You’ve been collecting ideas to remodel or redecorate your home for years. Now, you’re finally ready to get down to work. You’ve saved up your money and found contractors.
So, which ideas do you do and which are outdated that you should discard?
While each item is subject to your own desires, some trends just don’t make as much sense as they did in the past.
The kitchen desk — At one time, designers thought adding a desk to the kitchen area would be a great idea. At the far end of a counter, they would drop the counter surface down to desk height, have a cabinet for a printer, and space for computer wires and a telephone. The idea was that cooks could file recipes, householders could pay bills or students could do homework there.
These days, hardly anyone has a landline phone in the kitchen and smart shoppers keep their recipes on an iPad or tablet that sits in a special holder near their workspace. Kids tend to need more space than a kitchen desk typically provides to spread out homework, and projects and bills are more often than not received and paid online.
Ditch the kitchen desk and keep the extra counter space for food prep. And while we’re talking about counter space … some designers have seen a trend of moving away from difficult-to-care-for surfaces like marble and granite into more maintenance-free, engineered solid surfaces.
Faux wall paint — You’ve been wanting to try that faux finish on your walls ever since you got hooked on the DIY home improvement shows three summers ago, and now you finally have a wall and the time. Should you do it?
Well, if you’re planning to sell your home, don’t. Faux finishes are personal touches that typically get painted over during preparations to sell a home. If the finish will be difficult to cover, or has to be scraped off in order to make a smooth wall, consider doing it on paintable wallpaper instead and then just removing the wallpaper.
Whirlpool and garden tubs — Another trend you should ditch is the extra large tub that dominates the bathroom. Once a staple of the upscale home, larger tubs take up space in busy households and become collectors of the laundry, plants, or other items that need the space.
Instead, think about form and function. If your family takes showers … make the shower awesome. Spend money on surfaces that are easier to keep up in a busy household, like easy-care, luxury vinyl flooring or tile.
Finally, whatever you do, don’t forget about the big picture. Consider how the walls, surfaces, cabinets and hardware work together.
As always, if you have questions about Long Beach area real estate or if you are thinking about buying or selling a home or condo, please contact me.
