Right now I'm in the worst of mine. All the furniture in the house is in three rooms of it (and it's not like they were palatial rooms to start with). New flooring, paint, new lighting fixtures, moving around some cabinetry, and a new bathroom countertop and faucet ... All that will be left for me to do are drawer pulls and a kitchen backsplash. The kitchen (minus the aforementioned) was updated last year with new appliances, a new sink and faucet, and a new countertop. It's all pay-as-I-go, so it takes a while.

One good thing is that there have been very few surprises (the biggest being the wallpaper in a front bedroom that was glued on so well it took about 30 hours of labor to remove and to skimcoat and paint the walls, and a frozen water shutoff in the bathroom that had to be replaced before the new countertop/sink went in). The other good thing is that the quality of the work and the appearance of the new items exceeds my expectations.

I figure once I quit wincing over the checks I've had to write and once a severely-edited set of possessions makes its way back into respective rooms, I'll be happy I did this and will wonder why I didn't get to it sooner. Good luck to you! This just ain't pleasant, but it's worth the trip.

We spent a year exchanging the kitchen and the living room. That went well, so now we're adding on. Even with the addition of the tower we haven't hit 1800 sq ft. If we ever get the rest of the addition done, we might be over 2000 sq ft.
I kind of like have a small house, but DH would really like a larger room or two.
Jennifer

Here is a link that might be useful: Our crazy addition

I am just starting my remodeling. Just finished the central AC and heat, I love it! Next on the list is to have the washing machine moved from the kitchen to the garage expensive since I am on a slab. Then I will remodel the small kitchen, new cabinet and sink and wall finishing in bathroom, then last of all, all the floors in the house. It is very scary, even though I want it very much, but it will be worth it I'm sure, as Steve said above, I will wonder why I waited so long.
Jennifer, your place is really cool, love all the wood work you have done!

Diana, those floors sound FANTASTIC. Someday we will re-do our bedroom and diningroom floors in "real wood" but for now we have the laminate bamboo. It dents. They put the hard bamboo on a soft inner core so it's not as strong as total bamboo would be. Well, it went in fast so it hardly cost me anything to have it installed. I think they charged me $100 in labor for instillation!
So far all we have done is pay as you go. That was very slow. 6 years of slow. This year (I hope it's this year!!) we will start on the rest of the house. HUGE HUGE major renovations. The entire basement except for the slab gets torn out. The slab should go too, but I'm going to try and find some way to reduce the moisture intake through it (paint??). An exterior stairwell will be built but it will have bridges into and out of the house. It's a spiral staircase, which I'd always wanted. The kitchen, which will actually compromise of three rooms (office/mud room, eat in area, prep area) will be torn out and re-done. The small bedroom we use as a walk-in closet needs to be done. When the ceiling in the basment is removed, all the wiring up into the baseboards will need to be re-done (none of it is grounded). The basement bathroom will be enlarged, the laundry room will be moved. Well, I say room, but it will just be placed into the main room of the basement and curtained off.
We have to pack up almost the entire house. I am the queen of knick knacks and dishware, so all of that gets packed and removed. We are moving to the house next door. We bought it almost 2 years ago. I am so glad we can go over there. With the floors torn up in rooms I'd be afraid cats would get into spaces we could'nt retrieve them from....plus we couldn't use the bedroom or bathrooms with things torn up (we couldn't get to them!!). Tomorrow a friend comes to tell me if the slab work could be done and to give me a ballpark estimate of what it should cost. My friend is going to do the rest of the work with his crew, but they can't do cement and have not done footings. He charges me very basic prices so that he can learn while he works. His work is excellent and they also put me to work too.
I'm very excited as I dug my new kitchen out this weekend. It was stored in a pile in my basement for 5 years. It's a 40's steel kitchen with MANY MANY parts. Great cabinets. It will go to the stripper, and then get re-finished. I am thinking the bottom cupboards red, the top cupboards hot pink and the counter tops orange. The walls will be a bright golden yellow or white. The major appliances will be either orange, or lime green. I like bright colors can't you tell???

GGG

Diana, I feel your pain (and I am an Aries, so I naturally start projects better than finish them).

We are currently redoing the kitchen, hallway, and a bathroom (cosmetic, not major...yet... ;) In the midst of that, we decided to switch our LR and DR---which really was a good move, but now I am repainting both spaces (I like a red DR) and making new drapes for those. We also are hoping to redo our utility area behind the MBR, opening the MBR into it and using it as a sitting area. After that, we are going to install new flooring throughout the entire house (still deciding what type). And, my son has decided that he is resodding my yard next week. It is a zoo~ :)

I love your house, and I can't wait to see what you do next!!

Diana ~ You and your DH have been busy with so many projects. Just think how wonderful your place will be when you are finished. Every project completed is a real treat.

Steve o ~ That wallpaper removal sounds like a nightmare. Like you said though it is 'worth the trip'.

Jeniferkey ~ When I saw your addition I had to call DH over to look at your pictures. He loved it and we both agree that it is really cool. When you get done you'll have a one of a kind fairy tale castle. Made with lots of love, sweat, possibly some blood and tears as well. Enjoy. You are doing a wonderful job. Interior woods are beautiful, love your stairs and the lovely iron work also. You must be having lots of fun as you go along. I'm sitting here smiling just thinking about what a fun place to build and live in.

Judithva ~ Don't be afraid, jump right in there and have fun remodeling. It is definitely worth it. Sometimes we humans are timid when it comes to change but changing can be a wonderful experience.

GGG ~ I can hardly wait to see what all you come up with to furnish your new/old house when it's finished being remodeled. It is really neat that you have the place next door to move into while renovations are going on. I hope you are taking lots of pictures as things progress. Your kitchen will be so colorful and one of a kind. It could be featured in a mag. when you are finished.

We have opened the utility room to the kitchen, closed in the tiny front porch, opening that space to the living room and making it our tiny library, we have started laying laminate flooring called 'Canyon Oak', 98 cents a sq. ft. We are still doing mudwork,baseboard and painting in the living room. Have the bedroom to open up to the smaller bedroom, and also lay flooring there and paint walls too. Bathroom shower area is being enlared and tiled etc. We also do it pay as we go, except for those 12 mo. deals from HD where we buy so much and pay it off within that time with no interest. We find pieces 'curb side shopping', at flea markets and salvage places. We have no set plans, just go with the flow. Our compound is coming along. We have a secret garden behind our cottage where there's an outdoor shower and a jacuzzi, plus an old claw foot tub that we got for free. I just saw a picture of a claw foot tub with the outside decorated with seashells and that's what I want to do with ours from 'jewels of the sea' that we have collected and can collect more of. I look forward to the remodeled bedroom. Our other projects have made a huge difference in our place and I love it more and more with each completed project. It seems like when we complete one, we get more ideas so that the whole thing is ongoing. Fun, in spite of the work.

I love hearing about all of your projects. Happy renovating everyone.

FlowerLady

Yes! Have been remodeling for years. I bought a house 4 years ago, a 1959 1500 sqft split level which had never been updated, and have been remodeling ever since. I gutted one bathroom, rewired, rebuilt one wall, and replaced everything but the tub, which was still in great shape (although it is seafoam green still, but I decorated around that).

I got married 2 years ago, and my husband and I have replaced the front door and all the interior doors with prettier ones, and then the big project last year and into this year was the kitchen. That was a total gut, too. And it's been taking forever because it was almost all DIY except for the granite countertops, and I've had to do about 80% of it (my husband is not really into the remodeling thing, but I am). We kept one item from the old kitchen, which was the garbage disposal. But the wiring, walls, windows, ceiling, lights, cabinets, appliances, and sink were all replaced. I love how it functions now! I'm just finishing up the backsplash now, will put up the light rail this weekend, and hopefully get around to creating the valance over the sink, and I should be done! with the kitchen, that is...

Is a house ever done? Still on my list - replacing a window and door on the wall out the back to the screened-in porch with a pair of French doors, replacing the floors (they're hardwood, but are really damaged), putting in some closets, creating a foyer, some built-in bookcases. Hmmm... just looking at this list is exhausting! Oh, yeah, and still have to remodel the other bathroom. I tore some pretty big holes in its ceiling (it's in the basement) because I had to run the new wires to the other bathroom and kitchen above it.

I think I'll take a little time off after the kitchen is done before I start the next project... :)

Amy

We bought our current home from a friend three years ago. It was a real fixer upper. Needed major work and cosmetic work. We tackled the major (new roof, foundation crack, hillside etc) first and have been non-stop since. All work done weekends and evenings and 2 vacations. People would come over and be nearly overwhelmed by the sheer number of projects we had going at the same time. Stripping cabinets in kitchen, ripping out brick floors,stripping wallpaper, installing wood floors in LR, taking out the windows and replacing the rotted wood holding them in. Ripping out all vegetation on back hill (4500 sq feet of it) and replanting. And the list goes on and on. If we started a project outside and the weather went sour we would have to stop and work on something inside. Some things had to wait for financial reasons or because we couldn't make up our mind on materials. Just recently my youngest daughter made the comment that all of a sudden she's starting to see results! The kitchen is done after one year of working on it. I'm actually starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel! Oh don't get me wrong there's still plenty to do but I think we're at the part where we can take a break finally. The only really large project we have left is the master bathroom and a deck off our master bedroom.

Thank you All!!! I feel much better and so does my DH. I told him some of you had been at it for several years. He's happy we're not crazy afterall. Of course some of our family might disagree. ; )

Amy, we're taking time off after the kitchen, too. Actually, everything should be done by then except some of the landscaping out back, but that's an on going project anyway. I think I'll always find a spot for another rose. : )

Steve, do you have pics of your kitchen somewhere that you can share?

Diana

In the last five years I've replaced all the failed aluminum-framed double-glazed windows with new vinyl windows, had the ugly 25-year old brown carpet ripped up and replaced with laminate flooring throughout, painted two bedrooms and am half-done repainting the living room. I've also replaced all the kitchen appliances one at a time. When the living room painting is finished I have plans to repaint the kitchen walls, paint the cabinets, and replace the formica countertops with granite tile and new backsplash. Then both bathrooms need minor cosmetic work (mostly repainting and new light fixtures) and my bedroom needs repainting. Wow, I get tired just thinking about it!

I can post some pictures in a few days -- though I still haven't chosen a backsplash, so the kitchen still looks kind of rough.

I am ever so slowly backing into a kitchen redo which I don't dare post on the kitchen forum because I am decidedly NOT Wolf-Bluestar-Sub-Zero-granite counter material. My appliances are Kenmore (not Elite) and Hotpoint, my counter will be laminate and my floor vinyl, and cabinets from a salvage shop. Still, the logistics are bewildering.

Those of you near big cities--we have a place in Baltimore called Second Chance, which sells salvaged building materials. There is one in Milwaukee and a few other cities too I think. You would not believe the number of people who rip out five-year-old kitchens because they are out of style! Lots of good stuff to choose from at pennies on the dollar.

I am ever so slowly backing into a kitchen redo which I don't dare post on the kitchen forum because I am decidedly NOT Wolf-Bluestar-Sub-Zero-granite counter material.

I'll post my pics there if you post yours! Seriously, we need to show those Wolf-Bluestar-Sub-Zero-granite folks that it's possible to live quite nicely without all the bling. :-)

Still gotta get a backsplash and cabinet pulls, though. I should decide and shop this week (won't be tile, which is why it's taking so long).

Over the past three years, we've been doing some remodelling - mostly bringing the house out of the seventies! Fortunately, it's been mostly cosmetic; removing wallpaper (world's uglies foil wallpaper) and painting. Although, now that I think about it, we've replaced the furnace, replaced an unusable wood fireplace with a gas fireplace, replaced the windows, replaced the appliances...yikes, better stop thinking!

The plan is to update the lighting over the next year or so and replace the carpeting in the LR & DR.

GGG - I had thought of using bamboo flooring, but from your comments it doesn't sound like the bamboo laminate is a good idea....??

Margaret

Serendipity:
You want solid bamboo flooring, not the laminate kind. The reason being is that the laminate is fairly thin (although often thicker than wood laminate). Our cat claws scratch it, and when the cats knocked down a metal shelf full of pottery planters (and broke every blessed one!!), the floor dented, dinged and got some white marks on it where the gloss seperated from the bamboo (I sanded it off and put on dots of poly which made it look passable).
The good thing is, is that the bamboo doesn't get nailed down at all. It's completely floating, so if you have bowed floors it works the best (it doesn't crack when you walk on slightly raised areas) and was recommended as the only floating floor for this problem. That's why we bought it. The salesman said that in the next 5 years or so there will be more products available for old homes with the saggy floors (there is now a pliable "stone" flooring a mix of stone and vinyl flooring that works too. Looks pretty "real").
If you can afford the solid bamboo, go for it. It's harder than nails.

GGG

All the houses in my neighborhood were built in the 1950's. There are two designs-the ranch and the split level. (We have a split). When we moved in, we walked around the neighborhood looking at the various ways people expanded/updated their homes. Garages turned into first floor bedrooms, second floors expanded into full two-stories, kitchens bumped out, rooms added on the back. Just about every house had major modifications. We didn't have a lot of money for dormers and such, but we moved two inside walls. In our lowest floor, there was a large laundry room and small family room with a hallway between. We eliminated the hall and made the laundry smaller, so we now have a big family room. Upstairs we moved one bedroom wall into the attic and made the bedroom much bigger.

Thanks, GGG.
The bamboo really intrigues me - like the renewable resource aspect of it - so will look into the solid bamboo.
Also like the idea of the floating floor. Had looked at cork floating flooring, but decided I didn't love the look of cork. We're in no rush as it will be a year or so before we replace the flooring; lots of time to do the research!
Thanks again.
Margaret

Can really commiserate with the chaos aspect of renovating a small home. Ours is just under 1,500 sq. ft. When we did our kitchen a couple years ago, we acted as the general contractor and decided to have all materials on hand before the project started. The entire first floor of the house was packed with stuff and unlivable. Upstairs we had a sitting room and two bedrooms that were our "safe space." All furniture in the living and dining rooms was pushed against the far walls. The living room stored all the new cabinets, the old fridge and a makeshift meal prep area. All cooking was done outside on a grill. Oh, and since it was fall, at least we were able to move the washer and dryer outside onto the deck. The dining room had the new range and dishwasher, tiles, flooring material, microwave, and boxes filled with stuff packed from the old kitchen. I remember feeling extremely stir-crazy with so little space to live in, yet we had to be around in the morning and late afternoon to talk with contractors, give directions or answer questions. We practically gave up on trying to control the dust and dirt. Our poor cats were freaked out. We were so glad when it was over!

Brooksiefan and steve o - There are many folks on THS that have remodeled their kitchen on a budget or who have small kitchens. If you do a search, you will find threads about small kitchens and budget kitchen renovations. I haven't spent much time on the kitchen forum lately, but I think someone created a blog with photos of petite kitchens. Most of the folks here are quite supportive and totally kitchen obsessed whether they're using budget or high-end materials, and will gladly share ideas with you. By the way, I'm outside of Phila, but I've heard about Second Chance in Baltimore and plan to make a visit. I'm on a search for unusually small closet doors and heard they have a big selection.

Tina

We're in our 8th year of remodeling our current home, and this is the 3rd small ranch house we've purchased (although it's much larger than our previous two). We're pretty well done inside, but a new roof goes on Thursday of this week. There's very little we haven't fixed or replaced at this point, but still want to redo the bathrooms and add a new garage. The remodeling never ends for us. New deck is on the docket for next year.

Steve O, I haven't started yet, except for replacing the appliances, otherwise I would post a picture, but I am sure people have seen a picture of a Kenmore refrigerator! Anyone who likes to bake and cooks a bit and is on a budget might want to take a look at the Hotpoint RGB745 gas range which is fabulous. List price is $550. I got mine for $450 and spent $75 to get it moved in and hooked up.

My main problem at this point is flooring. My house used to be a rental. I have the cheapest Ikea kitchen which I like but which has gone way beyond the guarantee. It was installed in 1989 or so, and the sink cabinet is crumbling, and the stick on tile won't stay put anymore. My entire budget--$6000--is less than many pay for their stove.

Tina, are you certain that Second Chance doesn't have a Philly outlet? Because it would be a shame to come down here and not find what you need. I find that it takes a few visits to get what you want. But if you do come to Baltimore, welcome, and a half mile away from Second Chance is the best souvlaki you will ever have at Samos, and if you'd like to have steamed crabs, may I suggest Costas Inn, about five miles away. It would be a shame to leave Baltimore without having some of our excellent cuisine!

brooksiefan -

The Phila Inquirer ran an article recently about the business of architectural salvage and mentioned a few dealers in several cities. It really talked up Second Chance, but I don't recall them saying anything about them having a Phila outlet. I'll do my homework before jumping in the car, but I'm always game for an adventure, and food is a great motivator! Thanks for the tip!

Tina

All of my decorating projects have involved some kind of construction project along with it... so while I'm not sure I can say we are totally remodeling, I'm finally starting to realize things like "well if we can just remove this wall" and "if we can just make this door opening larger" etcetc are a lot of work ;). Well I kind of know intellectually that they are a lot of work but it doesn't really hit me until I'm covered in plaster dust.

We are planning to "decorate" our master bedroom but that involves furring out a wall first, running the power/phone/computer lines back there and building a wall mounted headboard in addition to the usual painting etc... oh and I want to strip the woodwork. "Just" is the worst word in the world.

Brooksiefan, here is a link to my vinyl floor, laminate countertops, mixed appliances (I did splurge on the Trio fridge though I got it on clearance when the new version with water came out and we also did splurge on a slide in range because that's what the PO had there before and I designed my backsplash around it... but it's a frigidaire, not a fancy brand... would not have replaced the old stove if the control panel hadn't blown out), few hundred dollar backsplash (including the $100 tile saw), ebay hardware ($80 shipped for all of the knobs and cup pulls), track lighting, JC Penney stock wood blinds on sale (I believe around $35 each), $4 picture frames and using artwork and shelves we already had "budget" kitchen facelift. I don't think it looks cheap at all but it did take me some time to find everything I wanted (about 2 years til I could call it "finished").

BTW if you start a post about budget kitchen renos (I don't follow closely over there) you will find a ton of people coming out of the woodwork to show off theirs. Not everyone does a high end kitchen.

Here is a link that might be useful: budget kitchen facelift

Wow, am so glad to see this forum. I just moved from a house 3 times the size of this little guy. It was a great decision and and love it. But there are many challenges.... remodeling/decorating, which was so easy in the past, seems daunting now.

Love all the pics and reading the activities. Keep them coming...tis amazing how many of your rooms are so like what I now have. All of you are going to be a great resource.

kgwlisa -

Your kitchen floor is beautiful! You mentioned on another thread that you weren't wild about the green countertop that was already there, but it really works with everything you've done. Love the radiator covers your father made -- they look nice painted.

Tina

It was more that I was soooo excited to have such a great kitchen in a house that was in our price range and I saw it as "wow, I might have picked all of this myself... except for the counters." I really love shaker cabinets and although natural maple wouldn't have been my first choice, it wouldn't have been my last either. From the moment I saw the house I had in my head that the kitchen could be perfect if I just replaced the counters. I LOVE corian counters, I know most don't, but we had them in our first house and I really loved the surface.

Then the list of things we wanted to do in "phase 1A" of making the house our own was formed and I just couldn't justify ripping out perfectly functional 1 year old counters because I wanted corian that would have cost nearly $5k. With that same $5k we did everything else in the entire downstairs, including new crown moulding in the dining room and living room, the wallpaper and borders, paint, the floor in the kitchen (the old one was just not functional for us) plus a bunch of plumbing work (some old house issues but also installing a whole house filter, slop sink in basement, plus running water and gas for washer/dryer on the first floor) and other assorted stuff. That money went a LONG way to making the entire house "ours" and frankly, if we had used them for counters i think the impact would not have been as great.... or rather that I managed to achieve just as much impact by changing just about everything else and leaving the counters as is. Unless anyone here has a small house and a huge pot of money I'm sure you all know what I'm talking about on that front.

So no, I didn't care much for the counters when I first moved into the house but once I decided to work with them, I surprised myself by how much I ended up liking them. One thing I liked about the PO's kitchen (even though I didn't like a lot of his decor choices) was that it felt fresh and clean and I think the green counters contribute heavily to that. I figured out a way to work my favorite color, cranberry/pomegranite red, into the equation as well as that vintage coziness I was seeking using some of the better parts of my husband's coca cola collection and it all just sort of clicked.

I love my house and I love that I've been able to do most things on a budget with a little creativity, some ingenuity and a LOT of patience. To get back OT a little bit, I think actually this is a benefit of a smaller house... yeah you might not have as much room to store materials but the scale of the projects being smaller allows you to save time and money on less materials. Our house is on the big end of small... well, frankly I don't consider 1900 sf to be all that small but we have many rooms, 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, an eat in kitchen, formal dining room, living room, mud room and a fairly large front entry hall and we face a lot of small house challenges because with the exception of our kitchen, our rooms are on the small side... but when we were looking at homes I was overwhelmed at the thought of renovating larger homes. It felt like I'd never be able to get my arms around the whole thing. With a smaller house, there feels like there is an end in sight even with my snail's pace.

kgwlisa ~ Love your new kitchen, even though I did like the old look too. Green and red are complimentary colors so that's probably why you ended up liking the way everything was all coming together with the green counters.
You did a great job!

FlowerLady

We're in the middle of the mother of all remodeling projects. We added a full basement under our existing home. We now are the proud owners of 1,120 more square feet of space that we plan on finishing (soon) We don't technically have a smaller home anymore but until it's finshed it's even smaller than before. The only place for the inside stairs to go was in our already small bedroom. Three feet less space for now *yikes*

We've been remodeling (or should I say renovating, since we haven't actually changed the footprint of the house) our 1949 built home forever, it seems.....but it's been about 4 years now. We started with the hallway and bedrooms, stripping the carpet and refinishing the red oak flooring underneath it, repairing walls, painting, adding trim, etc. After that was completed, we moved all the stuff back into the bedrooms and rented a storage bin that sat in our driveway for a month, then commenced on the living room, dining room and den. We borrowed my FIL's motorhome and camped out front for a week while we did the floors....it was tons of fun in the summertime with two big dogs....NOT. : ) After we finished and furnished the public rooms, we rested a couple of months, then started the kitchen. It took us 5 months, but we did it and the only thing we hired out was some of the electrical and the granite countertops. Now we're in the middle of renovating the backyard. We removed all the grass everywhere back there, laid a concrete bed for a cemented in flagstone walkway along the east side, landscaped a new garden along the side of the pathway and have built a flagstone fountain/waterfall. As soon as we're done with the fountain, we'll fix up the main part of the yard, which won't be pretty because DH put all the soil he removed from the side into the middle of the yard. There's now a huge dirt "mountain" in the middle of my backyard....lol....the dogs love it, but it's got to go! When we finish this project, it's on to the master bathroom, the garage and then the front of the house. I don't think it'll ever be done!

I read the title and the first couple of posts and laughed b/c as I type, we are packing our stuff to move in with my in-laws tomorrow. We have been renovating our small home since we bought it in 2001. It had been a rental for 10 years so we lovingly restored it room by room. When my DS was born, we planned to sell and move to a bigger home but the market was not in our favor. As a result, we are adding on and re-configuring our awkward floor plan. It took my GC 2 months to finish the foundation and now he is ready to start framing. We need to be out of the house by Tues and I'm nowhere near ready to leave. We've crammed the contents of our house into 3 small rooms as every other room will be unusable and moved the rest of our stuff to my parents and my DH's parents homes.

In addition to adding a BR, BA and WIC, we are getting cenral air, switching our heat from steam to forced air, re-doing a downstairs bath and re-roofing and re-siding the house. It's been so chaotic and will only get worse as we'll be living out of our suitcases for awhile. Not to mention that we are going on vacation the end of Aug and school is starting shortly thereafter. I'm hoping in the end it will all be worth it. Good Luck to everyone else renovating/re-doing and re-modeling.