You need a new outfit and your budget can’t quite swing that chic expensive black dress you saw in the window of a Michigan Avenue store, plus the pair of slides and cute Kate Spade striped purse that the fashion police insist are “musts” this season.
So, you set priorities. You rationalize that you can wear the dress indefinitely because it’s black and has classic lines. The shoes, which may be stylish for just one season, can be worn with all types of outfits so you’re likely to wear them out before they become passe. The bag, however, will have to remain literally on the shelf. You’ll make do with one you own.
Remodeling and decorating a home usually is much like putting together an outfit. They rarely get done overnight and, unless money is no object, rarely include everything on your wish list. Having a plan of attack makes the process more palatable, and a good one should include the following strategies:
- First, you need to figure out the scope of your work or your objectives in a master plan, akin to figuring out the pieces you need to buy to complete an outfit. When you put down choices, take into account whether they reflect some basic national remodeling and decorating trends, which are helpful for resale.
For example, master bathrooms that can accommodate two people are popular, and ideally this means a tub, shower and two vanities, says architect Ken Schroeder of Schroeder, Murchie & Laya in Chicago.
If you’re sort of hazy about what you envision, consult designer, architect or real estate sources and thumb through shelter magazines and design books such as the thorough “The Complete Home Style Book” (DK Publishing, $24.95).
Also, consider not rushing head first into doing work on your new home but living there for awhile to get a feeling for how you want to use various rooms and what the house lacks.
Tie designer Lee Allison took that approach when he moved into his Chicago loft. His first change was simply to suspend a large sail from the ceiling.
- Second, you need to develop a budget for what you can spend, basing it not just on what you can afford to pay but also on your home’s purchase price and its current appraisal value.
“I may have put $50,000 so far into my 110-year-old Wrigley Field row house, but I could easily put in another $50,000 and be just fine for the neighborhood,” says Dee Terry, who should know. She’s a real estate agent with Koenig & Strey.
- Third, you need to factor in how long you plan to stay. If you anticipate being there less than five years, you’re better off making cosmetic changes such as painting rather than gutting and totally redecorating.
With all these facts in hand, you’re ready to prioritize. Take out a piece of paper or sign onto your computer and list your objectives in a descending order of needs and wants.
Thayae Weber was most bothered by the small size of her family room, so the family hired Airoom Architects and Builders in Lincolnwood to extend it 10 feet, which also involved extending the screened porch beneath 10 feet.
If you dislike several things about your home, it’s a trickier call. A totally redone kitchen, for example, may cost $25,000 to $100,000, depending on the room size and your choice of materials and equipment, says Michael Klein, vice president of Airoom. But furnishing a living room can run another $25,000 to $40,000, according to industry experts.
How do you decide? You can choose according to which room bothers you most, which one you will use most, or which one involves the most construction. Or, you can scale back the cost of the projects and do both.
Off-the-shelf kitchen cabinets from Ikea rather than custom ones can cut the price, notes Schroeder.
Neither route is more right or wrong. One school of thought, though, is to do the messier project first because no matter how neat your work crew is and no matter how much it seals off existing rooms, the three Ds ? dirt, debris and dust ? almost always follow.
“Generally, I recommend construction first because of workmen walking through the other spaces,” says Klein. “There’s a good chance they’ll damage things or certain furnishings may age faster because of tearing out and replacing. You’re also likely to become paranoid about all the new things you bought, and it becomes an added pressure you don’t need.”
Even if you’re not going to furnish the living room when you gut the kitchen, you can still prepare its shell by having an electrician and other tradespeople do such work as installing recessed ceiling lights or sanding and staining hardwood floors, suggests designer Bonita Levin. “You don’t want holes drilled after the ceiling has been plastered and painted.”
Similarly, if you plan to add a new second-floor master bedroom above a new first-floor family room, you don’t want to add the rooms separately because that would involve the extra expense and mess connected with putting on and taking off a roof, says Winnetka architect H. Gary Frank.
Lynn and Steve Gryll followed that type of advice when they began reworking their city home. Even before they moved into the house 11 years ago, they added a third-floor master suite and office where an attic dormer had been. They waited until they had lived in the house to make a number of other interior changes.
Yet, in spite of such wisdom, some owners still defer to their heartstrings.
Terry knew that she cared most about gaining an outdoor space when she moved into her house three years ago. “I put in a flagstone patio and rebuilt the back stairs so I could set planters on them,” she said. Now she’s adding a new bath and roughing in plumbing for another bath that she may add some day.
After construction is completed and before furnishings are selected, it’s important to develop a cohesive plan for the style of the home and furnishings and for the color theme, according to Chicago designer Terri Weinstein.
When it comes time to buy furniture, Levin suggests people focus first on essentials if they have a long list to buy. Atop her list are a sofa and chair for sitting, a table to eat at with a few chairs, and beds. “I don’t recommend buying temporary furniture because even those pieces add up, and eventually the client will want to get rid of them,” she says.
Weinstein concurs, adding that it’s smarter to invest in items where “your body rests and which get heavy wear.” It makes more sense to put money into a good couch than into a coffee table, because the latter can be found at a lower price point, she says.
Sometimes certain rooms should be left unfurnished until you’re sure how you’ll use them. In the Grylls’ case, they gradually made changes as their two children grew up and as the family’s needs crystallized. They turned a second-floor room into a casually elegant family room with barrel-vaulted ceiling and cove lighting, transformed a child’s play space adjacent to the children’s bedrooms into a study area, and redid the basement for active indoor activities. Now they’re ready to redo their backyard.
The downside to remodeling and decorating in stages, however, is that it can end up more costly each time tradesmen are recalled. Furthermore, the cost of materials and appliances keeps climbing, says Klein. How much you save depends on the scale of the work.
“If the size of the second project is much less costly ? such as a $15,000 bathroom adjacent to the $60,000 family room you already are building ? you’ll save if you do it all at once,” Klein says. “But if the second project is a $40,000 master suite in a different part of the house, your additional costs for separating the jobs are mostly for a new permit and architectural plans and for any expenses connected with inflation.”
At the same time, you always should know your comfort level. If $75,000 represents the upper limit of what you can spend and still sleep at night, don’t exceed it.
And remember, you also need to set aside a percentage of the total cost for overruns, both those you choose to add (new door knobs because the old ones suddenly look tacky) and those forced upon you (replacing the hot water faucet because of a leak). Klein believes a 2 percent allowance for overruns is sufficient; others, including Schroeder, believe 5 or 10 percent is a more realistic hedge against problems. “The ghost in the closet almost never fails to appear,” he says.
