Long dead thread but i'll post my two cents. Yes, once. My wife and i gutted an early 1980's two story colonial (yeah i know it's not old comparatively speaking to other homes mentioned in this thread) but it had terrible wiring, incorrect and undersized plumbing, bad framing, cheappp insulation full of mold, asbestos floors, over 20 windows that were totally shot, an utter disaster of a kitchen, and two hideous disgusting 1980's era bathrooms. It just made sense to gut the place and put it back together right. Plus two previous owners had been heavy smokers and one of them was a creepy cat lady / hoarder who had filled the second floor with tons of junk and way too much weight (I'll come back to that in a minute). But the worst was yet to come. After gutting the place I really started to fully realize that in practicality 2x4 exterior stud walls and 2x8 floor joists for a 2 story home is inadequate especially if the home DOES NOT not have plywood sheathing (just that cheap cardboard wrap) and has 15/32" plywood decking for the floor (should be minimum of 3/4"). We immediately noticed significant sag in all the floors at the center of most of the spans and some of the exterior walls had started to deform inwards. The only solution was to tear up all the floor decking for the second story, remove the interior partition walls upstairs, all the wiring, plumbing, hvac and then sister 2x12's joists to all the old 2x8's after jacking them back up into place. In some places the sag was so bad (well over 5" in the middle of the spans) they had to be cut out, removed completely, and replaced. Would have been impossible to do with wiring, plumbing, hvac in place. We learned later from a neighbor who has lived here since the 80's that one of the previous owners had been a disgusting hoarder and that she had packed the upstairs floor to ceiling with books, trash, and other belongings for years which created the sag. Worse yet she also had a fondness for cats (most of which were not fixed apparently) and they had soaked the floors and sprayed the walls absolutely soaking the lowest two feet of drywall and insulation throughout the home. A subsequent owner who moved in afterwards (before us) tried to encapsulate it with special paint but it didn't work and her dog also urinated on the floors as well. When the sun shined intensely through the windows into the upstairs you could still smell the pungent ammonia stink up there and it was absolutely disgusting. This Hoarder also once owned (she's dead now) two other houses on the street and they were also packed full of junk. lol Fast forward 2-1/2 years and we had done 90+% of the work including plumbing and electrical (with the exception of replacing the panel), keep in mind i worked for a contractor for years in high school and college so i knew what i was doing, but it was basically a second full time job for each of us (5pm-midnight) most days of the week and full on LETS GO! on the weekends. The end product was great and i'm glad we did it because we saved a TON of money, but i have to admit despite having an extensive construction background we were totally EXHAUSTED at the end. I'd probably never do it again unless it was a very valuable house in a prime location to be perfectly honest. My advice to those thinking about doing this, DON'T unless you have the background and experience in hand before getting started. Learning how to do "gut job" renovations on the fly without qualified supervision is a total nightmare scenario and a recipe for a complete, utter, and demoralizing disaster. You've probably all seen the renovation nightmare shows on cable tv. They only hit the tip of the iceberg to be honest. It can not only destroy your wallet, but also ruin friendships, relationships with family members, and even your marriage, just an fyi. It's hard enough if you know what your doing but if you've never attempted small renos within your home you are best to steer clear. You will get quickly overwhelmed frantically looking for help before realizing IT'S ALL UP TO YOU and maybe a spouse to dig yourself out of it. Don't put yourself in that position without proper preparation. If you do decide to proceed (YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!) PLEASE, PLEASE hire a professional if you have no experience with plumbing or electrical. You can easily kill yourself on electrical by touching or cutting a live / hot wire. You can also royally mess up plumbing by not pitching drain pipes correctly, including the appropriate venting, and or create a ticking time bomb if you can't properly solder water supply lines, or properly crimp pex fittings together, etc. I also warn inexperienced DIYers to stay away from massive drywall mudding, taping, sanding jobs. Don't attempt to do it all by yourself without extensive experience. It really is a skilled trade and takes TONS of practice to get good at. I'm good but it took me a while to get there. If you are bad at mudding you will hate your life by the time you are done sanding and sanding and sanding because you used too much mud and or couldn't get it smooth nor cut your drywall sheets correctly to minimize joints and utilize the tapers to your advantage. Your lungs will feel like they have tons of bricks in them if you don't wear a mask and you will be coughing up white phlegm for weeks after you are done. Plus the shear monotony of taping and mudding 100's of feet of drywall joints is enough to drive some people insane. Hire a team and they will knock it out in days and do it right the first time. Lastly, some people are just not good carpenters and attempting to do millwork (trim, stair rails, balusters, etc.) takes painstaking precision and skills to get right. It can be especially difficult and expensive if you mess up because you think your floors and walls are 90 degrees but they are in fact way off. It's not for the faint of heart. Best of luck!

We bought home in FL that has some old/some new from recent remodel in kitchen. The problem is that the finished/styles are all a mish-mash. There are mixed metals--ORB/shiny nickle or chrome/brushed nickel or SS... The kitchen cabinets are new/Shaker style/light cherry tone...with dark brown granite--maybe Baltic Brown. I thought they were absolute black until I saw them in person. There are two mini-pendants in ORB with yellow/gold glass globes over the cooktop island... Kitchen/front entry has 12 inch grey lanoleum type tiles w/some tan in it. There is laminate flooring is sort of light wood/grey driftwood in master/bath area. Going to use white ceiling fan w/white fixture over the bed -- and white bedroom furniture--don't know about lamps There is a wood laminate that is brown/reddish w/yellow tones in front living areas. Again going to have two white ceiling fans with white lights in there. That reddish brown floor is visible from kitchen since it is open living space...so gray tile and reddish/brown laminate abut each other several times... the second LA/den has a red brick fireplace wall with dark wood shelf/mantle and the reddish floor so that is visible from the kitchen area The hall has that same laminate-- We are planning to buy couches/chair in a toile yellow/tan print from Rooms to Go and have that seating in both living areas...some faux leather recliners in light taupe with dark wood legs in area in front of kitchen and a different type of chair--maybe natural rattan in th fireplace room. use a white dining table and wicker or rattan chairs and have white tables in area in front of kitchen -- although I think we will have to use seagrass rugs to tone down the red in the flooring in the living/dining areas. The guest bath is original and has white floor tile--that is staying for now. The utility room has same white tile Doing house in white ceilings/trim/pocket doors with Barbados Sand on walls in front living areas, including kitchen. Master bedroom in Khaki/Valspar...master bath in Arizona Heat/Kelly Moore... the master bath has some original fake marble with almost burgandy tones, grey, cream....ugliest fake marble I have ever seen. We can't afford to redo the baths right now... I favor going with ORB finish in fixtures would have to get new knobs for kitchen cabs and a white/cream light fixture for mini-pendants they have over the cooktop island vs the swirled gold in there now... but we won't change the dark brown granite--and it is in the kitchen and buffet in dining area just adjacent. just don't like brushed nickle with brown---black granite would have been so much better or a lighter one like Kashmir Gold My husband favors the brrushed SS/nickle/pewter finish to go with the SS vent hood/fridge and DW in kitchen...and use that in other rooms as we remodel...he thinks that would brighten the look of the house... Have no luck posting photos here so can't help you with that--at least now-- need to order replacement fixtures for overhead lights so they can be shipped to house in time for electrician to do work around middle of June... I have looked at lot of on line lighting sites-- have seen some fixtures in various styles in satin/brushed nickle or pewter fixtures I like in the abstract--- but when I try to picture them in the kitchen especially--because we can do white cabs and lighter counters in the baths as we redo them--I just think the brown granite screams for ORB... I know my husband would never agree to changing the granite-- too much wasted effort/money... so am I making too big a deal about mixing the brown granite/brownish flooring/cherry cabs with a brush nickel finish???? Any photos of successful rooms using that combination???

Suzy - I have the same problem...my house is traditional colonial, all the current hardware is brass. (Doors, lights, etc.)Plus my decorating style when I did the living room, next to the kitchen, has definite golden undertones.My new cabinets are white traditional raised panel. I've flipped back and forth on lights and hardware and so forth, driving myself crazy. Do I match the brass? And coordinate with the living room? Or go more current with polished nickel and coordinate the style? Ay yi yi. My current thought is to use hardware that is "pearl nickel" or "#15 Satin Pearl" (Hickory Hardware & Anne at Home, respectively).The slight pearl hint on the hardware looks rather silver-gilt like, and magically picks up the golden tones in the adjacent room. You do need to get a sample, though, it looks different in real life than on the computer monitor. The tricky part is that there aren't that many manufacturers with the finish, and each one names it differently. You can find lights that have the silver gilt gold finish as well. (named differently by every manufacturer!) Just a thought, hope it helps!

Window treatments DO NOT have to be the same for every window and room. Style wise they should match in the sense that you don't want one window to have ultra modern curtains and another to have super traditional ones. It's hard to give you specific advice without seeing the windows or rooms but roman shades are pretty universally liked and have a variety of styles and colors that work with just about any home style.