I Finished My Remodel
By: Spencer Rascoff, CFO & VP of Marketing | July 7, 2008
Well my bathroom remodel is finally over. For those keeping tabs, here’s what I did to my home:
- completely renovated the master bathroom
- replaced the carpets in the master bedroom and living room
- put hardwood floors in the dining room
- redid the hardwood floors in the kitchen
- re-painted most of the interior
Here are a few observations:
- I used a great interior designer who charged a very reasonable hourly rate. I never could have done it without her. If you want her contact info, feel free to email me.
- My contractor, Fresh Homes, was excellent. I’ve used them for many projects around the house, but this was by far the biggest and they did a great job.
- For me, it was crucial that both of these professionals were “wired” — they both do email 24x7, which was the only way I could have done the project.
- Dueling Digs helped me a lot with bathroom remodeling ideas. I was able to flip through hundreds of photos to get an idea of what I wanted. This helped me immensely when working with my designer.
- Yes, I exceeded my budget, but that’s because I kept expanding the scope of the project. Once you start doing work on your house, it’s hard not to just repaint that one extra room or change out those faucets that you never liked. That stuff adds up, but it’s worth it.
And now without further ado, here are the before and after photos…
Dining Room before:
Dining Room After:
Master bathroom before:
Master bathroom after:
Living room before:
Living room after:
- Stumble it!
- Categories: Home Improvement
Comments
12 Comments so far
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marco on July 7, 2008 3:41 pm
Was that carpet in your bathroom before? I’ve seen some builders do that and I don’t understand why you would put carpet in the bathroom. Great after pictures by the way, looks great. You’re just missing the cushioned bench between the two sinks.
Spencer Rascoff on July 7, 2008 3:44 pm
It’s funny you mentioned a bench for the bathroom — it’s actually on order. Should come in a few weeks.
Yes, the bathroom was carpeted before. Dumb.
Christopher Zabka on July 7, 2008 3:45 pm
Those are some outstanding improvements, especially in the bathroom. Nice work!
Joey on July 8, 2008 10:38 am
Great Job! I love what you have done and I’m a home stager so I’m pretty picky about design. My fav part is the ottoman! Love it,love it,love it!
Check out the ottoman I have, I’m not sure how to upload the pic on here but it’s on my site at stageitshowitsellit.com and click the Meyer collection. It reminds me a little of your living room, the soft ultra suedes, the chocolate brown leather, etc. Let me know what you think.
Spencer Rascoff on July 8, 2008 9:12 pm
Joey, thanks for the feedback. We like the Ottoman too. It’s comfortable, and our 3-year old daughter loves jumping off of it.
jf.sellsius on July 9, 2008 6:06 pm
It really looks great. It pays to have a qualified contractor.
Just curious— did you update your zestimate to show the increased value you added to your home?
Spencer Rascoff on July 9, 2008 10:04 pm
Thanks Joe (jf.sellsius). Yes, both the contractor and the designer were great.
Yes I did update MyEstimator with the renovation details which raised the Owner’s Estimate on the home. I did this because I have a Make Me Move price on my house so I wanted to show the remodel’s impact. If I didn’t have a Make Me Move price, I might not have updated MyEstimator.
I have chosen not to publish my home’s address or link to my home’s page on Zillow (though I’m sure you could find my home address in about 2 seconds on the web if you really wanted), but to answer your likely next question: My Zestimate is $1.4M, my Owner’s Estimate (aka “My Estimator”) is $1.705M and my Make Me Move price is $1.75M. So yes, in my opinion, my Zestimate is too low because it doesn’t appropriately value my lake view nor my remodels, whereas the Owner’s Estimate does.
Dan Fritschen on July 9, 2008 11:31 pm
The bathroom looks great! Going over your budget is pretty common. I always like to add 20% to my best estimate of the cost and it works out pretty well..even when scope expands.
The remodeling cost calculator at http://www.remodelormove.com can give you a quick estimate of the cost to remodel plus an estimate based on several factors the amount your home will appreciate.
But in california where i live i was pretty excited that for all last year home prices were still going up..but now the economy has caught up with us and we are down over 5% maybe 10%! Ugh
Rich Barton on July 10, 2008 9:10 am
Nice work, Spencer. I’m glad you kept the vintage glass bricks in the master bath. i love those things.
jf.sellsius on July 10, 2008 3:03 pm
@Spencer
I looked at what one can add to My Estimator and did see the section to input remodel costs but didn’t recall being able to input a “lake view”. Did I miss something?
Spencer Rascoff on July 10, 2008 3:51 pm
In addition to specific improvements, you can use “other” which has a free-form for you to type whatever you want. Using that, I gave credit for a Lake view and for 13 foot ceilings in my living room, for example.
jf.sellsius on July 10, 2008 7:09 pm
I see. Just curious, what’s a lake view worth?