A point well made ! That was exactly how I felt when I looked at the slightly old kitchen here; for once I decided I deserved better because I would use it ! After I recovered from that, I remodelled the very 70s (ugly 70s) bathroom, that was of secondary importance to me !
On 12/23/08 9:57 PM, "Olwyn Mary" wrote:
LOL - around here - even with prices down - for $300K you could get a townhouse in a suburb - depending which - 12-30 miles from DC. You could get a small house about 45+ miles out - depending again. Or even in Richmond. Houses, generally minimum $500K. Although you could get some very small, say 1100 sq ft older homes in some areas for about $350-450 K. Condos tend to be in the $250-$350 range, in the about 10-15 mi radius from town. When we got this house, Cheryl (whom I have a personal friendship with ) called me up - that they'd checked out the real estate transaction - and was reeling from the prices. It's pretty crazy. Our friends moved from their tiny, 1000 sq ft (if that) house in Arlington - that they sold for $560K - to a nice, older home in McLean - which cost them $1.1 M. Nice house - not huge - but big, kitchen with great kind of European sliding out cabinets. 4 BR, 2full bath, 1 half, 1 w/ shower on the basement level (finished). About little more than 1/4 acre. So, when people moan about the commutes and cost here - we're not kidding. That's why the outer suburbs, and towns that weren't suburbs are now called "exburbs" . It's a choice of commute time, or housing space. Around the town where Ericka & Donna live - about 8 mi east of me - older townhouses - easily were $500 k, now they're down to $350 - depending. But the gorgeous condos around the town center - still anywhere from $300 to over $1 M. Houses, all over the place - older houses - $550 - $600, newer (last 10 years) could be $600- $1.5M.
Sounds like a fun wedding. And indeed, things financially sounded like they worked out. You just don't know. When I was doing the wedding for friends (large, social kind of wedding) the groom was moaning about some relatively insignificant detail (he was a difficult client, and the caterers said they would have fired him - i.e. Given back the check - if it weren't for me dealing with everything) I finally said - "hey - my little wedding for 40 cost almost 1/2 of your wedding for 200 - so get a grip" . Since he'd been at mine - that worked. Really, mine cost about a little less than 1/3 of his, but still.....We were adults, and decided to go for the truly full including frozen fruity drinks bar. And were glad we did. It was a blast.
Ellice
Most of the kitchen remodels we've seen, have taken a few months. But, they've had an alternate cooking site set-up temporarily .
I think that is frequently true. I've been in some amazingly pristine kitchens, with gorgeous equipment - seemingly unuesed. We noted that when house shopping, some of the kitchens, we had the feeling the family wasn't really going to cook there. The couple of folks I know with real, amazing kitchen equipment - I don't think they cook much beyond scrambling eggs or throwing meat on the grill. But, the kitchen is very clean, and enviable.
Worst part of mine - cleaning the cast iron grates. But, better than cleaning my black glass topped former GE profile gas range. That was a nightmare.
Ellice
Our friends that live off Hunter Mill & Sunrise Valley had their old, original kitchen redone some years ago. It took less than a couple of months, but was well worth it. But, they made it not elaborate - just better flow, moved appliance locations for the fridge, all new cabinets, window, stove, etc. Then last year they finally redid the floor, sink, countertops - with Corian and beautiful tile. I think that took a couple of weeks.
Absolutely true. They couldn't stand their original, dark, galleyway kitchen. This is much better, and the new counters & floor really made a difference - they put in the ceramic/vinyl combo tile. She was insistent that ceramic would be too hard. This stuff is from Armstrong - I think - and feels/looks really good, but is warmer and softer. Not cheap but nice. She's not an elaborate cook, but it is a kitchen centered house - everyone is always in the breakfast room or the family room. And it's much nicer. They'd be really happy if I'd finish putting their new curtains together!
Ellice
Hey - are you talking about my SIL? Well, they don't have a viking, but. The sub actually is awesome for putting platters in, and storing take-out. I actually am jealous of the Sub-Zero, it's a great fridge the way the storage areas are.
Ellice
My gas stove has electric start, but I can also light it manually if I needed to. I love gas for cooking. It is so controllable. When this house was built last year, that was one of the things I insisted on.
MargW
No - DH's buddy, who's kitchen got a write up in one of the national "home" magazines. (you know the kind with 100K kitchens). Guy can't boil water.
Cthey put in the ceramic/vinyl combo tile. She was insistent
I rejected ceramic having had it in a kitchen in the 80s. There were several things I did not like. Too hard on the feet (and I was young then!) if standing preparing for long periods, china that went down very rarely came back up in one piece. They weren't doing infloor heating then so it also psychologically gave a chill feeling in winter.
I think I have the Armstrong flooring you are referring to, mine is done like a white tile with black diamond tiles in it. I really like it, especially barefoot.
For any other lightweights out there I'm posting this disclaimer. My friend has a Sub-Zero and I have what may be a unique problem with it. I can't get the door opened without a struggle. The seal around the door is so tight and so efficient that I have to gather together all my strength to get it opened and I bet none of you want to try that with a platter in your hand.
Recently, I had to resort to using a screw driver as a lever when an allegedly easy to open pop top lid wouldn't budge. I also have a few rubber thingies to help open stubborn jars or things with screw on caps.
Yeah, the real problem with mom & dad's was that they did go very high end, so every part of the process was complicated (and sometimes had to be redone, as the contractors weren't always familiar with the materials). If you can stick with what the contractors know, and don't have so much custom work, things can go a lot more quickly (and smoothly).
Best wishes, Ericka
We recently (well, three years now) did a full kitchen remodel that also involved a new door, closing up a window, all new electrical system, etc. It took about 8 weeks total - and would have been less time had we not had to wait for the custom cabinets to be built. (We plunged into the project without much forewarning - had we had more up-front planning time, cabinets would have been ordered before work began and it would have been more efficient, time-wise.)
The contractor set up a microwave area and left the frige accessible for as long as possible, and we were able to do minimal food prep so it wasn't two months of carryout. When our old microwave died, they even brought us a new microwave to use, recognizing that we wouldn't want to buy one when we were already buying and waiting for a built-in one! Lots of disposable plates, cups, etc.
Probably the best investment we've ever made, re-doing the kitchen. We use it every day! Especially this season - I've already baked a bunch of scones and cooked the filling for my nut stollen, which I'll make after lunch. (When you've emptied and completely re-filled the dishwasher before 9 a.m., that's a sign!)
sue
Lol it's nearly noon here but I just emptied the third load, a blessing on the person who thought up dishwashers ! I regard it as my prime appliance, I would send back the clothes washer before the dishwasher.
A reasonable middle class home here (ND) would be about 100-150K. For
300K you could get a really, *really*, *REALLY* nice home in one of the newer parts of town. We have *very* few houses that would go for anything near 1M.Joan
After the NM house, I learned never to have tile counters again. The floor doesn't bother me so much, but it is hard, and I do have rugs in front of the sink and the cooktop.
Possibly - our friends' is quite nice. And they buy all flooring based on how it feels barefoot. Look is 2ndary.
Next house, we'll see.
Ellice
Yup, it's that thing appraisers refer to as utility. In doing property valuations, sometimes great improvements are just out of the scope for the area, and so the full monetary value doesn't accrue. You have to take your value in other terms - maybe not as quantifiable, but qualifiable.
Ellice
Yup, why I keep thinking we could move somewhere else, happily, and live well. And deal with the cold...Even here, our builder is selling our same model house down near Williamsburg - for about 1/2 the price of here.
Ellice
3500 sq ft - not quite a McMansion around here. Close. Also, on 1/4 acre if you're lucky = that size - minimal $650-700 K. Trust me, I know. And our house isn't a McMansion. You have to go up the next size.
Around here you must be spending about $3M to really have full custom control. Seriously. We have friends that are well-known build/remodelers - and their work is stunning. With character. The full houses that get done, multi-millions.
About 18 months ago, maybe 2 years - before life became so stressed - we passed a new development on one of the country-ish roads a few miles from the house. And decided to go in and look at the model. It was breathtaking
- beautiful stonework, port-cochere, lovely kitchen, house had an elevator option. And while large - surely about 4000-4500 sq ft on the top 2 levels, with the finished walk-out basement - probably about 6500. The only thing we though overdone was the lower level rec room which had a quarterpaned beamed ceiling. Anyhow - we were guessing the prices, and got the booklet from the sales agent. Here's the kicker - we looked at each other and said "that's not so bad - hmmmm...."at the base model - only $1.2 M. We'd been thinking at least $1.7 M. But, we realized it was due to the extra time it would take to get to a main road, and the expressway of any sort. Just goes to show how warped you can become. We just started laughing about how crazy it was to be thinking of a house for over a million dollars in such a nonchalant fashion. The property is gorgeous. We're now just hoping to be able to get this house refinanced, and eventually we'll sell when we're ready. Next place - smaller house. Too much to clean here.
ellice
ellice wrote:
I dunno. Sometimes when the cost of living gets to me a bit, I realize that although I've lived all over the country, I really like it here. The one thing that would do me in would be if we had awful commutes, but thankfully we don't. (The traffic is horrible around here, but DH works not too far away and against the main flow of traffic, and I rarely travel to or from the office during rush hour.) The opportunities we have around here are tremendous, and I'm not willing to give them up ;-) So, I just count my lucky stars that we bought before the housing prices went sky high (2002). At that time, people in this cluster were shocked at what we paid, but 6.5 years later we could still sell for at least 30 percent more than we paid, even with the significant downturn in home prices (at the peak, we could have sold for 60 percent more than we paid). Every once in a while I wish we had a garage or more storage space or whatever, but I have no urge to move at all, and in only four short years, kids will start moving out :-/ We might consider downsizing when the kids are all out on their own, but on the other hand, my parents live with just the two of them in the exact same house, and they certainly don't feel like they're rattling around in it! They just always have a guest room available for a friend (or two) and finally have the dedicated office and so forth. The only thing that would tempt me to move would be to downsize into one of those nice condos right at Town Center. It would be nice to walk to Town Center, the Metro (someday) and all that.
Best wishes, Ericka
My dream home:
lots of natural light
sunroom or enclosed sun porch
overlooking water
no more than 10 minutes from anywhere
kitchen with lots of cabinets
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