Best bag for the buck – home improvement

Don't forget....without windows and sunlight white cabinets look dopey.

Aside from your cabinet colour and countertop of choice, one thing that can really zap up a room are your knobs. Another is lighting. People also want undermount sinks these days, so make sure you spring for that when you do your vanity top. Just make sure your plumbing can accommodate it. They're so much easier to clean. And expensive faucets are a bonus. If they match your towel racks and shower, even better.

White can be nice but I wouldn't paint over the wood, either. I watch HGTV all the time because we're redecorating right now.

We have granite but only because a) it was cheaper than some of the other options even though it was Class A (I think we spent $4400 for 76 sf installed) and b) I live with a geologist. It's a truly lovely granite but I'm with DrewDad - it's COLD! We have it on our bar height table and I had to put a tablecloth on it. And Linkat - I had ceramic tile floors in my last house and everything that fell shattered, so you're right.

We have medium (Honey Birch) hardwood floors throughout the kitchen and living room and it gives a nice flow, so just make sure you don't have too many flooring types beside one another.

The crown molding idea is a good one - what about your light fixtures? Do they need updating?

There also seems to be a high demand for dual sinks. If you have the room for that, you'd get a lot of return on the investment.

Opinions are mixed on the vessel sinks. Just as many designers and realtors seem to give negative comments on them as do positive.

Browse through a site like this one to see what's new, old and popular.

http://www.sinksfaucetsandmore.com/index.asp

Don't forget the exterior. Curb appeal. Paint the front door, put up some new hardware, handles, address plate, door mat, flowers, landscaping...

My apologies; this show is on the DIY network, not HGTV.

Damn. I this was going to be a discussion of the merits of Gucci over Versace.

Carry on ....

We have no windows in the bathrooms - didn't realize that - and many of the condos where we live have the "white" bathrooms.

We have updated the light fixtures in the bathrooms when we were originally trying to sell - we had the "hollywood" lights before. We've updated the one that goes over the kitchen table and are considering updating the dining room fixture. In the living and kitchen we also already have recessed lighting.

We do plan on updating knobs/facuets/etc fixtures to give it a new clean look.

Our hardwood flooring flows nicely into the kitchen tile - I was really happy with the result when we had it done - I was worried that it wouldn't give a nice flow, but fortunately it matches and looks natural together.

We have dual sinks already - that was one thing we wanted for sure!

Thanks for the link - it looks awesome. One thing I noticed when I looked at vanities and cabinets - was they were all of a dark wood - no white.

Would it look ok if we refinished in a dark wood rather than white (my personal perference).

It is a condo so we are limited on what we can do.

But we do plan to get a new door. Our current one does not have windows. We are allowed to get one with the dual panel windows - that should allow lots of light to come into the entryway and stairs. Also as you come in that is where the stairs are and with the wainscotting (sp?) along the stairs we are hoping for that curb appeal/initial wow!

I forgot to preface-IMO

Did I ever say I make the most typos on all of A2k? As a joke sometimes I make them on purpose. Unfortunately in this case it wasn't - but still makes an even better heading.

Tico has a lot of funny responses I had the same thought but he posted it. I love reading typos - especially when they're Freudian.

That is my life....constant Freudian slips.

So we had two different cabinet refacers come by. One did pretty much exclusively lamanent (sp?) - he quoted us $5k for the kitchen and 2 and half bathrooms. So then we had another one come in - they had both "real wood" refacing and lamanent. Quoted for just the kitchen (with their special 20% off and $300 off if we signed today) - lamanent was over $8k and the real stuff was over $11k.

We currently have real oak. But oak is now coming out of fashion thus the thought on upgrading. These refacers actually do not paint the wood - as painting doesn't last well. So if we wanted antique white we would need to go with lamanent. They both provide new doors/handles and reface and put molding around the kitchen cabinets. The real stuff seemed very expensive and quite honestly - the wood that would look best with our colors - wasn't significantly different than what we had.

We checked with one of the local realtors and he felt it wasn't worth the price in upgrades so it looks like what we will do is update the tile in the bathrooms (kitchen tile is new) and update the countertops in the bathrooms - these are crappy fake stuff and update the carpets in the bedrooms - realtor felt this was the best bang for the buck.

Oh my, those prices to resurface are just as much as a new kitchen - outrageous!
Paint is not bad if it's done professionally. You could have a real slick shiny
paint put on the cabinets and you'd never know. Plus, what do you care if the
paint holds 5 years or 10 years - you want to sell anyhow. An outdated kitchen
is a deterrent for many, more so as an old carpet. You always could stipulate
that you'll give an carpet allowance to the prospective buyer so they can choose
whatever they want.

Here are painted kitchen cabinets

I agree. If you take your cabinet doors to a professional paint shop, they will put on the right paint and enough coats that they won't chip. It's called laquer - hard and shiny. It's a hell of a lot cheaper than getting new doors.

I don't know what you mean by lamenent. Do you mean laminate? I was thinking 'floors', but you're talking cupboards.

We paid $13,500 for brand new cherry cabinets, custom-built, stained, and installed. We have 12 upper cabinets, 2 corner bottom units, 3 bottom cupboards, and 13 drawers. I thought that was a very good price.

Sounds like a good price. I think it is laminent - whatever - it is some fake crap - it used to look like those old 60s or 70s kitchens, but what they have now looks really professional and nice. Basically it is fake wood that looks like real wood.

Any way the cabinets we have now are not that old 10 years or so and are in good condition - just that more people are not choosing oak now, but maple or cherry thus the thought to update.

Are rugs need to be replaced - we already replaced most with hard wood a couple of years ago it is just the bedrooms so it shouldn't be bad.