Adventures and Advice in Home Remodeling

February 13, 2009

A few years ago, my husband and I embarked upon our first real renovating adventure. Married just over a year, we had just moved, my husband had begun a new job, our first child was a few months old, and we had just bought a condo that had been poorly cared for and was in desperate need of cosmetic remodeling.

New paint, cleaning, patching up the drywall holes…that was the easy part of our journey. All of the flooring needed to be replaced, (other than the ceramic tile in the entry), and the kitchen cabinets were waterdamaged and in need of repair or replacement.

We decided to use hardwood throughout the main floor, and carpet in the lower level and loft above. At the time we knew nothing about finishes, let alone green choices, but we had a cousin’s father in the flooring business. After visiting a few other local flooring shops, we chose to use our family connection and ordered the carpet and wood flooring. (Oh that we’d known about cork and FLOR carpeting)!

Meanwhile, after doing some local research on cabinetry, we decided that replacement was definitely out of our budget. A family friend and interior designer, Kris, from Pinto Pony Designs, recommended a local painter who does cabinetry painting in several styles, including our desired, antique style. Soon, the doors to our cabinets were off to her garage. (Once again, knowing about VOCs in paint would have been so helpful).

We were young (ya, we still are), and inexperienced in hiring out work for remodeling. We received bills and immediately paid the balance. Mostly, I was hoping that would help them move along quickly. The flooring installations crawled along. The subcontractor had excuses after excuses as to why he was not working, and when I called the manager, she was new and did not know what to do other than call him as I had done.

Fortunately, we were not living in the condo as this was happening, though I know this is common for many of you, including my parents, that have been eating and cooking in their garage the past 4 months. Yet, I wanted things to move along so that we could move in. It took much longer than it should have, the subcontractor was eventually fired, due to his terrible work ethic and addictions that were affecting his availability and reliability. Finally, the owner of the business finished the job after several months of my routine calls to his manager.

Similarly, the cabinets were looking beautiful, but we were missing some doors. Lesson learned, we did not pay for the cabinets in full, but had given a deposit, and had mentioned the flooring problem. We agreed to pay for all but the last $100 until the job was completed. A wise decision, for though the doors were all eventually hung, the caulking and a few other details were never finished.

Looking back, there are a number of things I would have done differently:

- learned more about finishings (green choices, materials, gone to my local green building center)
- paid a deposit and made a contract with the subcontractors where we pay by stage and increments
- not been so hasty to get into my home (since we were living rent free), made careful decisions
- looked longer for good local flooring companies/suppliers
- researched and done more ourselves (the hardwood floor would have been a great DIY project)
- asked for more local flooring advice

Two kiddos later, we no longer live in the condo. We still love the colors and styles we chose, though I am happy to have the knowledge to feel confident in making greener choices in the future. I’m thankful for the lessons we have learned and the opportunity to research and make decisions before our next remodeling adventure.

Where have your remodeling travelings taken you? What have you learned? Where have you succeeded, and what would you have done differently?

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