My husband has been installing carpet for 38 years. For as long as I can remember his advice has always been "100% nylon and stay away from polyester even if the salespeople tell you it's 'better' than it used to be". He installs a good amt of wool carpeting also, in the higher end homes, but it's a very expensive investment. Wears like iron :) Pad depends on the type of carpet but thicker isn't always better.

Avoid Kolbe. I have NOT been happy with them at all after a whole house replacement with them. I used them because I could get fir casings. Some of the wood trim that holds in the glass was punky and we could NOT get Kolbe to even come look (they did not do the install). Some of the trim on some awning windows has a trim piece on the inside mount where the bottom of the window hits when it's closed, that just snaps into place. But it doesn't snap in flush so there is a small gap evident when the window is open, allowing bugs to bypass the screens and just crawl in. Again, no customer service at all. A bird just flew into my bathroom window and broke it (upper part of double hung). I called Kolbe to see if they would come replace the pane and I can't get anyone to even call me back, so a local window company is going to try to fix it after my contractor removes it. If it must be replaced, I can assure you it won't be with a Kolbe.

Maybe that's the way you tell old money from new money? Very much so. From Vanity Fair in 1995, the year after she died, Even if Jackie had a limited amount of money to spend when she moved to New York in 1964, New Yorkers more accustomed to lavish displays of freshly milled chintz and newly quarried marble didn't understand her classic American style, which values comfort and continuity over the whims of fashion. They seem disconcerted that she never traded up: her library carpet was threadbare, the fabric on the dining room walls (originally bought for a dollar a yard on Orchard Street on New York's Lower East Side) faded, and her kitchen, in the words of one friend, "deplorable." They find it peculiar that she engaged a succession of decorators over the years—notably Albert Hadley, the late Harrison Cultra, the late Vincent Fourcade, Georgina Fairholme, Mark Hampton, and Richard Keith Langham—but the look never changed. (The last refurbishing was done, eerily, in the bedroom where she was to die. Only months before she became ill, Langham replaced the bed hangings with Scalamandre glazed cotton in "Tuileries," a lavender and salmon pattern of undulating vines and small flowers. Says Langham, "It's almost as if she knew what was going to happen.") One friend with an expert eye recalls that one of the few important pieces of furniture in the apartment was a subtly painted Louis XV table with a marble top, on loan from Bunny Mellon. The rest was French and Italian decorative painted furniture, souvenirs from Jackie's travels (an obsidian sphinx said to have been given by Anwar Sadat, Greek worry beads of blue glass), stacks of books, her collection of drawings of animals dating from the 17th century onward, and overstuffed sofas and chairs. A drawing table where she painted was set up in the living room. ... Those with refined sensibilities found it admirable that Jackie seemed to have remained immune to the decor mania of the late 70s and 80s and that she preferred to spend her time working as a book editor, riding, and playing with her grandchildren, rather than pondering species of fringe or the intricacies of upholstery with a decorator. They see in it a reflection of the uppercrust values of another era (benign neglect) and a reflection, as well, of her private self, as opposed to the immaculate public image. "Her tastes were very French," says art critic and lecturer Rosamond Bernier, who adds, "I think of a warm place, with a fire burning." "It was," says designer Carolina Herrera, "an apartment of someone who comes from an old family. Not a showplace full of marble like the homes of all these new people. It was her taste."

I spent yesterday pouring over images of vintage bathrooms and kitchens (the two most easy to date rooms). I looked at images from 1900-2018 and every year in between. My estimation is this, and some may disagree with me: nothing, and I mean NOTHING, stays fashionable forever. It may have a resurgence in popularity several decades later, but it will also have dated times in between, no matter the era. And when it does come back, it usually comes back in a slightly different "version" so that even the original carries a bit of "off" ness. Some of the modern bathrooms today carry a bit of 1920s look, or 1980s look, but actual bathrooms from the 1920s and 1980s would still be remodeled by the discriminating homeowner. (I am one, my husband is less fussy!) Funnily enough -- I tried to get my parents to use black and white tile in their bathroom in 2000, and they both said "yuck!" LOL! My dad said "no way, that is so dated, it reminds me of the tile from the 30s" (he was a kid then). LOL!!! I said "yuck" at the time to their tan stone tile (not a fan of tan). Looking at the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s, only elements here and there come back into fashion. I looked at plenty of 20s and 30s bathrooms and while the tile color was similar to todays tile colors, often the way tile was laid out can become dated; like tiling halfway up all walls, and all around a confined shower room, as opposed to having an open walk-in shower with glass doors. Now mix in a floating vanity from the 1970s and quartz countertops and vessel sinks and you've got 2019. Patterned tile from the 1970s is also back in fashion, but NOT with the same color pallatte. You may have to go 100 years before your tile comes back into fashion! 10 years out - almost certainly dated. The closest thing I can see to making a home timeless is try not to make it look like every other house on the block that's being built this year, but even with that there's a limit to how much you can do. I'll try my best. Remodel or price reduction may be inevitable. Lots of good advice on pricing. I'll try to understand that any $400 tile is for me and me alone, and if I can't stomach the cost, I'll try to make subway tile look good. :D einportlander -- what your friends went through, this is EXACTLY what' I'm seeing! From your name I assume you're from Portland so you know what I'm talking about -- how there are lots of things from the year 2000 suddenly hitting the market, especially on the Washington side (Camas, WA was practically built in 2000) or further out from the city like in West Linn. One 4500 sqft home sold in one week for 2.5 million in Lake Oswego, while larger homes, even 9,000 sqft on 3 acres in Lake Oswego sold for 1.7 after sitting on the market for over 1 year and going through a price reduction! This could really only be a pricing problem -- people expect to get top dollar for their home but their idea of it's worth isn't realistic. Looking at these homes as a buyer, all I thought was how much will it cost to replace the finishes in 9000 sqft? We learned after getting a quote from a trusted contractor that it costs nearly as much as it does to just build your own, so that's what we're doing! I'm having a hard time talking myself into splurging on finishes only to become a story like your friend. I've conceded that there's a good chance we'll have to sell for less than we "think" it's worth when the time comes. But at least I'm going into the process with my eyes wide open!