God I Love Shopping...

...for house stuff that is. (Not so keen on shopping for clothes anymore.) The best part of remodeling your house is that you get to SHOP! And shopping with a purpose is super fun. So I have a few more items to add to the "done" list. One of them is.....drumroll.....toilets! Never thought I could get so worked up over a loo, but I am! I scored the awesomeest crapper on the planet at Costco the other day. Everything I wanted - dual flush, small and low profile, automatic closing seat for an amazing $79.00!! Hold on - I've got to catch my breath...

Other scores - an awesomely unique bathtub - vintage stylin' and super cool. I can't tell you much more than to say I got a drop-dead deal on this baby. Plus a mirror for my son's bathroom that should come with smelling salts as it may induce fainting. It's rock and roll and masculine and very cool. I got it at Home Goods and talked them down from $100 bucks (which was already a steal) to 50 bucks. Also at Home Goods a side table for his room. I won't say no more - you'll have to wait for the reveal to see these scores!

I'm also having a ball designing my teenage son's room. I won't give anything away except to say that the "theme" (and I use that term loosely since he's almost 15 and a "theme" room would be kind of juvenile), is London. He's a big time Anglophile and music lover, so I have some very cool ideas for this room. Which BTW - will be the new addition. Originally this room was slated for our 5 year old, but since Nick is a night owl and has been keeping us awake - AND - she likes to wander into our room at all hours, we decided that this arrangement makes more sense. She'll get her own room and bathroom when - sniff-sniff - my son departs. Hold on - I've got to catch my breath...

In other news the plans are finally finalized. I'll post a copy of them as soon as they clear through the city! And then....DEMOLITION!!!! Woot woot.

Remodeling 101: Contractor Shopping

Who knew? The learning curve for remodeling your house is HUGE! But I'm learning and really enjoying the process.....so far. I look at it like this - I haven't taken a course or a class in about 15 years. I'm a self-admitted graduate of the school of hard knocks, but every time that I take on a project, whether it be building a Tahitian over-the-water playhouse for my kid, or restoring an old tent trailer - I learn a little bit more. And continuous learning is a good thing, right?

So, this installment of Our Big Fat House Remodel will begin the first in a series of "what I'm learning" posts. Hopefully, if you're taking on a remodel yourself, you'll gleen something from these posts. BTW - please feel free to jump in and comment if you've learned something that YOU want to pass along!

Contractor Shopping:
After months of interviewing a parade of contractors and architects I finally started to put it all together, and here's the skinny. It took a while, but it was like a lightbulb going off in my head when it all became clear. Hopefully you won't have to go through the same thing! You have a few choices when you remodel your house:

1. Design/Build - Basically these folks claim to do both "design" and "build" (as you might have guessed from their name!). They either work with a draftsperson, or an architect on a regular basis, or they believe that their years of on-the-job experience, coupled with a few basic drafting courses, give them the knowledge they need to design your project. These folks are perfect for small jobs where creative thinking doesn't necessarily come into play -- your basic bathroom addition, deck, master bath remodel. You can save a little $$ when you use design/build.

2. Builders - These guys (I say "guys" cause I've never run across one that isn't, so forgive me for being sexist!), will execute your plan or the plan of your architect. They'll bid on your job using what is called "cost plus" or just plain ole "cost". "Cost Plus" is when they tell you what needs to be done and you go out and shop around for the sub-contractors. Generally they'll have a few suggestions as well. "Cost" builders hire their own sub-contractors. My intuition tells me that the "cost plus" situation, while it sounds attractive at first, may net the same end result cost wise, and take way longer to execute in the end.

3. Architects - Well, my personal experience was that they are extremely knowledgable about design and mostly very creative individuals. Consequently, they can be very costly and depending on the project - either very necessary, or completly unnecessary. Look - if you're doing a whole house remodel, you'd be pretty stupid to overlook hiring an architect, but if you're tacking a new master bath on to the back of your house, you might just get away saving the 4K that a good architect will cost you. Architects will design your project and present you with the plans. You can then "shop" your builder with the plans in hand. This is where the real sticker shock can happen. Architects can often be very pie-in-the-sky with your house and your money. Often your 100K budget is an architects 180K plan - rendering the plan itself - useless.

So who did we choose? We went with a build/design firm that works with the same architect for all of their projects. I say "architect", but the real truth is that our guy is a full fledged, card carrying architect in his home country of Israel, but here in the good ole U S of A, he is not a licensed architect, and therefore has to call himself a "designer". But the bottom line is that HE is what sold us on this particular builder. After seeing his design website and his portfolio, I was convinced that he would fit our needs and our budget.

And so far, that's true! He has presented us with an original blueprint for our remodel, as well as a revised blueprint. He is currently working on the 3rd rendition and hopefully (fingers crossed) this will end up being the final.

In closing I just want to mention that it's a good idea to have a couple of each type visit your house. It'll be worth it in the end to get a bunch of opinions and prices. I also learned a bit from the architect that I was referred to. Even though he basically dissed my plan, he had some feedback about it that, in the end ended up being a part of our final design. So throw out the stuff that you don't need. Take away the stuff that you do, and you'll end up doing fine.

The Checks in the Mail!

Literally. OMG. Can't believe it. We're really doing this! After years of dreaming, schemeing and planning, we're actually going forward with this. I'm as nervous as I was the day that we bought this house!

Wish us luck!

I haven't had feet this cold since my wedding day! LOL!

O.M.G. The blood. The Sweat. The tears. And we haven't even signed the contract yet! That is, until - today! I'm not gonna lie, I'm a nervous wreck! This is a HUGE amount of money. Did I mention that my husband is a musician? We are NOT wealthy, by any stretch of the imagination. I've always been ridiculously crafty/cheap/creative. Those 3 C's, luckily, have added up to what we think is a pretty damn cute house. So, in keeping with that theme, I'm hoping that our 100K budget looks a lot more like a 200K budget in the end. Only time will tell.

But....first steps first right? After many contract changes, we feel that we're finally at a mutually happy place with our contractor. There were those that were cheaper, and those that were more expensive (lots of them!), and in the end I suspect that they probably would have ended up at the same place, but we chose our contractor mainly because of his sheer persistence. He was there answering questions and showed genuine interest in the project since our first meeting. Only time will tell.

So, we're off!

p.s. I'm posting my first entries into expenditures today. I'm planning on keeping a running total so that people can see what it REALLY costs to remodel, decorate and furnish a home in 2011. This at the risk of my husband seeing the final total and probably having a heart attack.

We Need A Contractor!

So, let the contractor search begin. Mind you, our track record has been less than stellar. The last contractors apparently got bored and walked off the job when we redid the kitchen and we suffered the same fate with the unlicensed guy we hired to redo our master bedroom a few years back. This time, I'm taking a bit more time during the interview process.

Here's what I found out: you get what you pay for. Since we're dealing with a, a-hem, less than unlimited budget here, it narrows down the choices substantially. Only time will tell if choosing contractors based upon the fact that they CLAIM they can do it within your budget guidelines, is the truth. In the end, I suspect that there's a good chance we'll end up paying the same for any contractor we chose.

So....our search. Let's just say that it was like the United Nations of contractors parading through our house for 3 months. The South African guys, The Isreali guys, The American guys, The Mexican guys and maybe even a few other unclassified nations were represented too. Absolutely Americans tend to value their work the highest. Either that, or they're the most realistic about final costs. Again - time will tell.

We finally made a decision. We based it on these facts:
1. We gelled with the guy.
2. He was hungry and willing to bend a bit with our budget.
3. He was the only person that "guarenteed" that we would not exceed our budget by more than 5%! What that means, we're not exactly sure, but we like the sound of it!
4. We liked the "architect" that he works with. (More on architects later!)This was HUGE. Since we're messing with the front of our house, we knew that we needed to select someone that understood that we could either vastly IMPROVE our house, or completely ruin it!
5. He came close to our budget.
6. His total persistence in not giving up on us. He did what he needed to do to get the job. Yep - the guy wouldn't give up. He walked a fine line between bugging us, and just being present, and for that I give him credit. There were others that just bugged me -- calling too much, no additional input, just "are your ready to hire us" kind of thing. Just annoying. Eric was not.

So, he's refining the contract just a bit for a few changes that we made when we met 2 days ago. Then we'll sign and give him the $1K deposit that is allowed by law. After that we'll meet with Roni, the "architect" and begin the design! Can't wait to get started. It's going to be a mess, and there will be tons of tears, but we're hoping that keeping a positive attitude and anticipating what's coming up will ease the stress a bit and make the project move along with precision, speed and accuracy!

In the beginning....

...there was a family. Seemingly happy in their 1940's home, they plodded along with life - day in and day out. And then something happened - the families son became a teenager and started to grow...and grow. And as the boy grew, the house oddly became smaller. And then something else happened - the family adopted a darling little sweet potato from Russia, who obviously needed a bedroom to call her own. Not having the room, they did the best they could with what they had and transformed a lovely, but seldom used formal dining room into a bedroom. Voila! Rarely did guests discover their little secret, the room was adorable and they lived happily ever after. Right? Wrong! Teenage boy keeps getting bigger (will he ever stop? Stay tuned!), little girl will someday be a teenager in need of her own space and possibly even her own (gasp) bathroom, and the family is kinda bumping into one another!

What to do.... So, like others, we explored the idea of moving to a bigger, better house. Here's why we didnt: 1. We love our charm-filled little house. 2. We love our neighbors (not the neighborhood so much, but definitely LOVE our neighbors. 3. We love our backyard and live a fairly outdoor lifestyle. We spent a small fortune putting in a nice pool and have spent a large fortune on landscaping through the years. I just don't have it in me to start all over again, and the houses I was looking at had horrible backyards. 4. Houses in Los Angeles are not so easily affordable. Basically 700K buys you a fixer-upper in 2011. :( So, like others, we explored the idea of expanding our house. I won't bore you with the details other than to say that I'm the type of gal that does her homework. I have ideas. I'm a planner. I'm a list maker.

So, after 4 months of planning, exploring, learning, budgeting, planning some more, and finally ---- interviewing a parade of contractors (more on that subject later!), we are finally ready to begin! So if you're interested in doing the same thing, or just dreaming about "someday", or simply enjoy design and decorating - stick with me! It's bound to be interesting. Will the family stay together? Will the mother lose her mind? Will the father declare bankruptcy? Will the children be able to withstand the torment? Only time will tell! ~~~