House Renovations And Adds: Ideas, please.

[Howard Treesong]

Clan Treesong has finally picked out a house. It's potentially a nice property (across the street from a lake up here in Minneapolis) but it needs a ton of work because the bank foreclosed on the prior owner and he tore it apart somewhat before he left. The most significant problem is that in needs leveling (pun intended) as the upstairs floors are as much as 2.5" out of whack. We're also likely to expand/renovate the kitchen. We therefore need to tear it largely apart before we move in. As we do so, I thought we should take the opportunity to upgrade or add things that we might not otherwise be able to do. Thus, I solicit the El D forum's sage guidance with respect to ideas for the new chez T. Whimsical and amusing suggestions are welcome!

Brag: the house vintage 1905, three stories on top of a finished basement, enclosed back yard, four-car detached garage, wraparound porch and upper deck with lake views.

My initial ideas:

A garage heater that's tied to the Web so I can fire it up when I leave work and can arrive to a warm garage;

Life-sized statues of the paradigms of the human condition, Patrik Antonius and Jessica Alba;

A suit of armor in the dining room;

Heated outdoor pathways so HT doesn't have to shovel stairs in the wintertime;

Blown insulation wherever possible;

An Astroglide-type home theater;

etc. etc.

[lippy]

Heated bathroom floors are amazing during the winter.

I'm guessing you're going to be by Calhoun or Harriet? There are some absolutely fantastic old properties in that area. I love walking around the lake and looking at houses I will never be able to afford.

[pvn]

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Clan Treesong has finally picked out a house. It's potentially a nice property (across the street from a lake up here in Minneapolis) but it needs a ton of work because the bank foreclosed on the prior owner and he tore it apart somewhat before he left. The most significant problem is that in needs leveling (pun intended) as the upstairs floors are as much as 2.5" out of whack. We're also likely to expand/renovate the kitchen.

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How long are you going to stay in the house? If you expect a relatively short stay, you should probably focus on kitchen and bathroom fixes, which generally will provide the greatest return on investment.

If you're going to re-do the kitchen, definitely look into the fused quartz/mica (common brand is silestone) countertops instead of granite. They are much lighter, and don't require the periodic maintenance that granite needs. Plus they do not fracture; when yuo install granite, it's basically there forever. If you want to get new cabinets later, you're probably going to have to get new counters, too. With quartz, you can easily pop them off and put new cabinets in, then drop your quartz right back on top. This can save you some money if you can fix up the existing cabinets a bit and put off replacing them for a while.

Laminate wood-like floors have gotten a LOT better recently. They look a lot nicer than they used to and they take abuse from kids much better than either hardwood or engineered wood. That said, real or engineered wood is much better resale wise.

Keep in mind that all renovations are likely to be a net loss to you unless you do a lot of the work yourself; it's just a matter of how much you're going to lose (you'll lose less in general in the kitchen and master bath), and they may help you sell the house considerably faster.

If you're planning on staying in the house a long time, then throw everything out the window and just do whatever is most important to you first.

[Howard Treesong]

Long stay, investment return is largely immaterial. I'm interested in putting in things that will make the house more enjoyable and interesting.

Oh yeah, a secret passage or hidden compartment or some such similar thing.

[octopi]

Oh man, I've ALWAYS wanted an orchid room or an indoor herb garden. I saw one once that had a skylight and was basically a small garden in the middle of the kitchen.

[turnipmonster]

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Oh yeah, a secret passage or hidden compartment or some such similar thing.

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secret staircase! also, a large pipe organ.

[turnipmonster]

not directly related to renovations, but building an awesome treehouse for the kids in the backyard seems pretty badass.

[JaBlue]

little-treesong-size dumbwaiter [more ideas to come later]

[lapoker17]

most of your ideas sound great. pls do not do this though:

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A suit of armor in the dining room;


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[Howard Treesong]

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most of your ideas sound great. pls do not do this though:

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A suit of armor in the dining room;


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I am only ever-so-slightly more likely to do that than I am to put a PA statue in my front yard.

Few dining rooms can carry off a suit of armor, and this house isn't like that. But tell me, if you had the house that Michael Keeton as Batman had (remember the one where he and Kim Basinger have dinner in the dining room all alone, and they're thirty feet apart?), wouldn't you put in a suit of armor?

Oh, yeah: an "LOL donkaments" sign somewhere in the house.