apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Just in case anyone wanted to click through and expected to see the rest of the list...

1. Overbuilding for Your Neighborhood
2. Taking On More Than You Can Handle
3. Hiring the Wrong Contractor
4. Setting an Unrealistic Budget
5. Avoiding Permits
6. Ignoring Your Home's Style
7. Forgetting to Update the Electrical System
8. Not Doing Your Homework
9. Forgetting About Safety
10. Choosing the Wrong Windows
11. Building Narrow Halls and Staircases
12. Using the Wrong Paint
13. Not Using Green Materials
14. Incorrect Storage of Materials
15. Failure to Anticipate Chaos
16. Building Small Doorways
17. Going Too Trendy
18. Ignoring Lighting
19. Building a Small Bathroom
20. Using The Wrong Tools
21. Not Doing The Prep Work
22. Inaccurate Measurements
23. Excessive Use of Duct Tape
24. Buying Cheap Materials
25. Gutting Everything

LOL @ KTG...thanks for posting this.

do that many people really use that much duct tap as temporary fixes? or do they actually mean on ducts? but still....

More thanks to KTG!

"Not going green"? Are they serious? That is one of the "biggest" remodeling mistakes that people make? Give me a break. How about listening to too trendy designers push their own social agendas?

I've seen 'ignoring your homes style' many times. I remember in particular a clients center-stairwell American colonial home, and her 'style' was all over the place.....cartoon characters in the kitchen mixed with rustic country furniture mixed with a retro 50s style, a traditional living room, an ultra-formal dining room, pink bedrooms...it was such a disjointed mish mash that it was an utter dissappointment from the beauty of the outside. She was trying to sell it, and methinks this was the reason she couldn't.

Thanks, KTG, I was on the verge of a flame for the misleading link labeling.

"hiring the wrong contractor" - thanks for that tip - that was my next step, but now that it's indicated as a mistake I'll drop my craigslist services wanted ad: "Seeking Wrong Contractor - unlimited $$"

The most helpful is the last one: gutting everything - it's amazing how many real estate listings there are in DC for people who have done this and then presumably found that putting it back together is presumably something like 1) beyond budget or 2) unmanageable.

lately "ignoring your home's style" keeps coming up and every time I get concerned they are talking to me... can you have a log cabin with more modern decor? Then I have to remind myself that although not finished, I think the space is looking beautiful and I can see it will be exactly what I love, so who cares what the experts think? it's bright and happy and cozy and I smile every time I see it.

You CAN have a log cabin with Modern decor.

"I think ignoring your home's style" is going to make people think that if they live in one style or another they have to be slavish to that style. It doesn't mean that at all. What it means is that you should be aware of your home's style and make choices accordingly - even if you choose a different style.

For example, if you're in a TEEENSY house and you insist on overscaled furniture - you're ignoring your home's style. Thinks like scale, context, history, personality shouldn't dictate decisions, but they should be kept in mind when making decisions.

I have no idea why I typed 'Thinks' instead of 'things'...

Biggest mistake we made - was living in it while it was being renovated with a baby - I hated it, absolutely hated it. Love what I have, but it took 3 years to appreciate it

thanks Modfan! appreciate the clarification.

"Ignoring your home's style" doesn't refer to furniture (which can simply be removed) -- it refers to renovations. Ripping out original woodwork, installing ultra-modern kitchens and bathrooms an older-style house, and using inappropriate flooring are the most common problems. Anything that's jarring and screams "new renovation" ruins a house.

doing jobs yourself that you are not capable of...

the rental we are in now was a dyi job by the owners. at a distance everything looks nice but up close you can really tell. little splashes of wall paint on the edges of light fittings, doorways, doors and hand rails.

we have one of those really pokey bedrooms too. the kind that you'd love to put a spare bed and desk in but no matter how you try you can only fit one of the two in.

I think the best example of "Ignoring Your Home's Style" was a home show I saw several years ago about a woman who turned her colonial into an adobe style house, complete with $90K retro-fitted "vigas." It was like watching a train wreck.

13. Not Using Green Materials

...Huh?

What's this whole "green" kick? Green this, environmentally safe that... Being green is not a consciousness, its a fad, a trend. The media has the consumers convinced they should to pay up to 40% more for the same product, as long as its deemed environmentally friendly by god-knows-who. Instead of genuinely being concerned about our planet's well-being, we've just been tricked into funneling more money into our already unbalanced economy. Rather than closing down nuclear power plants or halting the destruction of our rain forests, we buy trendy products that we're told have some benefit to the planet. But since it's "green", we're okay with it. We spend extra money to buy a false piece of mind that we're actually doing something to benefit our environment. Then, we can feel less guilty when we jump into our diesel trucks or lifted Hummers. So keep buying your "green" products, and enjoy their non-monumental impact on our environment, because nothing will change from the cleaning products you use in your kitchen.