yes, I hear Jane in my head with responses to pessimistic outlooks. George Parker, this doesn’t mean that I’m especially optimistic about the state of the world myself because I’m not. But regardless of my own view and attitude, the world is going to go on the way it goes on. And it will go on.Originally Posted by JaneV2.0
That is hilarious!! I'm sure it wasn't funny to the flippers, but so refreshing to get insight on the real deal.
Because it takes me three years to decide on which shade of white I want to paint my walls, flipping houses would probably not be a good business move for me. Plus I really hate throwing good things out, often channeling my dear Scottish mother-in-law, when she would often say "There's nothin' wrang wi' it."
"Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
www.silententry.wordpress.com
Ah, but redoing the floors costs twice as much as putting in cheap carpet, so cheap carpet it is!
From time to time I check out the local real estate listings because I like to keep tabs on the market. It is so easy to pick out the flips. You'd think they would have caught on to avoiding the same old same old by now. But the segment of the market most flippers work in is so hot right now that people buy the flip and either live with the cheap stuff a few years until it breaks or just consider replacing it another expense of buying the house (which goes right back to the unsustainability of ripping out functional stuff and replacing it with more stuff).
Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome. - Booker T. Washington
I have the luxury of being able to choose expensive materials. I think expensive materials in neutral colors age better than cheap trends of the moment. But in the end, I gave flippers no respect at all for respecting expensive materials. They will pull out granite to replace it with quartz. They will pull out carefully sourced and laid pine for godawful greige plastic plank. And etc.
A pox on them.
Can you believe the unimaginative materials out there? Everyone is doing gray plank type flooring. Everyone is doing white shaker cabinets. I’m so sick of it. And under normal circumstances I really like white cabinets, and I sort of like shaker style. But God I’m sick of it.
If you want a good laugh, go to the library and look at some of the magazines from the 1950s that feature stylish modern houses. By our standards some of the colors and color combinations are horrible, especially in the kitchens.
I have seen "my" house (meaning pictures that look eerily similar to my house) on those Buzzfeed slideshows making fun of ugly decorating trends. Oh, well. Everything old is new again--wait a while and it will all be back in style.
"Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
www.silententry.wordpress.com
Still waiting for the olive green shag carpet in our"pantry" (left there by us on purpose) to come back into style. Not holding my breath.Still waiting for lemon yellow steel siding to make it around again, too.
Those are two reasons I don't feel badly about undoing 1970s aspects of our rambler (born 1974). I notice that someone down the street from us in the same model house has painted their yellow/beige/green/chalky blue steel siding (don't remember which color it was) a much darker blue. Looks really nice! But as much as the yellow color of our house was a significant demerit in the purchase decision, I'm not sure I want to get on the paint-the-house wagon. I certainly have zero interest in replacing the existing siding with Hardiplank or such; it still works and if it were a certain different color I'd love it.
Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome. - Booker T. Washington
They all must be getting their info from the same place. I don't know if it's HGTV or house magazines or real estate agents, but there's almost a formula to it and people just follow it to death. Shiplap (no offense; it fits some places but not every place); stainless steel appliances (despite the numerous comments I hear from owners about how hard it is to keep free of fingerprints); gray everywhere (and I like gray); painted wood (which seems to be license to use lower-grade millwork).
Thing is, so many people are so attuned by the trends (well, several million people can't be wrong, can they?) that you deviate from that at your own risk. I've lost count of how many things we changed in houses when we put them up for sale because what we liked was considered "extreme".
Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome. - Booker T. Washington
Agreed .Steve, I normally like gray a lot. It’s a pleasant neutral and if it wasn’t so damn popular everywhere I would’ve done my condo in the color gray which wears well on my eyes. Instead I’m ( likely) doing it in navy which is trendy. But I just can’t stand thinking about doing everything in gray Even though you can mix-and-match several shades of gray and it’s lovely. So now I’m talking myself into gray I need to stop!
My favorite decorator is named Lauren Berg. Her own furniture walls and upholstery are a kind of light chartreuse. My living room is slightly darker yellowy-green. She recently linked in her blog to another decorator who had yellowy green walls and accents. I’m beginning to think that’s the color of us oldsters. I plan to use that color in my Herman house because I still find it pleasant After living with it in the city house for a while.
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