My inspiration came from this
Well not this picture exactly, but you get the point. The only difference and I'm still not 100% sure I made the right choice, when choosing an accent color that was deeper and richer in color. My mantle piece is one huge brick fireplace! I had it painted white for years. But it's massive and sometimes it felt like it was too much of a focal point! (I'm thinking I need something either more outstanding to go over the mantle piece or turn that mirror so it's vertical.)
I think that's better! Always a great idesa to take pictures...
So I painted it a Benjamin Moore Buckhorn. And carried that color to the kitchen bulkhead and center island (although not really an island) and the inside of the front door.
Sometimes I think the colors I chose were safe, easy for resale if I decided I needed to sell my home tomorrow. It's a color new owners could work while deciding on their own how they wanted their home (my home!) to look like.
Decorating is a challenge for most of us, because we live in the real world. A credit card only goes so far! The choices I made were safe, nothing too drastic that would cause another buyer to reconsider purchasing my home. But I think the choices were good ones as they added, if not improved the value of my home.and that's always what you have to think about whenever you decide on a change. Just because you like the color orange on a wall doesn't necessarily mean someone else will and trust me the effort to change that color is taken into consideration when buyers are purchasing.
I've seen it!!
And to go with "safe" colors, instead of changing with the trends, which is something I did in the past A LOT, doesn't mean you're boring, It's really choosing a color that allows you to change things up when you want to with accessories. I get tired of the same thing....but accessorizing allows me to add color, whatever color, as both colors I have chosen goes with just about any color, and therefore takes that edge for change away!
It's hard these days with pinterest, facebook, decorating shows, the internet to not feel the pressure of having that perfect home. I know I am OCD and crave a designer home. But then I look around and say to myself....hey...it's pretty awesome that you have what you have! Just be grateful!!
And I am!
Have a happy day folks It's our Natal Day weekend in Halifax. I'm off to enjoy the day!!!
