House Hunters Renovation - General Discussion

[izabella]

(Anyone remember having to pay a nickel or dime just to get into one of the stalls there?

 

I visited London about 10 years ago, and used a pay public toilet somewhere.  It might have been near an entrance to the underground. 

[Bastet]

Anyone remember having to pay a nickel or dime just to get into one of the stalls there?

 

Spawning the infamous "Crawl under" recommendation in places where the doors stopped a foot or so above the ground.

[Apprentice Ilisidi]

Well now my feelings are hurt 'cause I just retiled a shower using subway tiles. A sort of tribute to my way, way long ago past.

 

I gotta tell you, Apprentice, though you are one of those who hurt my feelings....(insert crybaby emoticon here), what I most remember about the subway is: the smell, the noise, and Grossinger's rye bread signs (although I couldn't read at the time). I will try to forgive you and your fellow subway tile haters (et tu, DowntheShore?)....

 

I got the small tiles and grouted in white, though I originally thought I'd do gray....but basically, I was merely going for a stark white look, and so much of the white tiles I found had a marble-ish thing going on.

 

Anyway, who are you to judge me (that's a Dorothy Svornak line from the Golden Girls).

 

Shaker cabinets are a classic, end of discussion  (I took my "attitude" pill before I logged on.)

 Sorry if I hurt your feelings, Mojito. Actually, I quite liked the subway tiles the first 5,000 times I saw them on HGTV. I'm sure your subway tiles are like those in one of the cool new subway stations, such as the one at 59th and Broadway. (Although I've only seen pictures of it.) As for Shaker cabinets, I don't know any Shakers and don't have any negative associations.

I visited London about 10 years ago, and used a pay public toilet somewhere.  It might have been near an entrance to the underground. 

 The London toilets are a great gift to the tourist. I've never been in any other city so well equipped. Wherever you are when walking around the city, there's almost always a toilet in easy reach. But you can't crawl under the doors - the doors and walls go all the way to the ground. Love the heather-colored toilet paper and the toilet paper that says it's the property of the crown.

[mojito]

 

Anyone remember having to pay a nickel or dime just to get into one of the stalls there?

It was probably my first exposure to seeing adults cheat. One woman held the stall door open for my mother and me, and my mother did the same for someone else. I asked no questions. The facility must've made around $.25 cents a day.

 

Didn't know about the urinals, DowntheShore, Interesting tidbit.

Edited December 10, 2014 by mojito

[aguabella]

Same opinion, in general about subway tiles and Shaker cabinets.  Like them both but we've seen enough on HHR.  Hope they'll unleash the designers or at least give them more time, in advance, with the couple to explore other options.

Edited December 11, 2014 by aguabella

[BearCat49]

I wish wallpaper would come back in style for a back splash. 

 

Who says you can't do wallpaper, stewedsquash?  Sounds very cool, fashionable and definitely "in", to me.  In fact, they have many vinyl washable papers available now, typically marketed for that purpose!  (In general, all w/p's washable but those would be more practical for a backsplash.)  If selling soon, I might not select it but otherwise, if you like it, why not?

 

In fact, it sounds like a terrific choice for one of those HHR designers to pitch to spice up the program, right?

[cathy7304]

With regards to wallpaper, I remember a trend in the 80's (?) was to take patterned sheets and attach or staple them to the walls instead of wallpaper. You had to apply some kind of trim to hide the staples though. It was promoted as a cheaper and easier way to "wallpaper" plus easier to change as your tastes changed. Did any of you ever give it a try in your homes?

With regards to wallpaper, I remember a trend in the 80's (?) was to take patterned sheets and attach or staple them to the walls instead of wallpaper. You had to apply some kind of trim to hind the staples though. It was promoted as a cheaper and easier way to "wallpaper" plus easier to change as your tastes changed. Did any of you ever give it a try in your homes?

Edited December 13, 2014 by cathy7304

[DownTheShore]

Oh, jeez, I remember "crawling under" and the courtesy of holding the door open for the next person!

 

I remember that patterned-sheet-as-wallpaper, though I never did it.  I did occasionally eye one particular wall, though...

 

I love wallpaper, though I don't have any here.  I love to see, when you visit some historic homes, those rooms that have scenic wallpaper wrapping around the entire room, like those wallpapers by Zuber & Cie.  That's what I'd do, if I had a large home and lotsa, lotsa cash. 

 

 

 

I also have a sneaking fondness for toile.

 

 

[laredhead]

Just saw the couple who renovated a house in Serbia.  Wow, that was a big undertaking.  I vaguely remember the episode of them searching for a place in Budapest and will try to locate it in the HH archives.  I love the yard/garden of the house they renovated and the long room with all of the doors and windows overlooking the garden.  For little investment, they certainly did end up with a lovely house. 

[Apprentice Ilisidi]

I can't say that I love wallpaper in general, but for 20 years I have had the urge to paper my dining room in antique-looking Chinese wallpaper with a yellow background and images of birds and flowers (if you've ever seen a picture of it you'll know what I mean). However, I have always suppressed this urge.

[izabella]

I couldn't believe that couple in Serbia bought the place for $16k and then only needed another $10k to renovate.  Those workmen did a LOT of work. 

 

I also wondered why they didn't mention heating.  I noticed the new stove/oven was electric; maybe there was no way to get gas there, so their heat was electric, too? Serbia is cold, cold, cold in the winter, and all of those rooms had high ceilings.  I imagine whatever heating system had been in there would have needed to be replaced like the electric wiring and plumbing.  Or did they talk about heat and I missed it?

[BearCat49]

With regards to wallpaper, I remember a trend in the 80's (?) was to take patterned sheets and attach or staple them to the walls instead of wallpaper. You had to apply some kind of trim to hide the staples though. It was promoted as a cheaper and easier way to "wallpaper" plus easier to change as your tastes changed. Did any of you ever give it a try in your homes?

 

 

Fabric walls, including sheets, are sometimes done now.  Pros that are truly skilled can match the fabrics' patterns and don't need trim to hide the install.  It's a ton of work.  In fact, w/p might be easier, IMHO! 

Edited December 14, 2014 by BearCat49

[BearCat49]

I can't say that I love wallpaper in general, but for 20 years I have had the urge to paper my dining room in antique-looking Chinese wallpaper with a yellow background and images of birds and flowers (if you've ever seen a picture of it you'll know what I mean). However, I have always suppressed this urge.

 

Yes, that paper's gorgeous but extremely formal, IIRC.  Unless you like dressing for dinner, Apprentice Ilisidi, I'd suppress the urge, too!

Edited December 14, 2014 by BearCat49

[BearCat49]

^^^I have a stone back splash in my kitchen. We moved around frequently when I was growing up and I remember my mother wallpapering every home we moved into. But since we moved frequently when I was growing up I was always the new kid in school, which I hated. So when I got married we bought some land and built a house that was going to be our forever home. It was for 25 years until a tornado destroyed it. We bought an older brick home down the road and remodeled it but I was in such a hurry to get it done that wallpaper was not on my mind. It is one of my regrets. I was making sure we were able to save and refurbish the hickory cabinets. The man who built the house back then was a woodworker and made all the cabinets. It was a monkey wrench when we were getting counter tops though. Because whatever the standard width is, he had added three inches! So we had to really customize! But I wish that it, wallpaper, would become more popular on the tv shows. The only one I can recall recently who does wallpaper is Sarah, on the Canadian shows. And maybe that hack on Rehab Addict. And Kyle (Real Housewives Beverly Hills, stop rolling y'alls eyes!!) was going to put wallpaper in her dining room but it was going to be in the $10,000 range so she had it painted just like the wallpaper she picked out instead. I just have a fondness for wallpaper because it was the one consistent thing in a very inconsistent childhood. 

 

I can't remember where the episode location but was, maybe PA. It was on some land and was described as southern, maybe Tara-ish, with columns. But I hated that house because it just looked like it belonged to a builder who just slapdashed building styles together. I hate when builders do that to homes. But I always wanted to see if they had done a decent remodel. I have some dvr'd this week and I think a marathon to dvr Saturday, maybe it will be on. It might be a Where are they now, instead of Renovation. 

 

I wouldn't have passed up the stone, either, stewedsquash.  Sorry for your loss.  Sounds like you worked hard to put your family's life back together.  I'll bet those cabinets were totally worth saving, too.

 

Sarah does a good job with w/p, I agree.  Wish her current program contained more design and less HH!  Nicole - I don't know.  I believe she does try to save some of the older ones but basically, IMHO, she's a flipper.  She did her best work on the house she'd planned to purchase herself, IMHO.  

 

Have honestly never viewed a single RH episode so can't comment.  Sounds like the woman cheaped out???  That the PA home that was close to NJ?  If it's that one, I believe it'd be a WATN episode. 

 

I can understand your emotional connection to w/p.  I love it but typically in small doses.  Do your cabinets contain any glass fronts?  I've used foam board covered with either fabric or w/p to back cabinets.  Ever considered that?  Easy to change out if/when your style or mood changes.  Can set any tone you'd like for your space - 

[DownTheShore]

I can't say that I love wallpaper in general, but for 20 years I have had the urge to paper my dining room in antique-looking Chinese wallpaper with a yellow background and images of birds and flowers (if you've ever seen a picture of it you'll know what I mean). However, I have always suppressed this urge.

Check this out: http://www.zuber.fr/html/produits/decors_chinoiseries/liste_decors_chinoiseries.html

and this: http://lachibeau.en.ecplaza.net/chinese-hand-painted-wallpaper-chinoiserie--261980-1902862.html

[BradandJanet]

Check this out: http://www.zuber.fr/html/produits/decors_chinoiseries/liste_decors_chinoiseries.html

and this: http://lachibeau.en.ecplaza.net/chinese-hand-painted-wallpaper-chinoiserie--261980-1902862.html

I love these. Sigh. Maybe someday.

[laredhead]

Izabella, the Serbian episode did not mention heating, but a couple of the shots showed an old stove.  I'm sure there was no central heating or any other type of heat other than the wood stoves that heated individual rooms.  Pre-renovation that house was probably very drafty and cold. 

[mojito]

I never cared for wallpaper. Yes, there ones that have struck me as ugly, and I remember having to scrape wallpaper when I was 8 on our "new" house. Mostly, though, it's because I've seen the heartbreak of having some gash in the wall paper that you can't fix.

 

DowntheShore, if I moved into a place with scenic wallpaper as you showed, I'd probably not be too inclined to change it. Sometimes there is so much effort put into something that I could take or leave, that I wouldn't bother removing. Very often, when a prvious owner has done something offbeat (especially murals), I find myself cringing when the house hunter declares "that's got to go". Too much effort was put in not to give it a chance to grow on you.

 

Maybe I'm just lazy.

[Apprentice Ilisidi]

Yes, that paper's gorgeous but extremely formal, IIRC.  Unless you like dressing for dinner, Apprentice Ilisidi, I'd suppress the urge, too!

 

Does putting on a nice bathrobe count as dressing for dinner? 

 

I saw the walls of a stairway in a fancy London town house with that wallpaper in a magazine, and I felt like drooling.

[DownTheShore]

I agree about giving some of those murals a chance to grow on you, especially when it's clear that they were painted professionally.  I would hate painting over them if there was a way to work them into the decor or if their quirkiness lends more interest to the room.

 

And it's not as if that neutral color those homeowners tend to repaint the walls is such an improvement; usually the rooms looked better with the murals.

[mojito]

I just saw the HH Renovations of the Wisconsin couple who want a second home in LA, which they can visit and rent out.

 

I'm curious, do you think there's much of a market for people who would rent out a home for the short term in LA?

[Bastet]

Yeah, assuming LA = Los Angeles rather than Louisiana, there are a lot of short-term rentals here, and they're spread out over numerous neighborhoods and price ranges.  It's everything from weekend party rentals to two-week vacation rentals to six-month in town on a project rentals.

[BearCat49]

I just saw the HH Renovations of the Wisconsin couple who want a second home in LA, which they can visit and rent out.

 

I'm curious, do you think there's much of a market for people who would rent out a home for the short term in LA?

 

Yes, like most things RE, depends on the location.  IIRC, the WI couple bought a home in the Hollywood Hills area so their place should have been highly marketable for both short and LT rentals. 

[BearCat49]

^^^With what little knowledge I have about LA, I think it makes sense. It seems like there are people in several industries, acting, music, technology, money, that would need short term leases. I would go with them more than the average joe looking for a short term lease or the other option, the vacation lease. 

 

It's a trade off between the stability of a longer term tenant vs (hopefully) higher net profit.  Although expenses would also be higher, avg rents would be significantly higher for vacation and other shorter term rentals.

[Honey]

I just watched the episode of the couple where she moves from Melbourne to his hometown in Manciano Italy.  I could not stand her.  She was so bitchy that I felt bad for him.  When the designer broke it to them that the concrete wasn't dry, and they had to wait another 15 days to lay the floor, the look on his face said that he knew he was about to catch holy hell from her.  Poor guy, and boy was he cute, and sweet.  She did seem to mellow out a little after the wedding though.  Perhaps it was just pre-wedding jitters.

 

What a gorgeous area though, with beautiful centuries old buildings, and tiny cobblestone streets.  And how cool to live in a place with a Travertine mine in the same town?  In the end, I wasn't that impressed with the kitchen part of the reno.  The sink was just eh IMO, with a normal SS sink and basic faucet.  The terrace for awesome however.

[DaveA]

I watched the Manciano Italy show and thought what the guy really needed was just a small plot of land and a shovel.

[zxy556575]

I watched the Manciano Italy show and thought what the guy really needed was just a small plot of land and a shovel.

 

Ha! It started with "I told him we needed to get married" and got nastier from there. I would have guided her to stand under a big, loose piece of ceiling plaster while they were out looking. Her husband should buy her a nice copperhead for Christmas: "See? Just like what you had in Aus-fucking-tralia!"

 

Awful as she was, he put up with her for 6 years, so no pity.

[buttersister]

I watched the Manciano Italy show and thought what the guy really needed was just a small plot of land and a shovel.

Well-played, Sir. The only slack I cut her was that it appeared her family was coming a long way to the wedding so she wanted the place to be done. Maybe they were going to stay with her? (Congrats, husband-to-be.) I get that, but again, they're recording you--with sound--save it for later. I'm with you--if he agreed to get married after 6 years, he must enjoy being told what to do or something.

Edited December 21, 2014 by buttersister

[laredhead]

I just watched the Australia to Italy episode and it was pretty obvious to me who was the boss in that relationship.  Even his demeanor seemed to be submissive when she was around, which was 90% of the time.  He just sort of scurried around and took orders from her, or so it seemed to me.  You're right Buttersister, he must like taking orders.  I didn't notice that she had mellowed that much after the wedding because she was still complaining at the party on the terrace.  I guess in a small village it was difficult to meet eligible women and when he met her, he thought she was nice.  Wonder what his parents thought of their future, and now present, daughter-in-law's bossy attitude?  I didn't think the kitchen was all that special either, and I didn't like the location of the sink tucked back into the corner.  There wasn't much counter space, but I'm comparing that to many American kitchens and you know how picky we Americans are about huge kitchens.  I also wasn't too impressed with her DIY mosaic tile project, and did it really take two people to grout that small table?  Agree that the terrace was probably the best part of that renovation, even though there wasn't a view of mountains or the sea.

Edited December 22, 2014 by laredhead

[qtpye]

In the Manciano, Italy episode, did the designer seem to secretly loathe Aussie gal to anyone else?  I felt like she was thinking how did this woman nab such a local cutie.

[izabella]

I was pretty sure the real estate agent loathed the wife-to-be.  And I don't blame him.  She sneered at everything they saw!

[walnutqueen]

(Anyone remember having to pay a nickel or dime just to get into one of the stalls there? The guys, of course, got to pee at the urinals for free, which was one of the reasons why the the laws were changed to ban pay toilets).

 

Yup, my earliest experience with "graffiti" :

 

Here I sit, broken hearted

Paid my dime, and only farted

Next time, think I'll take the chance

Save my dime, and shit my pants

[Bastet]

Inflation, I guess -- I always heard it with nickel instead of dime.

[NYGirl]

Happy New Year HH posters!

I saw one during today's marathon that I hadnt seen before. The homeower happened to be a commercial kitchen designer and was at odds with the designer. I thought it was ridiculous that they would make her use a designer when she was one already I'm sure she could adapt her aesthetic to a residential kitchen.

They pretended to play nice together eventually but who knows what really happened. The HH wasn't the most pleasant person to begin with. The HH designer was very young looking.

[laredhead]

Saw the San Diego(?) couple who planned to spend $70,000 on a renovation and ended up going a bit over $100,000.  He is a writer and evidently very handy with carpentry and DYI skills so he did a lot of the work and saved them some money.  After seeing the the renovation, I thought they could have spent less money on several things, still had a lovely renovation and not gone so far over budget.  Kind of looked like champagne tastes on a beer budget for some things.  They were pleasant with no major drama which was nice. 

[aguabella]

Happy New Year HH posters!

I saw one during today's marathon that I hadnt seen before. The homeower happened to be a commercial kitchen designer and was at odds with the designer. I thought it was ridiculous that they would make her use a designer when she was one already I'm sure she could adapt her aesthetic to a residential kitchen.

They pretended to play nice together eventually but who knows what really happened. The HH wasn't the most pleasant person to begin with. The HH designer was very young looking.

 

Confirms that tptb won't go off-script for anybody, don't you think?  The $$$ the production co spent on the designer, although not much probably, could have been used for the project - but nope, nope, nope.  Gotta' set up that drama, right?

 

Happy New Year to you and all!

[zxy556575]

Saw the San Diego(?) couple who planned to spend $70,000 on a renovation and ended up going a bit over $100,000.  He is a writer and evidently very handy with carpentry and DYI skills so he did a lot of the work and saved them some money.  After seeing the the renovation, I thought they could have spent less money on several things, still had a lovely renovation and not gone so far over budget.  Kind of looked like champagne tastes on a beer budget for some things.  They were pleasant with no major drama which was nice. 

 

Didn't they spend, like $20K on the bathroom alone? It did look nice, but they probably over-improved, not to mention having a lot left to do.

Edited January 6, 2015 by lordonia

[Jynnan tonnix]

I actually watch very little television (despite hanging out at a site devoted to it), and don't follow any of the house hunters shows in real time, but they are my drug of choice when I am on the treadmill, so I see several, of all incarnations, on a semi regular (depending how close we are to a "resolution" date) fairly regularly. So totally not sure whether there is a thread for me here. Is it still on topic if one rambles on about episodes which aired god only knows when?

[NYGirl]

Welcome to the club.  Sometimes we watch in real time but mostly we watch on DVRs ..sometimes weeks later.  There's always somebody to discuss episodes with no matter when you post them.  We are all crazy enough to remember the ones you will be discussing.  Not like we have lives or anything....you know

Edited January 7, 2015 by NYGirl

[Bastet]

Is it still on topic if one rambles on about episodes which aired god only knows when?

 

Yep.  We don't do season threads for this show, so just make sure you're in the right thread for the type of episode you're discussing (depending on whether it's a "regular" [in the US] episode, a HH International episode or a HH Renovation episode) and ramble away. 

[Jynnan tonnix]

I was just watching two of them yesterday...both with couples looking for places in CA at what seemed like exorbitant prices. The first one didn't stay with me that much, but the second, I felt as though the commercials were giving the impression that the wife was on OTT stubborn perfectionist, which is not the sort of personality I can deal with at all in real life, but she actually had a number of really valid complaints, I thought, when it came to dealing with their designer (who she only hired under protest anyway when they ran into some other issues early in the renovation).

 

One issue was the marble the designer had picked, which was totally not up to the abuse a busy kitchen counter is subject to. Another was totally unfinished edges on the inside of the stove cutout which would allow for all sorts of grease and moisture to seep in. I think there were one or two more. The designer had one of the meanest bitchfaces going whenever her ideas were challenged, but the wife was actually a designer in the commercial kitchen field, so she must have had a good idea of issues which can arise when form is chosen over function in busy settings. I ended up agreeing with her on pretty much everything as much as I was not a huge fan of her personality.

[WendyCR72]

Hi, @Jynnan tonnix! As @Bastet correctly told you, as long as you are in the proper forum [depending on which version of House Hunters you're watching], ramble away and enjoy!

[CocoaGoddess]

I was just watching two of them yesterday...both with couples looking for places in CA at what seemed like exorbitant prices. The first one didn't stay with me that much, but the second, I felt as though the commercials were giving the impression that the wife was on OTT stubborn perfectionist, which is not the sort of personality I can deal with at all in real life, but she actually had a number of really valid complaints, I thought, when it came to dealing with their designer (who she only hired under protest anyway when they ran into some other issues early in the renovation).

 

One issue was the marble the designer had picked, which was totally not up to the abuse a busy kitchen counter is subject to. Another was totally unfinished edges on the inside of the stove cutout which would allow for all sorts of grease and moisture to seep in. I think there were one or two more. The designer had one of the meanest bitchfaces going whenever her ideas were challenged, but the wife was actually a designer in the commercial kitchen field, so she must have had a good idea of issues which can arise when form is chosen over function in busy settings. I ended up agreeing with her on pretty much everything as much as I was not a huge fan of her personality.

 

Agreed, but I feel like I was conned into watching a flip, which I can normally spot a mile away. They had a really bizarre reason for moving from Seattle to Los Angeles,(I like the surf and the water in Seattle is too cold!) and they mentioned having "renovated" three different houses before. They didn't focus on most of the other rooms in the house, but when they briefly showed that the boy and girl are both sharing a room, it kind of signaled that they weren't going to be there long.

 

I'm so tired of designers pushing their quirks and desires on clients. There's absolutely no way I would ever agree to marble countertops in a kitchen, and for the designer to refuse to budge because, "I don't like the aesthetics."  Um, you don't HAVE to like the aesthetics, if I'm telling you that this material won't work for our lifestyle, then you suck it up and come up with alternatives. Her resting bitchface was appropriate for her nasty, unprofessional attitude. 

 

Did anyone watch the episode featuring the couple who bought and attempted to renovate a money pit in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of Los Angeles? HGTV didn't make them hire a designer, and wouldn't you know it, they were the one couple that sorely needed one. Nearly everything about their reno was awful and they went more than 40k over budget, mostly from lack of planning/not knowing what the hell they were doing. And have any of these buyers ever heard of a home inspection? That house had a deck so decrepit and unsafe that they couldn't even insure their house because of it! How in the world would you buy a house that's basically uninsurable from day one? And also, the annoying wife refusing to allow the countertop installers to seal those fug concrete countertops because she thought that cracking and staining would add "character". I couldn't deal with the sheer incompetence and bad taste. 

[Jynnan tonnix]

Oh, yeah! That was actually the other one I saw...can't believe I couldn't remember it a few hours later. Yes, when they bought that house with the renovation budget they had in mind, my first thought was that this was easily an $80,000 job. And the wife gushing over the "character" of things like the cracked concrete and the wood flooring which was rotting away at the edges?? Ridiculous.

 

I didn't mind the "flip" factor of the other episode because I enjoy flips in general. Probably because as a Navy wife, my husband and I have bought fixer-uppers four or five times and done complete DIY renovations (mostly just cosmetic) on them during the two or three years we lived there. The only time we didn't make a good profit was the last house, which we had bought with the thought that the market was about as low as it was going to go...but even that one sold to the first person to come through, but it sold for close to what we had paid for it, and all the renovations we had done made it far nicer for us to live in, so they were worth it just for that.

[aguabella]

Saw the San Diego(?) couple who planned to spend $70,000 on a renovation and ended up going a bit over $100,000.  He is a writer and evidently very handy with carpentry and DYI skills so he did a lot of the work and saved them some money.  After seeing the the renovation, I thought they could have spent less money on several things, still had a lovely renovation and not gone so far over budget.  Kind of looked like champagne tastes on a beer budget for some things.  They were pleasant with no major drama which was nice. 

 

Their rental house was in Santa Monica, supposedly, but the 3 choices were simply described in terms of the all-important distance to the beach.  Got the impression they were close to SM, initially, but then wasn't sure.

 

They seemed penny-wise and pound foolish, to me.  Overspending on almost everything, or so it seemed and then trying to save pennies with an unworkable plumbing fixture.  (Just EBay it and purchase what you need, kids.)

 

The bathroom was 25K, including 3K for that vanity and another couple or so just to place the ledge on the backside of the tub area.  They used expensive tile to do at least one entire wall (probably all the walls but couldn't tell) and it showed up as stark white on camera, feeling very cold and looking like paint.  Also, they repeated the shower tile on the tub - not necessary, IMHO.  After all those $$$, the room felt very masculine/contemporary, not in keeping with the rustic style they used in the other rooms.

 

The kitchen design seemed a little busy and the skylight problem was the designer's error.  Their contractor's quote sounded too high on that master situation.  I believe a roofer would do the work cheaper.  A redesign of that space may have also helped that situation.  It was impressive how much work the guy did himself but he came off as an unemployed writer.

 

Oh, their ###'s on the front room had to be wrong.  The flooring alone was more than $1,900 and french doors can be more than that.  Seriously doubt they found those by the side of the road.

Edited January 9, 2015 by aguabella

[laredhead]

Last night's episode about the Port Chester, NY couple made me want to mute the sound.  I did not know it was possible for a woman to have vocal fry and be shrill at the same time.  How the husband has put up with that voice for as long as he has is beyond me. In the intro she said they met when they were teenagers and he dumped her and then they got back together several years later.   The reno ended up going over budget by a little bit, in the grand scheme of things, and all they did to the second floor was paint the bedrooms.  I think that house had the pink bathroom upstairs.  At least there was no drama about how the children would have to sleep on a separate floor at the parents as 2 bedrooms were upstairs and 2 were downstairs.  Each child would have their own room which was their goal.  Someone refresh my memory about the basement, please.  Was it the partially finished space?  I erased the episode immediately after watching.  I liked that they refinished the downstairs bathtub and did not spend $10,000 remodeling a bathroom that was perfectly functional with just a little sprucing up.  The couple did some of the work themselves, and all in all, the finished space turned out nice.  I wasn't a fan of the random stainless tiles inserted into the glass backspash.  I like glass tile and I like stainless tile, just not in that particular pattern.    

[zxy556575]

I did not know it was possible for a woman to have vocal fry and be shrill at the same time.

 

Ha! I was on my couch mimicking her voice as I watched.

[QuinnM]

 

Last night's episode about the Port Chester, NY couple made me want to mute the sound.  I did not know it was possible for a woman to have vocal fry and be shrill at the same time.  How the husband has put up with that voice for as long as he has is beyond me.

 

The bio said they met in high school so she probably spoke normally then.  Then she went to Manhattan and decided she was a Kardashian and started talking like a shallow, brainless twit.  I really couldn't stand it.  Funny thing was that I assumed someone that wasn't a teenager and had daughters of their own would have figured out how to talk.  I wonder if seeing this on film freaked her out or if she really is that brainless.

 

I thought it was a good finished product.  The update to the space was a good bang for their buck.  I'm glad she said no to the marble.  I have a friend where the marble on 'just the island' was replaced after 3 years because of the wine stains.

[NYGirl]

I just watched last night's episode and omg the vocal fry on that woman!  They were a cute couple until she opened her mouth but by the end of the show I wanted to tape her mouth closed.

 

I'm glad they picked the same house I had chosen for them...lol...and the finished product was really nice.

 

But geez..shaker cabinets again?  It's like the same designer does every single episode of this show.  I am glad that she was able to get her glass doors.  I mean really..who says the designers get the last word and not the HH?

Edited January 12, 2015 by NYGirl

[izabella]

I'm glad she got her glass doors, too.  It's her kitchen, and she's paying for it, so let her have what she wants.  If they look "off" to her later, she can change them. 

 

I wasn't a big fan of the stainless tiles mixed in with the glass tile back splash.  I also thought the color of the sink in the guest bath didn't quite go with the tile and paint color, but maybe it looks different in person.

 

I also agreed with her about the marble counter tops.  How does marble compare with quartz in terms of price?