Good Bones - General Discussion

[mojito]

Okay, the first picture is just gratuitous.

As for the second picture....I thought the paint job looked blotchy. Solid coat one spot, light coat on the other. I would've preferred one style.

 

[CrazyInAlabama]

I absolutely agree about the splotchy paint job.  That lime wash will have to be redone in a few years, unless the MJ and husband like a very splotchy look.     I wonder how much damage it will do to the brick and mortar to remove the lime wash, and repaint.    I think the original brick was nice, fit the neighborhood, and just needed the wood or whatever siding that is on the house, plus the door and trim painted.    I really liked the arched builtins, and the sun room was spectacular.    

I did love Jack and the cat, or as Jack called him "Meow".    

[dleighg]

Wow, until this episode I did not know that Karen has a MASSIVE tattoo on her back.

[dleighg]

On 8/5/2020 at 10:49 AM, CrazyInAlabama said:

How disgusting, a squirrel nest behind the fireplace cover.   I hope they blocked where the squirrels were getting in, they can cause so much damage. 

My inlaws had a vacation home that they did not rent out, and visited only a couple times a year. A squirrel came down the chimney and died on the living room sofa. Needless to say, the sofa was trashed.

 

On 8/6/2020 at 6:29 PM, bilgistic said:

I didn't dislike anything they did except for that stove. Well, the bench looked a little chintzy. They could've boxed in the supports and made it storage seating.

I agree; it looked very DIY.

 

On 8/6/2020 at 6:47 PM, CrazyInAlabama said:

The floor issue is that MJ and husband were told that the sunroom wood floor was concrete underneath, but it was engineered wood, with wood subfloor.   To have a real fire burning fireplace, they have to have non-burning material under it. like concrete or tile.   

Maybe it depends on the jurisdiction, but we just stayed in a vacation place that had a wood-burning fireplace much like that in the corner of the sunroom. The floors in the room were wood, but they had installed a tile base just around the area of the fireplace. 

[LittleIggy]

There’s a brick house I drive by a lot that has the lime wash, and it is beautiful. Lots of the red brick shows through.

[bilgistic]

3 hours ago, dleighg said:

Wow, until this episode I did not know that Karen has a MASSIVE tattoo on her back.

It covers her whole back and goes down to her knees. She's a badass. That must've been so painful and the healing process, yikes. I have several tattoos, but not any near that large.

[Ohmo]

Good Bones: Mina Starsiak Hawk Talks About Her Family

Quote

Spoiler

The toddler, who is nearly two years old, is also expecting a new brother or sister, to be named Charlie Drew, a gender-neutral name, in September.

 

 

[jrzy]

On 7/28/2020 at 3:32 PM, MaKaM said:

Seriously. Was there no better way to tie the two structures together than that tiny hallway? Why even bother saving the front part if there is no way to nicely integrate the addition?

I so agree,  it was really awful. 

[hilaryvm]

Instead of having these "buyers" walk through that then requires Mina to say they didn't end up buying the house, why don't they just follow the Bargain Mansions model and have Mina show the finished house to her family/friends.

The Malm (sp?) fireplace was really was beautiful in the room.  My favorite part of the reno.

[pnina]

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one to find Karen annoying.  Her constant laughing, weird facial expression, and overall attempts at being cute and quirky get on my nerves.  Also, I've gotten a little tired of the disgusting toilet jokes.  Wouldn't most sane people duct tape the lid on the toilet before removing it?

[chessiegal]

3 hours ago, pnina said:

Wouldn't most sane people duct tape the lid on the toilet before removing it?

Not when it's for teevee. 😉

[cinsays]

33 minutes ago, chessiegal said:

Not when it's for teevee. 😉

yeah, that wouldn't be quasi-funny, and that seems to be the goal of a lot of the show these days

[RoxiP]

No, sane people would make sure the water was completely gone from the toilet before they attempted to move it.  It's really not rocket science - you turn the water off to the toilet and then you flush it until the tank is empty.

[BBminxerz]

On 7/25/2017 at 11:37 PM, suebee12 said:

I am still scratching from the poison ivy(I'm one of those who can look at it and break out!) but I loved the new trellis. In fact, it would have been really pretty without any vines on it. 

Why do people keep calling that poison ivy?!?@?! Gahhhh! How did that even make it past editing? That is NOT poison ivy, it's harmless English ivy and extremely common as decorative ivy.

[Andyourlittledog2]

As someone who grew up in a house with too much ivy all I see when I look at is is spiders. Lots of spiders. You couldn't pay me to live with ivy ever again.

[CrazyInAlabama]

18 hours ago, Andyourlittledog2 said:

As someone who grew up in a house with too much ivy all I see when I look at is is spiders. Lots of spiders. You couldn't pay me to live with ivy ever again.

My parents house had a lot of ivy on one wall, and the mice used it for a highway to the attic.    Ivy will also dig through any crack in mortar, or stucco.  It's very destructive.  

Where do I start with tonight's show?    Painting that drop cloth was ridiculous, and the paint shooting at each other was bizarre.  No protective glasses on Tad or Austin either, which is so dangerous.     I wonder how many coats of paint were needed to cover up the paint that splattered all over the walls?   I hate the splatter painted wall art.     Mindless vandalism in the name of quirky art is not entertaining.   

 I want to see houses from beginning to end, demo, design, and finishing.   That 2 x 4 wall between living and dining is not attractive to me.   I like the bathroom wall tile, in the tub/shower combo.  However, a full bathroom next to the dining room table doesn't thrill me.  I'm also sick of butcher block counters, when Mina has said it's not much more to get quartz, which would be zero maintenance.  I'm sure with the size of that kitchen they could find a remainder piece of quartz for the counters, and island, or even just the counters.     I found it interesting that Mina said what the sale price would be, and the profit, and then they sold and cleared $20k, and that didn't include closing costs. 

 The open wall between living and dining looked very rough and unfinished.   It could have been finished better, and not looked so rough.  

Edited August 12, 2020 by CrazyInAlabama

[MaKaM]

When they were doing the initial part of the reveal, they were being really careful to shoot Mina from the waist up or back only and it was like "we've all seen the previews, we know she is pregnant" and then when we got to the singing-in-the-bathroom part, they just were like, screw it, show the bump.

I have a butcher block island and I like it but I wouldn't want all my countertops to be wood but at least it wasn't another undermount sink with the wood countertops. But yeah, for the linear feet of countertop, it wouldn't have been *that* much money. Overall though, I thought it was a cute house that wasn't overdone for the area. It didn't have a huge booty-addition like that one from a few weeks ago. 20k profit at least isn't them gouging the market.

[LittleIggy]

I liked the open wall between the living and dining rooms. The one bathroom being downstairs from the bedrooms would be a big no for me though.

[RoxiP]

I thought I would hate the open wall between the rooms but found it rather nice and I loved the display shelves (although my kitten would probably throw everything down playing on them).  I wasn't a fan of the busy kitchen tiles but they weren't too obnoxious.  The bathroom situation would be annoying but it is probably pretty common in houses built in that era.

I'm pretty sure that the numbers Mina quoted at the beginning - purchase price of $11,000, renovation budget of $89,000, and sales price of $120,000, were the same beginning and the end, and yes, closing costs would eat into the profit.  Apparently this is a fairly common practice for them in a new neighborhood.

Paint splatter stuff was stupid.

[Andyourlittledog2]

Why would closing costs be a problem for the seller? The buyer pays the closing costs. Since apparently Mina is the 'realtor' she has no realtor fees. What costs does the seller otherwise pay?

When you factor in fast forwarding through the demo shenanigans, anything Tad or Cory, any of Karen's stupid projects and antics, the show is a quick twenty minutes. I still like to watch but that's about it for me on what parts I can tolerate any longer.

The idea of the open stud wall was interesting but the 'shelves' created were so narrow that anything perched on them made me nervous, especially all that glass. That's just a small bump and an accident waiting to happen. I couldn't live with that the way they did it. Real shelves inserted would have been better IMO.  I agree about the butcher block counters - quartz is so much easier to maintain. Mina loves high maintenance marble and butcher block in these houses for some reason. It's all about the look and not about function for her. I hated the stair setup but in that small house I don't know what else they could do realistically. 

I didn't think the 'potential buyer' looked that impressed for the most part. She made the right noises on interview but during the tour she was pretty reserved.

[dleighg]

14 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

I liked the open wall between the living and dining rooms.

I did also.

The person they showed the house to annoyed me somehow. She seemed to be putting on some kind of weird act with her little hand gestures, facial expressions, and little girl voice. 

The spatter-painted "art" was ridiculous. It looked like exactly what it was. 

6 minutes ago, Andyourlittledog2 said:

The idea of the open stud wall was interesting but the 'shelves' created were so narrow that anything perched on them made me nervous, especially all that glass. That's just a small bump and an accident waiting to happen. I couldn't live with that the way they did it. Real shelves inserted would have been better IMO. 

Good point.

 

6 minutes ago, Andyourlittledog2 said:

Why would closing costs be a problem for the seller?

The seller pays closing costs. So while Mina wouldn't have to pay her own (assuming she's a realtor) she would have to pay the agent for the buyer.

[chessiegal]

7 minutes ago, Andyourlittledog2 said:

Why would closing costs be a problem for the seller? The buyer pays the closing costs.

Not necessarily. Probably depends on what state you are in. I live in Maryland.

Quote

“Closing costs” covers all the fees associated with these processes. In Maryland, these fees generally come to 2-7% of the home's final sales price and are split between the buyer and seller.

 

[camom]

I like having this show on in the background while I'm doing something else.  I think if I had to spend more than 10 minutes with Karen I'd want to throttle her.  That laugh gets on my last nerve.  

[Andyourlittledog2]

I'm in California where closing costs seem to be the buyer's problem.  I wonder what the deal in Indiana is.

[dleighg]

13 minutes ago, Andyourlittledog2 said:

I'm in California where closing costs seem to be the buyer's problem

I think some of the confusion is that there are two kinds of closing costs-- the real estate agent fees (back in the age of dinosaurs when I bought my current house-- that was 6%-- half to each of the selling and buying brokers-- paid by the seller). Then there are title search/insurance, home inspection, I forget what else-- paid by the buyer, since those are services specifically for the buyer. 

Edited August 12, 2020 by dleighg

[CrazyInAlabama]

Yes, seller pays the commissions, usually 6%.    Then some of the closing costs, and in a buyer's market, the seller may agree to pay some of the buyer's closing costs.   Then there are buyer's costs, such as loan applications, and other fees, appraisal, etc.      Some houses Mina may not offer them through the real estate firm she works for, but sell them herself, so she may not have to pay the seller's fee to the broker she works for (I'm not sure how that works).     

[chessiegal]

If Mina is working for a broker, she can't sell them herself without going through her broker. If Mina is a broker, not just a sales agent, she can keep all the commission. If the total commission for a house is 6%, typically the seller's broker gets 3% and the buyer's broker gets 3%. Usually the sales agent and buyer agent split the 3% with their respective broker, so the agents get 1 1/2% each. This is all dependent on how each brokerage decides to work. The percentages are not set in stone. In Maryland, if you pass the state real estate exam (after successfully completing the required training), you cannot sell or represent buyers unless you are affiliated with a broker. I took the training to become a sales agent after I retired for something to do. When I passed the training, I took the real estate exam on a lark, and passed. I was deluged with offers from brokers who wanted me to come work with them. I had no intention of doing it, but did go on one interview because it was a local broker near me and they were so persistent. What an eye opener! Real estate agents are nothing but pack mules to brokers. This broker wanted $4,000 up front to give me the privilege of a desk and phone in his office. When I figured out how many houses I'd have to sell at 1 1/2% commission to break even, I realized what a racket the brokers have. Of course, this is Maryland. Each state has their own real estate laws.

[dleighg]

am watching the little "artist's bungalow" episode, and I notice again, it looks like Indianapolis is similar to Nome Alaska in climate. It is always COLD! I wonder if they just tend to do their filming of the renovations in the wintertime for whatever reason.

[RoxiP]

53 minutes ago, dleighg said:

am watching the little "artist's bungalow" episode, and I notice again, it looks like Indianapolis is similar to Nome Alaska in climate. It is always COLD! I wonder if they just tend to do their filming of the renovations in the wintertime for whatever reason.

Not sure, it is probably their filming schedule, but I have noticed on a lot of these flipping shows that they do renovations in the winter in order to have the houses ready for showing during prime buying seasons (here in Texas that is usually in the spring towards the end of the school calendar year).  People don't want to move when it is too hot (which is pretty much May - October here) or too cold.

Quite honestly I thought pulling the windows off the front porch was ridiculous in the first place - it was a very small house - why would you get rid of usable space?  It worked much better as a sun porch (I would have made the windows more expansive though) or as a place for the "artist" to work.  I did like the French doors out to it from the bedroom (although to be honest I dozed through most of this episode).

Edited August 19, 2020 by RoxiP
Further thoughts

[pasdetrois]

Quote

The person they showed the house to annoyed me somehow. She seemed to be putting on some kind of weird act with her little hand gestures, facial expressions, and little girl voice. 

Yes. She ruined what little reality illusion there was with her "acting."

[absolutelyido]

I really liked the artist's bungalow, except for that ridiculous ladder in the kitchen. The interior design has significantly improved since MJ has been brought in IMO. 

[3 is enough]

I liked what they did to the house, but why didn't they show the bathroom and the mudroom?  It was so small- they only showed the porch, living room , kitchen, and bedroom.  I am guessing the bathroom was a pretty basic renovation, but it would have been nice to see it.  Also Karen and Mina both talked about a pantry but the didn't show that either.  I'd rather see all the rooms than lingering shots of staging stuff that isn't going to stay with the house.

Edited August 19, 2020 by 3 is enough

[LittleIggy]

I liked the little house, too. The ladder thing was bizarre. Guess you would need some way to get up there to clean that dust trap open shelving, but it would be a PITA to have to move stuff on the counter to put the ladder there. I didn’t like the staging of a dining table right in front of the bedroom’s French doors. Too crowded and awkward.

[RoxiP]

1 hour ago, LittleIggy said:

I liked the little house, too. The ladder thing was bizarre. Guess you would need some way to get up there to clean that dust trap open shelving, but it would be a PITA to have to move stuff on the counter to put the ladder there. I didn’t like the staging of a dining table right in front of the bedroom’s French doors. Too crowded and awkward.

True - why not put it on the other side of the porch?

[izabella]

The whole porch situation seemed wrong, starting with the floor.  If that's the home's main entry, why not make it a vinyl tile floor or something more durable than a wood floor?  I know they wanted it to feel like indoor space, but it didn't need to have a matching wood floor.  If people have plants out there, and if they are coming in with snowy/rainy shoes and stuff, it could have used a more durable floor.  They could have had a bench out there for sitting on while taking off shoes and boot as well, and that dining table was unnecessary.  And I agree the windows should have been bigger.

[CrazyInAlabama]

I think the front porch would have made a great area for an artist's studio, if they do art on canvas.  I hope they insulated under the porch floor too.   I really would have like to have bigger windows on the front porch.   

I'm so happy for Mina, Steve, and Jack.    

Edited August 19, 2020 by CrazyInAlabama

[absnow54]

15 hours ago, izabella said:

The whole porch situation seemed wrong, starting with the floor.  If that's the home's main entry, why not make it a vinyl tile floor or something more durable than a wood floor?  I know they wanted it to feel like indoor space, but it didn't need to have a matching wood floor.  If people have plants out there, and if they are coming in with snowy/rainy shoes and stuff, it could have used a more durable floor.

I’m pretty sure they use LVT in most of their houses. It looks like wood, but is actually vinyl. 

I hated the new windows they put in the sunroom. They were way too small, but obviously they would cheap out on them, since that wasn’t a part of their budget. 

[RoxiP]

2 hours ago, absnow54 said:

I’m pretty sure they use LVT in most of their houses. It looks like wood, but is actually vinyl. 

I hated the new windows they put in the sunroom. They were way too small, but obviously they would cheap out on them, since that wasn’t a part of their budget. 

I love my LVT floor I put in my bedroom - it is so easy to clean (especially with 3 animals) and it looks great.

[CrazyInAlabama]

I love my LVP (Luxury Vinyl Plank) floor, it's glued down.   Some day when it needs replacement, I'll get LVP in the click together, and they can install it right over the current LVP.     Or maybe go with the EVP (Engineered Vinyl Plank) or the Tile version in the baths, kitchen and Laundry.   

I love the LVP.     Waterproof is my favorite floor.    

I love that the LVP looks like wood.       I had laminate on a previous house, and liked it.  However, the thresholds between rooms were an issue.   LVP doesn't need those.  

I love that they're using EVP or tile in the last two houses.   One reason I watch the reno shows like this is to see what the new supplies are, and what I might like to use someday.  

 

Edited August 20, 2020 by CrazyInAlabama

[sheetmoss]

So many misses...

Hated the small windows in the front - big mistake to do when tying to save $$$

Since the place was so small, I would have used a slider(w/ pane insert) instead of French doors in the bdrm. Those doors took up valuable space when opened. Part of me would have put the wall back up on the porch and made a bdrm and entry closet - it bugs me Mina never puts a closet for coats anywhere near the front door.

Indy has 4 seasons and coats are worn in 3 of them

The herb/veggie thing was dumb, they're  not going to do well against the wall. I really hate when shows do that kind of plant project.

     If you're going to do it, fill w/faux plants.

I know the kitchen lacked storage space, but  I would have run upper cabinets--12" deep, under the windows to give a bit more space for a table,

I  like the idea of the kitchen ladder, were   times I would have appreciated one  while balancing on a chair when dealing with upper cabinets.

 

 

 

Edited August 21, 2020 by sheetmoss

[CruiseDiva]

2 hours ago, sheetmoss said:

So many misses...

Hated the small windows in the front - big mistake to do when tying to save $$$

Since the place was so small, I would have used a slider(w/ pane insert) instead of French doors in the bdrm. Those doors took up valuable space when opened. Part of me would have put the wall back up on the porch and made a bdrm and entry closet - it bugs me Mina never nuts a closet for coats anywhere near the front door. Indy has 4 seasons and coats are worn in 2 of them

The herb/veggie thing was dumb, they're  not going to do well against the wall. I really hate when shows do that kind of plant project. If you're going to do it, fill w/faux plants.

I know the kitchen lacked storage space, but  I would have run upper cabinets--12" deep, under the windows to give a bit more space for a table,

I  like the idea of the kitchen ladder, were   times I would have appreciated one  while balancing on a chair when dealing with upper cabinets.

Totally agree. I'm not fond of open shelving--too much dust and grease accumulates there and is unsanitary in a kitchen--and I thought the ladder was dumb. Those open shelves were simply hung too high to be practical for anything but "display" stuff. They didn't show the mudroom and a pantry cabinet in there would have helped with lack of enough storage in the kitchen. They also could have put a cabinet above the fridge as well.

[dleighg]

5 minutes ago, CruiseDiva said:

They also could have put a cabinet above the fridge as well.

oh but it was so important to feature a peacock. Like any buyer is going to give a &*^* about the story.

Also agree on the open shelving. NO THANK YOU. And that was huge space allocated to "mudroom and laundry" for such a tiny house. Wasn't that the former KITCHEN???? 

[tinderbox]

There wasn't much of anything I liked about the outcome of this small house.  Simply awful....especially the outside.  Ugly.

I love darling little Jack. What a fabulous personality! He will make a perfect big brother.

Edited August 22, 2020 by tinderbox

[CrazyInAlabama]

I didn't like the recent rerun of the right side of the duplex, that had an alley next to the right side of the house.    The shiny black painted staircase is going to show every bit of dust.    The Juliet balcony right on the alley is awful.     

Tonight's episode with Tad's small house is interesting.   Garage on the first floor, and second floor is a one bedroom, one bath house for Tad.   I'm shocked Indianapolis allows a build that small, and over a garage space.   At his last place he had some dogs running around, didn't he?    I would have built a four car garage, with two car spaces in front, and two in back, and then the apartment would be bigger.    

I noticed the stairs didn't have a railing.   I wish the staircase could have been wider, and it needed a railing.     Also, make the house longer, and instead of the loft, make another bedroom back there, and put a desk area on the other wall.    

Edited August 26, 2020 by CrazyInAlabama

[LittleIggy]

Did they say Tad was 25? He looks at least 10 years older than that. Nice place they made for him. I got tired of all the “masculine” references about the decor. 🙄

[3 is enough]

Tad’s pants are too tight.  That seems to be the look for younger guys these days.  It doesn’t work for guys with muscular legs like Tad.  I did like the apartment though.

[Grrarrggh]

I couldn't help but think about things falling off those high shelves in Tad's new place. And falling faaaaarrrr. 

[izabella]

I thought Tad's place was ugly from the outside, and a waste of space inside.  With such a tall wall and high ceiling, why not make it more of a second floor?  How much will Tad be paying to heat that place in winter, especially with an uninsulated garage below?  Two bathrooms!

[CrazyInAlabama]

So my lying cable guide calls tonight's episode new.   It isn't, it's the one where Jessica and her two girls move into the upstairs condo that they're remodeling.     It's a nice remodel, but instead of having a play room, then they should have put a dining table in the dining nook.    

 

Edited August 28, 2020 by CrazyInAlabama

[LittleIggy]

Is this Jess Mina’s half sister or step-sister? They don’t look alike at all. Her chubby-cheeked baby was adorbs. BTW, my DVR is set to record new HHI episodes, and it has recorded several episodes labeled “new” which aren’t.