apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I feel like I would have the time of my life tackling a project like this. Obviously, some things need to be changed. Like this house needs new wood beams to actually hold up the front of the house. I would definitely use everything I could that the house already has, but when it comes to replacing, you can't go cheaply, especially in a beautiful house like this. Oh pleaseeeeee give it to me. haha

It pains me to see some of the home renovation shows on TV where folks not only tear out well-built kitchens and vintage bathrooms just because they are "out of style" but they sledgehammer the cabinets and countertops rather than take them out whole where they could be donated and/or reused (Habitat for Humanity? Garage storage?) and replace the fixtures with poor quality cabinets, cheap laminate floors and mis-aligned tilework.

The best redos that I see are the ones where they reface the cabinets, reglaze existing tilework and replace worn-out/broken appliances for Energy-Star rated appliances.

This article makes a lot of sense. I have been in homes where they have replaced worn, functional yet well built items with second rate quality stuff. Worse, was a mid-seventies kitchen I saw where they sunk $6000 into new granite tops hoping that would update it. A pig with lipstick is still a pig.

I think my realtor showed me that house...

In general I agree with this, but as the owner of an old, but very much *not* functional kitchen, I have to say that there are exceptions.

Oh god yes! i spent my childhood essentially living a This Old House episode. Its better to repair/refinish always. Reuse, reuse, reuse. I think homes should work and be comfortable for the inhabitants but its best to be slow to gut & and replace.

Due to house values in seattle I rarely see a home that hasn't been flipped and ruinovated. In many cases the first thing i'd do is pull out modern band-aids and replace w/items sourced from salvage stores.

Yes, the porch above needs new supports but its highly unlikely there is actually any further structural needs, what a home that could be!

We live in an old Victorian with a kitchen and bathrooms that were renovated in the 80s. We've been redoing them, one by one. It pains me to haul the cabinets, fixtures, etc to the dump but we had no choice but to replace them - they were not quality to begin with. Consequently, 20 years later they're in the landfill.

As we are doing our renovations, we're spending a bit more money to purchase well-made components. For example, we opted against the cheap particle board cabinets in favor of maple framed. It is my sincere hope that these cabinets will still be in this house 100 years from now. Maybe they will have been painted or refaced, but as long as the boxes are in good shape they don't need to be replaced.

I have how disposable our society has become. We have this attitude of, "if it breaks I'll just buy a new one." Instead, I have found that by spending 30% more you can get something that will last 5 times longer.

Totally agree with ilovebutter - there are some things you just can't save. We moved into an old house that had a horrible kitchen from the 70s or 80s. We tried to salvage the cabinets, but they were so poorly made that it was not possible. The turquoise tiles (can't even describe how ugly they were) were salvaged though and made beautiful again by a crafty friend.

BTW - when we bought the house, our neighbors gave us a whole stash of their Victorian Home (or something like that) magazines and our FAVORITE part of leafing through these was the end column which was called "Remuddling." As the name suggests, it featured exterior pictures of really bad renovation decisions. Now, that has become my and my husband's favorite term for really bad renovation decisions - particularly in beautiful old houses.

I love old houses. I live in a beautiful prewar home that has been well cared for over the years. Not everything about it is perfect for a modern lifestyle, but if/when I make structural changes to enhance the function, the craftsmanship at design integrity must match the original work.

Architects are the doctors for buildings and communities, and craftspeople are the surgeons. I take great pride in my DIY projects, but I know my limitations, too. I wouldn't give myself a heart transplant or remodel my kitchen (Heart of the home) without the help of a professional.

My new neighbors just gutted their entire house. I am so upset. It's one thing if a home is totally uninhabitable, but this is an issue of respect. In my neighborhood, we take pride in our homes. It is insulting to throw away dumpster loads of someone else's good work. If the entire inside of the house didn't meet their needs, they should have purchased a house that did.

Grrrrrrr. Forehead vein bulging, now. Must calm down.

oh man, my rental company slaughtered our gorgeous old building. they just plopped horrible cheap fiber board cabinets on top of gorgeous built ins (some lucky units still have them). in our apt they even left some of the built ins (a custom pantry, original molding and built in ironing board) which creates a visually painful juxtaposition.

We are currently remodeling our 1920's home. We've been keeping what has remained original to the house while getting rid of the 50's, 60's and 90's 'updates'.

As far as period bath and kitchen remodels go, I switch back and forth between wanting to remain within the style period of a house and/or enjoying more of my own preferences. Owners of 17th c. villas in the Italian countryside s are not restoring their kitchens and baths to their original condition. But certainly, current style should not supersede durable materials with an enduring life span.

I personally love fixing old things. However, I don't think that fixing old items is always cheaper than buying a new item. For example if you have a house that has only parts of it broken, you can probably fix it and the house will have a higher value. But if a house is totally run down, it could actually cost more to fix it than to just build a new one. Restoring a home to the original look hands down will cost more. I think in the end, it's a personal choice. I personally love fixing, renovating and restoring. At the same time, many people do make mistakes in trying to do things or fix items that they do not how to and end up making matters worse.
Do your homework people or get someone who does know how to do it right to help you.

Karen

The place we rent definitely has evidence of ruinovation, and like the writer of that article, sometimes I look at the modernisations and I really just can't figure it out. We live in a midcentury span flat in London with some rooms that have (thankfully!) been left alone, so our living and dining room still have the original parquet and built-in shelving, and both are still in great condition despite their age and the number of tenants. Somewhere along the line, someone decided the other side of the flat didn't need nice flooring and installed a carpet that is identifiable to everyone who comes in as an early 80s bargain buy. And not wanting to stay with the aesthetic of the rest of the flat in the master bedroom and not happy with an entire wall of built-in wardrobes (so rare in England) they added a wall of over the bed storage that is such poor quality that it doesn't stand up straight even though it's nailed right into the wall. Even if they wanted more storage for a bargain, there are some things that are just carelessness, like how every piece of metal hardware in the entire flat is a brushed nickel, but the door pulls on that cupboard are a garish yellow plate. And the kitchen...well, I am thankful it is sturdy and not quite a home depot special, but there's been absolutely no attempt to make it match anything else. The lady who lives across from us bought her flat off plan and has lived there since the building opened -- and her original kitchen is still going strong. I often wonder if she rolled her eyes at the owners of our place when they brought in such careless renovations!

It looks like a visual allegory about what has happened to the reputation of the White House.

But seriously... the architect-as-doctor/craftsperson-as-surgeon metaphor is pretty good, I think. Except that sometimes a good doctor can tell you which preventative therapies can keep the necessity of surgical alternatives at bay; but then to try to match up the right surgeon to what you really need.

I totally agree about the cheap-and-cheerful Home Depot kitchens that don't stand the test of time. We felt zero guilt about ripping out the kitchen in our 1930s house. It clearly wasn't original, with odd-sized cabinets made out of rough wood (impossible to clean), a stained white laminate countertop and a plug-in dishwasher on wheels.

We spent more to get custom kitchen cabinetry that makes use of every square inch of the space, with sturdy maple boxes and wood doors. Even if the cabinet doors eventually look dated, they could be resprayed or replaced altogether but structurally the kitchen will remain sound as can be.

Sometimes it is difficult to determine what is genuine improvement and what is just a facelift without long-term value. We don't wish to live in a museum, but I'd hate for a future owner of this house to think "they really ruined this space."

This is a sore subject with me.

Damn you, ruinovators!

I think the same rule holds true for furniture and other household items.
Much of my kitchen utensils have been sourced on the cheap from flee markets, second-hand stores, estate sales, relatives, etc. These items are all of much higher quality than any that could be purchased new at a reasonable price.
Furniture is a little trickier, because the cost of repairing or reupholstering furniture can be shocking. However, old furniture that has withstood the test of the time can be guaranteed to keep lasting well beyond any particle board crap purchased at a modern furniture store and will certainly be much more unique.

My personal pet peeve, renovation-wise, is the need to tear out walls and create "big spaces" and "great rooms." I have no idea how people live in these spaces. There's no privacy. A television in the living room blares into the kitchen. Noise, smells, everything from one room bleeds into the next. The spaces are hard to heat. And to make theses places - fabulous-looking for magazines, but awful to live in - they tear out good old walls and heavy doors (not hollow-core) with handsome, heavy knobs.

I live in an apartment of 1200 square feet that has five rooms, plus a hallway, bathroom and entryway, and every single connection between rooms has a door. In two cases, these are double French doors, opening the space a bit visually while maintaining separate spaces. I've never lived in a place so comfortable - I can close doors to maintain heat or keep out cats while I'm involved in a project, or open them to let air flow through.. I imagine that the first thing most renovators would do would be to knock down the wall between the dining room and the kitchen, and remove the doors from the dining room to living room. I'd hate it. Julia Child used to remind us that we were alone in the kitchen - I want to keep it that way.

wow, this article makes me feel good about my recent decision to get our windows refinished/repaired instead of entirely replaced! i am definitely pro spending a little more money for something that will last. when we re-do our kitchen (which has really horrible, cheap 80s particleboard cabinets - you know the white laminate ones, with the wood strip at the bottom or top for a handle), we will try to save as much of the cabinets as we can and donate them to a salvage place. will definitely replace with *real wood* that should last a long time. just hope that whoever lives there after us sees the value in the cabinets and doesn't demolish them!

pyewacket, I completely agree. I hate when people take bungalows and colonials where the informal dining room is already open to the living room and decide to knock down the wall between the kitchen and dining room. The entire house doesn't need to be exposed to your cooking and pet food bowls.

I just bought a Victorian house, and the early kitchen was a big reason for my purchase. It has a bank of great cabinets from ca. 1910, solid wood with tons of drawers, original brass bin-pull handles, built-in cutting board and a built-in bread box. It's fabulous! The kitchen also has a huge 6' porcelain farm sink with built in drain boards. Thank goodness no one ever tried to 'modernize' this kitchen. I love it - a little (okay, a lot!) of cleaning and paint, and it will be ready for another 100 years.

I too, particularly hate to see people tear out perfectly good, old funky kitchens or bathrooms. I love 'em! Refurbish that old stove, don't throw it out! Why denude it of all it's historic personality?

I hate all these cookie-cutter kitchens. Everyone seems to be mesmerized by those TV shows into replacing everything with granite and stainless steel. It's almost like a mantra.

Just wait- in ten years the same shows will be featuring ways to "transform that boring old 2000s kitchen"!

We had to sell our childhood home when our father died last summer, I was heart broken. Though the kitchen needs new counter tops I hope the next resident recognizes that all of the cabinets are solid cherry hardwood and original to the house, which was built in the 40's. Replace the counters and add new drawer pulls and that kitchen would look like a million bucks.

The bath also has the retro black and white porcelain tiling, I imagine that was ripped out by now. Very sad.