Home renovation choices you now regret…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I freaking hate the open plan first floor. Hate it.

Will be reconfiguring the first floor a year from now and you better believe it walls will go up everywhere,

Preach it!

You and me both.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our house had gunstock oak floors and a really lovely gunstock oak staircase. Stupidly enough, we matched it as we tore carpet out of our family room, dining room and living room (except we put in 4" floors and new baseboards). We ended up doing the entire first floor and the whole second floor and even got rid of our old floors. Gunstock oak isn't our favorite color and we could have restained the stairs... I like Jacobean stain instead. I try not to think about it. We have tons of area rugs and everything else is well decorated.

This is so specific that I was curious enough to look it up. Gunstock oak is gorgeous!! Jacobean is so dark. I really think you made the right choice here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I spent $3k on a sectional that is uncomfortable. The cushions are too full, the seat depth is too narrow for our long-legged family, the arm rests are too low, and the worst part is that you really can’t get in a comfy position to take a nap, even though the room is perfect for napping. Drives me insane, but I can’t justify buying a new one yet. My plan is to put it in the basement when the kids are a little older and get a new one.

Makes me mad every time I sit on it.

Couldn’t you sell it for maybe $1k and buy a new sofa you love? It’s not worth it to be mad every day. Our super comfy sofa is from IKEA and was $800. Just a thought so that you can improve your daily life.

What SOFA!???

[Anonymous]

We built, and I wish we added more lighting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Regret flooring choice (bamboo because it is sustainable, but has so many dings/dents I hate it).

Location of recessed lights in the kitchen. They are so random, rather than thoughtfully or logically placed.

Finally, I wish we had placed some pocket doors in locations that are generally open. Not so much an issue now, but when the kids were little, and we were entertaining, there was no way to close off the open floor plan that we love, to keep the noise from floating upstairs and keeping them up. Would have been easy to do at the time, now there is electrical and other things in those walls.

The bamboo is sustainable, the glue is far from it.

Is the bamboo really sustainable if it is dinged up and going to get replaced after just a few years? The oak floors in my house are 140 years old. They were made from oak trees within 2 miles of the house. Yes oak trees take a long time to grow, much longer than bamboo. But in 140 years new oak trees have grown in their place. The house built down the road from us in 1990 has had the floors replaced twice. The second time to get rid of bamboo. That bamboo was shipped across the pacific ocean. Part of using "green" products is buying locally and thinking about when they will need to be replaced and the amount of energy that goes in to manufacturing the product. I'll stick with hardwood floors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I spent $3k on a sectional that is uncomfortable. The cushions are too full, the seat depth is too narrow for our long-legged family, the arm rests are too low, and the worst part is that you really can’t get in a comfy position to take a nap, even though the room is perfect for napping. Drives me insane, but I can’t justify buying a new one yet. My plan is to put it in the basement when the kids are a little older and get a new one.

Makes me mad every time I sit on it.

Couldn’t you sell it for maybe $1k and buy a new sofa you love? It’s not worth it to be mad every day. Our super comfy sofa is from IKEA and was $800. Just a thought so that you can improve your daily life.

What SOFA!???

You need to get a grip. You need to sit on whatever sofas you're considering. You can't choose them based on this kind of testimonial.

[Anonymous]

I regret the built-in banquette in the kitchen. It occupies too much floor space and is uncomfortable for seating for anyone over the age of 8.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pasta filler on the stove.

So wasteful, and already out of date.

Looks like we were trying to show off, or something.

I would totally use that. I cook a lot and it would come in handy.

We cook fresh every night, and still do not use it! PP here.

Why is it essential to fill a pot at the stove, if 20 minutes later it will be necessary to haul a pot of boiling water to a sink to drain? Makes no sense, this is a cosmetic item, even if it is being used. Definitely trend driven, so will look out of place more quickly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Regret flooring choice (bamboo because it is sustainable, but has so many dings/dents I hate it).

Location of recessed lights in the kitchen. They are so random, rather than thoughtfully or logically placed.

Finally, I wish we had placed some pocket doors in locations that are generally open. Not so much an issue now, but when the kids were little, and we were entertaining, there was no way to close off the open floor plan that we love, to keep the noise from floating upstairs and keeping them up. Would have been easy to do at the time, now there is electrical and other things in those walls.

The bamboo is sustainable, the glue is far from it.

Is the bamboo really sustainable if it is dinged up and going to get replaced after just a few years? The oak floors in my house are 140 years old. They were made from oak trees within 2 miles of the house. Yes oak trees take a long time to grow, much longer than bamboo. But in 140 years new oak trees have grown in their place. The house built down the road from us in 1990 has had the floors replaced twice. The second time to get rid of bamboo. That bamboo was shipped across the pacific ocean. Part of using "green" products is buying locally and thinking about when they will need to be replaced and the amount of energy that goes in to manufacturing the product. I'll stick with hardwood floors.

It's not sustainable. Same with bamboo fiber in clothing, it's green washing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wish we refinished the hardwood floors before we moved in. Literally impossible to do it now.

Yep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wish we refinished the hardwood floors before we moved in. Literally impossible to do it now.

Yep.

This is mine, too! And whats worse is we have two different colored hardwoods on the main level. Its hideous!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t get pot fillers. I always let the water run for a min before filling any pot. I think it’s gross to use the sitting water in the pipe to fill the pot.

This is stupid and insanely wasteful.

“Insanely wasteful?”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I built a home and regret not looking at the builders drawing close enough. There is a part of my home that needs a window but the window would be in a closet. I missed it but get mad every time I step into my yard and see the space where a window should be.

It is amazing to me how many homes I see where the windows from the outside look weird. Or entire walls with no windows.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pasta filler on the stove.

So wasteful, and already out of date.

Looks like we were trying to show off, or something.

I would totally use that. I cook a lot and it would come in handy.

We cook fresh every night, and still do not use it! PP here.

Why is it essential to fill a pot at the stove, if 20 minutes later it will be necessary to haul a pot of boiling water to a sink to drain? Makes no sense, this is a cosmetic item, even if it is being used. Definitely trend driven, so will look out of place more quickly.

PREAAAACCCCHHHH it is dump unless it comes with a pot dumper...which would make it a sink.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I built a home and regret not looking at the builders drawing close enough. There is a part of my home that needs a window but the window would be in a closet. I missed it but get mad every time I step into my yard and see the space where a window should be.

It is amazing to me how many homes I see where the windows from the outside look weird. Or entire walls with no windows.

I would add a window into the closet. I'm not sure exactly how they did it, but we had a "window to nowhere" on the side of our house, and we hadn't even noticed until we started a renovation and the architect figured out that the window didn't open to the inside of the house. It was a window from the original house that got walled over in a previous renovation. I can't remember how they made it look normal, but you really couldn't tell from the outside.