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House Hunters Renovation - General Discussion


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On 8/19/2019 at 11:43 PM, LittleIggy said:

LFBHR Tuscaloosa: I don’t understand why a gay couple who live in LA want a vacation home in Alabama. Yeah, I know one of the guys had family there and was a Bama alum. But still...Anyway, said AL native was lucky that his guy was so handy. I was impressed by his work. I didn’t like painting the ceiling in that room black. Ugh. I did like that they painted the kitchen cabinets. Why on earth did someone put that ugly tile over hardwood floors in the kitchen? 🤦‍♀️

 I wondered the same - maybe the area they were in was more like Austin TX--i,e, more liberal.

Didn't mind the black ceiling myself - I  think white would be too stark with the white wall.

Frankly, I would have just left the industrial toilet which I believe had rge tank in the wall to save $$

Edited by sheetmoss
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HHR  tonight - Valley Village, CA

What a concept.... double ovens in the brick wall, I guess she never watched The Brady Bunch.

It took me until the end of the episode when  I realized the SIL's hats/caps were  worn for religious reasons

Edited by sheetmoss
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6 hours ago, sheetmoss said:

It took me until the end of the episode when  I realized the SIL's hats/caps were  worn for religious reasons

I thought so right away when I saw that she was in a skirt playing with her kids on the street in the opening, coupled with the hats. I've known a number of Orthodox Jewish women, so those were two tell-tale signs for me.

I didn't like the backsplash. The guest bathroom was really awful - much better when she was finished, although I would have liked some color. I'm kind of tired of gray.

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I hated the kitchen back splash first stacked idea, then when they put it on the wall with the second configuration it was worse, and then the brick pattern was nicer.     I hated the bath with the pedestal sink.    My usual question for the pedestal sinks is where do you put supplies, and what are you going to do for counter space?      A nice, and much cheaper standard vanity would have been much more useful, and could have fit the vintage vibe the home owner seemed to be going for.     

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OMG, CA lady was so annoying!  I understand that it’s hard to make decisions, but constantly changing your mind costs money too. I can’t believe she thought the slight offset tile would look good, especially since it had such a strong border. So, then she has to spend $1500 to fix it. What a waste of money. 

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Valley Village:  The kitchen backsplash was AWFUL!  It ruined the entire look!  The small bathroom had too many different patterns going on.  The pentagon shaped tile was lovely but it should have been limited to shower. 

I'm glad the SIL had some common sense and pointed out the costs and level of difficulty were going to be much higher than the homeowner thought.  The SIL's kitchen was super nice!  I would have loved to see the rest of her house!

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15 minutes ago, juliet73 said:

Valley Village:  The kitchen backsplash was AWFUL!  It ruined the entire look! 

That tile was a hot mess. With an adjacent brick wall, the backsplash tile should have been a different shape or at least a plain subway tile with no border that didn't obviously mimic the shape of the existing brick. It ended up being too much of the same shape.

That new homeowner didn't just have bad taste--she had no taste at all.

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23 minutes ago, CruiseDiva said:

That new homeowner didn't just have bad taste--she had no taste at all.

I think she is someone who needs only a few options to choose from, and she needs someone else to put the options together for her.  I think she would have done better to go to a store and see what different combinations looks like in a mock kitchen, and pick one.  At the very least, she should have been looking online for pictures of kitchens and baths and found some she liked to use as a model, and then do exactly like the picture.

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3 hours ago, CruiseDiva said:

That new homeowner didn't just have bad taste--she had no taste at all.

2 hours ago, izabella said:

I think she is someone who needs only a few options to choose from, and she needs someone else to put the options together for her.

I agree with both of you—and this is me. I have no vision when it comes to interior design. I need to see several options then decide what I like. 

I don’t know what’s worse: the trendy white/grey shaker cabinets, subway tile backsplash, Moroccan print floors, and barnyard doors, or the crazy ideas like her horrible backsplash and grout 

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19 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

Mom most def lied to the HH when she said the backsplash looked good! 😆 It looked as if a drunk person had put it up. I liked the wall tiles in the bathroom but not the pedestal sink. As has been mentioned, no storage. 

Do you really need a lot of storage in a guest bathroom? It's mostly being used for the toilet and occasional sleepovers. 

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5 minutes ago, Grrarrggh said:

Do you really need a lot of storage in a guest bathroom? It's mostly being used for the toilet and occasional sleepovers. 

We have a pedestal sink in our powder room, and I’d like to switch it to a vanity simply so I have a place to keep extra toilet paper. 😀 Plus, I have two hand towels for that bathroom, so it would be nice to keep the clean one in there rather than upstairs in my linen closet. 

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Just saw the much discussed renovation with the ovens in a brick wall, and horrible back splash.  It's obvious that this woman must drive her family nuts with her perfectionism and difficulty in making decisions.  Her sister-in-law has a ton of common sense, and the homeowner should listen to her.  The first back splash install would have looked better than that ridiculous 1" offset.  I'm so over subway tile, that by the time it was finally installed, I didn't care what it looked like.  I think a pretty glass tile with no grout lines would have been nice.  

Why is she obsessed with the way the fireplace isn't centered on the brick wall.  You walk around the corner and there are the ovens placed at the end of the brick wall and they aren't centered.  

She is the perfect example of why you need to have everything planned and all decisions on finishes made before you begin a huge renovation (or any size renovation).  If you don't plan, then it's going to cost you money that you might not have.  Someone commented that she should have done more research and looked at a lot pictures on line before going with the first thing the designer threw out.  

I did laugh at the end when she said she did that all by herself.  Uh, yeah, with ample help from the SIL, contractors, and the designer.  I had a major kitchen renovation done a couple of years ago, and I'm a single woman.  It takes a village to do it - lol.       

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7 hours ago, irisheyes said:

We have a pedestal sink in our powder room, and I’d like to switch it to a vanity simply so I have a place to keep extra toilet paper. 😀 Plus, I have two hand towels for that bathroom, so it would be nice to keep the clean one in there rather than upstairs in my linen closet. 

And it’s a place to put cleaning supplies.

Because of an above post, I looked closely to catch a glimpse of the oven in the brick wall on the A Very Brady Renovation! 😆

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17 hours ago, Grrarrggh said:

Do you really need a lot of storage in a guest bathroom? It's mostly being used for the toilet and occasional sleepovers. 

Our powder room is on the first floor and other bathrooms are upstairs. We use the powder room bathroom ourselves throughout the day more often than schlepping upstairs to use one of those. Trust me, the vanity for storage in the powder room is a necessity for toilet paper, feminine hygiene products, towels, cleaning supplies, etc. We even had a medicine cabinet put in there for medicine and first aid supplies.

My neighbor had a pedestal sink put in her downstairs powder room to replace the vanity when she remodeled and ended up putting a cabinet above the toilet for all the things that used to be in the vanity below the sink.

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Valley Village, Ca. All of the tile was FUGLY! Especially in the kitchen. No amount of stacking or not stacking was going to save the backsplash. It also looked dirty. I did not like it all. The oven in the brick was was so Brady Bunch which is funny since their show is coming to HGTV. I didn’t mind the oven too much but there was all this brick to the left of it. Maybe, artwork would fill the space better. The bathroom hornets net tile was god awful, too. Sister does not have an eye for tile at all. The floors were nice though. It was rustic without being too beachy. I like the gray flooring that people use in a lot of the other homes but I was glad to see something a little browner and on the light side. Over budget $15,000. Yikes.

Side note: I couldn’t take the voices of any of the family members. It was worst then vocal fry which is pretty hard to beat. 

Rant over.

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LA couple with the 6'9" guy, buying a house together after meeting less than a year before. (When she said she wanted to make babies and he said "Calmate," I thought "Y'all better have this straight before you buy a house!")  I had a brief casual relationship with a guy who is 6'6" and he couldn't really fit anywhere either - he had a king-sized bed that he slept in diagonally, had to use a hand-held shower head because otherwise he'd have to duck under it, etc. It's an interesting problem to have to deal with.

FIFTY GRAND over budget. I did think the backyard was better with the smaller pool, but ... FIFTY GRAND over budget. Yikes.

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In today's times, the couple in last night's renovation episode had a whirlwind relationship, having only known each other less than a year.  I hope they have a lifetime together because they seem to be a good fit.  He was nice about wanting her to have some things she really wanted, and there wasn't any snark from them about each other.  I liked the backyard with the smaller pool, and I thought the end result on the house renovations were nice.  I'm still not a fan of gray, but the finished kitchen looked good, and maybe it was the darker gray cabinets that I liked better than the color that was originally chosen.  I am glad that the aubergene color on the island went away, but the guy was willing to go along with it for his girlfriend.  Her concern about the money was a good balance to his desire to spend a lot, but again, they weren't snarky to each other about it.  I enjoyed this one.      

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5 hours ago, Empress1 said:

When she said she wanted to make babies and he said "Calmate," I thought "Y'all better have this straight before you buy a house!")  I h

By her cackle I think she was clearly joking and had done it intentionally to freak him out. I liked their dynamic.

I think the living room space looked a lot better but I don’t know if it’s how they shot it but it looked weirdly smaller given all they took out of it. I also think they should put the tv where the painting was because then you could see it in the kitchen and the painting would work on the wall by the window. 

I thought it was smart to do the pool now because it’s much more disruptive than remodeling a guest bath and bedroom. There are also a lot of cheap fixes they could do to make both of those work, removing the wallpaper and painting would do a lot. 

Edited by biakbiak
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I have to say I did not like the designer in last night's episode.  I also felt that the living room looked so small in the reveal.  It looked so much larger with the cabinets and fireplace.  I missed the house hunting so I didn't know how many bedrooms the house had.  Anybody know?

I did like what they did with the pool.  It looked like they had no backyard with that ginormous pool.

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10 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

$50,000 over budget!    I liked the white island, and would have hated the eggplant/aubergine (spelling).    The living room looked smaller without the fireplace, and storage units.  

It was really odd the way they stripped all the best features out of the living room and it ended up looking really small.

My take on the couple was that the boyfriend had a great job making a lot of money and was the one actually buying the house. The girlfriend's "distress" over the cost of renovations was simply fake drama.

He made all the important decisions (like the pool) and clearly he wasn't going to go for the aubergine paint on the kitchen island. Although he said he'd compromise on some features to please her, he didn't give in when he wanted something a certain way, like the slider instead of master bedroom windows. 

Obviously, $50K over budget didn't faze him at all because he could afford to do what he wanted.

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$50,000 over budget with a small living room. It looked bigger when it was all dark and had a fireplace. I’m not sure what went wrong there. I thought the kitchen turned out nice with the white countertop for the island. I didn’t like the couple and felt sorry for the realtor.

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3 hours ago, ByaNose said:

$50,000 over budget with a small living room. It looked bigger when it was all dark and had a fireplace. I’m not sure what went wrong there. I thought the kitchen turned out nice with the white countertop for the island. I didn’t like the couple and felt sorry for the realtor.

50K over a 145,000 budget, so they essentially spent 200 thousand to remodel the kitchen, pool, living room, and 2 (I think) bathrooms. 

The ceiling was different in the new living room. It was still vaulted at the top-I believe that's the term, but there was drywall on the ceiling, and the ceilings were actually lower than before. 

But I liked the couple overall. Johanna was gorgeous, and she didn't wear a lot of makeup, unlike some HHs and renovators. 

A general question: Do contractors or designers ever eat the costs for mistakes? In this episode, the couple probably changed their minds about the cabinet colors, but they played it as if the designer made an ordering mistake. But if it really was the designer's fault, would he ever assume responsibility and pay for the additional costs if the couple insisted on either painting the cabinets or ordering new ones?

Another example; I saw a HH renovation repeat the other day where the kitchen sink was installed slightly off-center from the window above the sink. The sink couldn't be moved because the quartz counters had already been cut, so the window had to be moved a few inches, which cost the couple--it was only a few hundred dollars, but still. Is there ever a scenario where someone else would have to pay for that? e.g. the person who made the incorrect measurements?  

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Question re: the latest reno: I thought it was stated that making the fireplace useable would cost $7000, but when the fireplace was being demolished the cost flashed on the screen for removing the chimney was $10,000! Huh? Did I misread or mishear something?

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8 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

Question re: the latest reno: I thought it was stated that making the fireplace useable would cost $7000, but when the fireplace was being demolished the cost flashed on the screen for removing the chimney was $10,000! Huh? Did I misread or mishear something?

Yea, that was a head scratcher.

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I just rewatched because my boyfriend hasn’t seen and they didn’t seem to put any actual price on it. When they first talked about keeping it the designer didn’t mention price and than later they just said it was too expensive but I think the real issue was space that thing was massive and would have stuck out so much in that room, it was so deep into it which is something that can happen when people build houses on their own.

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I hardly ever watch this show anymore due to scheduling (not to mention the fact the participants annoy me and the renovations are boring in their uniformity), but I saw a few minutes here and there tonight for the first time in a while – oh my, this is why I don’t watch.  It’s tract home, not track home, and what the hell is a sexy bathroom?

I saw the recap of the three places, and by the low prices in Los Angeles – I know one decoy was in Thousand Oaks and the HH's actual home was in Altadena, but don’t know about the third -  of course they were going to have a bunch of outdated features given their budget!

I also saw the designer’s kitchen proposal segment – wow, how exciting, she proposed bead board instead of shaker for the cabinets; so innovative.  Still white on top, a darker color on the bottom, subway tile backsplash (white, of course), and white countertops.  I saw part of the reveal, too, to learn there was also a farm sink and barn doors.  Blah, blah, blah.  And blah.

But from the bits I saw, the HHs seemed decent people, and weren't trying to completely transform an early 20th century home into something modern (and were okay with the bedrooms opening to the kitchen, something that would give me pause).  I like that they wanted land in Los Angeles and were willing to sacrifice to get it, so I was bummed to miss the ending and thus not see what they'd done with that large lot (if anything - I suspect they ran out of money during the filmed portion of the renovation and that came later).

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On 9/9/2019 at 4:01 PM, irisheyes said:

We have a pedestal sink in our powder room, and I’d like to switch it to a vanity simply so I have a place to keep extra toilet paper. 😀 Plus, I have two hand towels for that bathroom, so it would be nice to keep the clean one in there rather than upstairs in my linen closet. 

Yeah, I have a powder room which is my only first floor bathroom, and I like the storage for toilet paper, cleaning supplies, towels, and plus I get ready downstairs more often than not so have a brush, various hair products, and some makeup in the cabinet.  (I like that it doesn't have a shower which would be a waste of space for me).

I have most of my stuff in my master bath, of course.

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The kitchen was so boring on last night's episode.    It was obvious that since the home buyers wanted to live in that trailer until the house was finished, and wanted animals of all kinds, they would have to get something where that was possible.     I thought it was interesting that the master bedroom won't be finished for a long time.   I hope the mom doesn't want her RV/trailer back for a few years.       

The kitchen was so boring, and I think it would have looked bigger with the counter tops all quartz.    I think the mix and match cabinets make the space look smaller also.       The bathroom was fine, but I thought the blue tile was too dark.        What a coincidence that they  made the master bedroom phase 2, just about the time they hit their budget limits.    I'm guessing one reason they didn't have a problem with the bedroom opening right into the kitchen is because it's the son's room, and eventually a guest room.     

Edited by CrazyInAlabama
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On 9/8/2019 at 8:57 AM, Empress1 said:

I thought so right away when I saw that she was in a skirt playing with her kids on the street in the opening, coupled with the hats. I've known a number of Orthodox Jewish women, so those were two tell-tale signs for me.

I didn't like the backsplash. The guest bathroom was really awful - much better when she was finished, although I would have liked some color. I'm kind of tired of gray.

Yeah, me too.  I guess I'm not far from an area with lots of Orthodox.  The SIL was great, and the homeowner was lucky to have her help.

These CA episodes bug me, since I don't get how someone of that age has $900K+ for a house (they didn't say her job, I don't think).  I'm in Chicago and we are nowhere near what CA seems to cost outside of really select neighborhoods.  I thought it was funny her mom said she was rich for being willing to spend $900K and she disagreed.

Also saw the dating app one and while I liked the couple well enough the cost for the houses on offer was so depressing.

Edited by msmarjoribanks
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California couple. Tall blonde & short husband. That was one of the uglier kitchens I’ve seen in a while. I hated the cabinets, the island and the pendants. I didn’t mind the white sparkly countertops though. The bathroom was so OTT tiled in blue. I also hate brass. It’s not my thing. 

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In the most recent California episode, the realtor was telling them that the lot of the house they chose was "huge" and 10,000 sf.  Uh, 10,000 sf is only 100' X 100' and a 1,000 sf house is occupying some of that land.  Where I live, I guess land is more available, but a 100' X 100' lot isn't considered huge, and certainly not large enough to house goats, and other animals.  Maybe a dog or two and some chickens, but not a small farm.  Was that place in an area where people keep large animals like horses and goats?

Did anyone else notice that the trailer that her mother loaned them was a horse trailer?  I am assuming it was one of those really nice ones, that has living quarters at the front of it.  

I liked the countertops, but I did not like the dark accent at the bottom of the wall.  I want to remove every shade of gray from all of the designers color swatch books.  I am so over that color.  The bathroom turned out nice, but but dark tile isn't my thing.  Hey, it's their $$ and their house, and neither one one of them bugged me so overall it was a good episode.  

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1 hour ago, laredhead said:

I want to remove every shade of gray from all of the designers color swatch books.  I am so over that color. 

I want color trends to go away, just end.  Why is there this pattern where all the homeowners and designers will do white/white, and then blue/white, and then gray/white and then in a few years everyone will do something else?  Why does everyone do the same damned white subway tile when there are glass tiles, various stone tiles and patterns, Moroccan tiles, tin, copper, beadboard...there are options, people!

Edited by izabella
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53 minutes ago, izabella said:

I want color trends to go away, just end.  Why is there this pattern where all the homeowners and designers will do white/white, and then blue/white, and then gray/white and then in a few years everyone will do something else?  Why does everyone do the same damned white subway tile when there are glass tiles, various stone tiles and patterns, Moroccan tiles, tin, copper, beadboard...there are options, people!

Agree. No imagination. Heck, I don't need a designer to do that. Most of the time I don't like the designer choices anyway.

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7 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

CA: I loved the lemon yellow oven in one of the houses they didn’t pick. It was so cute!

I don't like yellow but I loved that oven too, I think because it wasn't cookie cutter. If I were redoing that house I think I'd keep it.

I liked the bathtub in the redone house. I did not like the accent wall in the kitchen. I also thought the house they bought was too small since they were talking about expanding their family - they'd outgrow it pretty fast.

I hope the show leaves SoCal soon. Nothing against it, I just like seeing different places.

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Grrarrgh - I agree with you about the bathroom sink.  It looked like a small version of a utility sink.  

The yellow oven in one of the houses was lovely.  I wouldn't remove it either.  If it doesn't work, it could be used for storage, and at the same time serve as part of the decor.  

It was obvious that the house was too small when they bought it, since they wee already talking about expanding the master bedroom.  How many bathrooms did that house have?  Just one?  If so, I would add another bath before anything else.    

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On 9/22/2019 at 10:10 PM, izabella said:

I want color trends to go away, just end.  Why is there this pattern where all the homeowners and designers will do white/white, and then blue/white, and then gray/white and then in a few years everyone will do something else?  Why does everyone do the same damned white subway tile when there are glass tiles, various stone tiles and patterns, Moroccan tiles, tin, copper, beadboard...there are options, people!

I have said this, too, over in the regular HH thread. To me, color is a preference, not a trend or style . How dare any tell me my color preference is out of style!  Just because some designer says puce is THE color, why do I have to have it, when I prefer a blue or green.

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9 hours ago, ehall1052 said:

I have said this, too, over in the regular HH thread. To me, color is a preference, not a trend or style . How dare any tell me my color preference is out of style!  Just because some designer says puce is THE color, why do I have to have it, when I prefer a blue or green.

Exactly!  My husband and I were shopping for a pair of accent chairs during the recent Labor Day furniture sales.  In one store, I noticed that practically every single couch, sofa, loveseat, and chair was in some shade or combo of gray and white. With some obligatory black pieces interspersed throughout.  And all of the dining sets, coffee tables, and accessories were “Joanna Gaines/modern farmhouse/rustic chic“. 

The salesman told me that I could get some pieces in other colors, but they would have to be special-ordered, and would cost more time and money.  

It took 4 stores and 2 days of shopping to find a pair of blue chairs, in stock.  

We also had our house built right around the time HGTV was switching from granite to quartz as the go-to for countertops, so I’m behind on that trend also.

 Actually, I seem to be behind on most of the trends on HHR, but I always get compliments from visitors on my warm, colorful decor, so I must be doing something right.  But this show, and HGTV in general, always leaves me feeling somewhat, gnawingly, inadequate. 😒  

I don’t know why I still watch, since I never feel any inspiration anymore, because all of the renos look the same. 

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I always wonder if people really like gray walls, or if they just like thinking they are “on trend”.

I can’t imagine people living in Seattle, for example, liking gray walls when it is gray and rainy outside so much of the time.  Same here in the upper Midwest - I just think those white and gray rooms would make you feel even colder in the winter.  But I have deep red walls in my bedroom, so what do I know?  (Yes, it does make the room dark; but since I just sleep there, so what?

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The Denver episode last night was ridiculous.   The woman and her two roommates had the most irritating voices, and I almost turned it off because of that.   The kitchen tiles looked more like a before, than an after.    The original colors for the master bedroom to go with the wallpaper were awful.    I suspect the original colors were just for drama.   

When you're short on cash ($50k budget, and went $10k over) and the inspector won't start the boiler because the vent pipe is half missing, you do that first.    I wonder if she realizes that boilers last a very long time, but replacement costs are awful.     I can't believe the inspector passed a house with a vent that was full of huge holes. 

Putting gold fixtures in the kitchen, and other expensive finishes probably accounted for a lot of the overages.    Were the basement windows egress windows?    I'm sick of realtors saying, "you can have bedrooms down in the basement" when they aren't egress windows, and will cost thousands to fix.   I find it ironic that the homeowner went from a very dated house, to her remodel choices that look pretty trendy also.   The mixed gold and other fixtures looked messy, and are probably trendy enough to look dated within a couple of years.   The bottom border on the kitchen back splash looked dated already.     

I really wonder if the budget was always $60k, and they said it was $50k for drama, or if the homeowner found someway to get an extra 20% for her remodel?   

I would have gone with the second house, the split level with the garden windows already installed.  

Edited by CrazyInAlabama
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I was way too excited when she went with an actual pocket door and not a stupid barn door!

The paint colors were atrocious. I also hate the look of painted texture walls. 
I didn’t like the one line of blue tiles it it felt like she was too cheap to do it all. I might have liked it better if the other tiles weren’t subway titles.

Edited by biakbiak
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