POLL: Perfect house in a bad location or awful house in a perfect one?
Emily H
6 years ago
Perfect House / Bad Location
Terrible House / Perfect Location
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Comments (115)
felizlady
6 years agochrispeggyleavitt
6 years agoRelated Discussions
Is building a custom home REALLY all that bad???
Comments (36)This past year was our first time, and although it's behind schedule, and we're about to be kicked out of our rental (our landlady has another tenant coming in and didn't count on us this far behind schedule), I would definitely do it again. Some things that helped make it "enjoyable": 1. We had a great builder - honest, knowledgeable, and very communicative (although the one time he made an assumption without consulting us, he ended up eating the cost to rip out the built-in as we wanted stain grade wood). 2. We worked with our builder in more of a partnership model. For example, he couldn't find enough of the gimbaled LED lights from his supply sources and I looked it up online and found which Home Depot stores had what, and we split up and each went to various one to pick up enough quantity needed (we needed 25, and the word was that the manufacturer had some issues at the plant, and it would be awhile to get these same ones restocked). In other times, he worked with us to redesign something that he didn't like or didn't fit what the architect drew out. 3. I work from home most days, and have a flexible schedule as well as mobile technology that allows me to work anywhere. Our rental is about a mile away from the site, so I could pop in and out as needed to answer questions on site when the builder wasn't there or if he didn't know the answer, check in daily to watch progress and catch errors (of course, the one big one that I didn't catch ended up costing over $20K extra after the fact). 4. Had a positive attitude going in, along with a network of people to bounce ideas and questions off of here and on houzz. I felt that there were no issues that couldn't be solved with everyone here. I may have overanalyzed things and may have been paralyzed many times, but somehow got through it. 5. knowing ahead of time that things happen, and taking the position that sometimes you just have to roll with it and make adjustments in real time. This is more of the attitude readjustment. 6. planning ahead - know what are the critical decisions that need to be made and when, and then a month ahead of time, do your research and education so you can make the right decision. Nothing more stressful than having a short time to make a decision because someone needs it the next day. 7. have a set of "guiding principles" for those times when things fall outside of the norm - when something is unavailable, when something got done wrong and something needs to be altered, when there is too much choices available, etc. Those guiding principles will guide you back - for example, when looking for an entry light (an easy decision, right?), we were overwhelmed with choices, and we had to go back to what was the look we wanted (not necessary the light, but the look) and then use that to remind ourselves to stay on track. 8. enjoy the experience. If you go into it with dread and trepidation, it's going to turn out that way. Enjoying the experience doesn't mean that there isn't going to be bad days and trying time, conflicts, etc., but by and large, remember to treat it as a positive experience. Hope that helps....See MoreOrdered from Home Perfect..what a pain.. showroom suggestions?
Comments (9)I agree with Rococogurl - I ordered most everything for our kitchen renovation online, but always called first and spoke to a live person to ask if the item was in stock and ready to ship. Sometimes the items were not in stock, but if the wait wasn't long, it was OK. Just depends on the situation. I think, though, that Homeperfect has not gotten the best reviews out of the many websites Gardenwebbers have used. Also, why do you need your faucet in your hands for the counter templating? The size of the kitchen faucet hole is standard, plus you can get the specs online for the faucet and dispenser. You don't have to put off your kitchen counter templating until you receive your faucet. Of course, if it would make you feel more comfortable to have the fixtures with you when the fabricator comes to measure, then you will have to delay the templating. I can only say when our granite counters were templated, we did have our faucet and dispenser onsite, but ended up never pulling them out of their boxes, as it didn't seem necessary....See More"The perfect house" blog post on Cote de Texas
Comments (42)auntjen, Now that's a big, dark house that breaks every rule. And it sold! Just goes to show you that everyone's taste is different. While I enjoy the Cote d'Texas blog and like her design taste and blog posts, I am starting to get a little tired of seagrass rugs, white linen slip covers on everything, white carrera marble etc. I think in a few years - those things will be seen as design staples of 2014-15. I wish I could find a designer who designed comfortable, real people homes. Most of the rooms in design magazines are so uncomfortable looking. Yes, the furniture is beautiful but you can't curl up on that tiny sofa and where's the TV! :-) What's wrong with having some color in a room? A TV? gasp - carpeting? I feel like these design blogs and magazines are designing for .02% of the population. Vent over...lol...See MoreOne side of roof in bad condition, other side perfect
Comments (35)Also in Ontario here. I'm not a roofer, nor a roof expert, but my husband has done some repairs here and there on our roof, and we've both inspected it over the years. Your picture above is a bit dark to see. But are you are saying that the part of the roof which is darker is the part just underneath the eavestrough on the upper roof on the 2nd floor ? If so, one thing to do is to make sure you keep the gutter clean and unclogged above that spot - because if there is constant water overflowing from the 2nd floor onto the garage roof right at that particular spot, you will find a lot of deterioration on the shingles where the majority of the water hits. We have small sections of our roof which deteriorates much faster than other areas specifically because water pours from the high roof to the lower roof. Watch during a heavy rainstorm to see if the water is properly going down the downspout from the 2nd floor roof to the roof over the garage, or if it is pouring over the edge. If pouring over the edge, you'll see faster deterioration in your roof shingles. I make a point to go out during rainstorms if I can to watch for clogging. If you've ever cleaned gutters, you'll find in addition to leaves and such, you'll find little shingle particles. So as the shingles deteriorate, little bits of them come off and collect in the gutters. You might see lots of little bits of shingle directly in the gutter above the garage door and just below the darker area. This can help to affect the colour of the shingles. There may be a different reason for your darker shingles, but I suggest this only because it looks like the darker area is directly below the upper roof. Sometimes you can look around the neighbourhood and see other people where the roof is failing in specific areas just because that part of the roof is being bombarded with too much water....See Moregary ariniello
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