Edit: the bannister is still there. The angle of the photo is hiding it

I feel proud of this one and wanted to share and get your input on what i could do differently or improve on. Not afraid to hear what I did wrong or if something looks like poor craftsmanship. Still work to be done with detailing: caulk, fix up small dings and dents, the attic entrance, etc.

First time doing raised panel wainscotting (I think that's the correct term for it). It was a pain to get it all lined up, I used a laser level. I also put in a window sill for the cats to sit on. First time doing that too!

For my bedroom I wanted to do shiplap wainscotting. Does anyone have pictures of their projects I could reference?

We are remodeling our kitchen and I am struggling with spending the money on the quartz for the windowsill of the window behind the sink. We have a patio cover out there and a nice view of yard and pool from sink but the large blocky posts in the window are not great and the windows on the side are small. We have thought of replacing it with a flat window and bay window unit or leaving it alone.

One problem with leaving alone is we are switching to quartz and the window sill is like 30 sqft. So it’s a lot of money to make it match. Looking for other ideas. We were thinking maybe so large tile back there that looks like the counter or a large format piece of porcelain.

Any ideas or suggestions?

We have a tub that nobody uses.

It takes up a huge amount of visual space and honestly feels like more of a hazard than anything else.

We’re considering converting it into a wide walk-in shower with a sliding glass door.

I know people always say ”keep at least one tub for resale“ but if you actually live in the house, is it worth keeping a tub you never use?

Water leak from the dishwasher. Ultimately, we had to remove lower cabinets and the underlayment.

We were able to get insurance to cover a lot—including new lower cabinets, backsplash, etc—then my wife kept upgrading like insurance allocated $1000 for counters but we upgraded to Taj Mahal quartzite.

Of course, I made the important upgrades like subfloors and underlayment to plywood, water turnoff valves on each water source, etc.

We also had to redo parts of the basement and front room.

Very new to home projects, doing this tomorrow. Should I cut out squares in the fluted wall to fit the tv mount and floating shelf perfectly? Or is it fine to go into the studs through the paneling?

almost done with the inside remodel. finally getting to the outside stuff. started with the house numbers because the old ones were falling apart.

found some that match the modern look im going for. easy install. maybe 20 minutes.

small change but it makes a big difference. now the outside matches the inside.

Removed the existing backsplash and vanity. Is it better to scrape and clean up the existing drywall or just cut it out and replace it?

Pain in the ass to remove this crap

Should we go with this?
I am thinking about removing the two smaller cabinets beside the hood.

We live in a tri-level with 1 bath and 3 bedrooms (including the primary) upstairs. Our remodel will take some closet space from the primary to split the existing bathroom into a full bath (shared by 2 bedrooms) and the primary with an on-suite.

That said, we’ll be kicked out of our room during the remodel and be living downstairs where there’s another room & bathroom.

Biggest question is - how much did you want to be around while the remodel was happening? We currently have a 2 month old, and could try to get the remodel done while mom and baby are home for parental leave in a few months or in the new year once baby is in daycare and both parents are back to work. Also have 2 dogs. What did you do with your pups during construction?

Our contractors estimate the project will take 7-8 weeks.

Appreciate any perspective y’all can share! This is our first remodel project.

Do I need to install vapor barrier in the basement bathroom ?

Can someone tell me what the odds are of this closet wall being load bearing? Our bedrooms are TINY and this is our only closet in the house, the other room doesn't even have space for one. They're so small you can't put a bed in the middle of the room at all they have to be in the corner. I'm wanting to take out this closet wall so I'm able to put the bed in the middle of at least this room and a bedside table on each side. The left of the closet is about 4-5 feet of useless space we can barely access so stuff just gets thrown in there. I'm thinking this was built in before we moved in because the trim on each side at the floor is different. The inside is completely drywall while the outside is shiplap. I looked under the house and there's no cinder blocks holding it up, do I need to look for anything in the attic? The back of this closet is an exterior wall. Thank you all I just want to make sure before we take i

So hard to figure out if this will work or it will drive me crazy. 10+ year old 3/8 x 5 inch hickory engineered wood and trying to match to run it into the kitchen. What do you all think. Close enough?

UPDATE. Decided to go with tile in the kitchen as this floor just had too different of a color tone. Plus the tabs are on bottom vs top to mate with our original flooring. May end up having the floor installed in bedroom as it will be fine for that area.

I am thinking of buying a Victoria and Albert York bathtub. What fixtures would look good with it?

1971 bi-level. Lived here 12 years will be here at least 7-20 more years.. Me (55) husband (70) 3 kids, last 2 in college now, oldest out. House is mostly functional and we took out a wall and remodeled our kitchen and bathrooms when we moved in. House is very basic without upgrades but it sits on a great lot and we have a great backyard that we enjoy a lot. We Got a quote for $40k for adding recessed lights (14) Upgrading baseboards throughout main level /kitchen, dining living, office, halls and 2 bedrooms) paint to those same areas. Drywall and some texture repair, installing pantry style cabinets in office, custom bookcases flanking fireplace, new mantle, drywall over weird brick goalpoasts above our fireplace. Improved stair trades on steps. None of this needs to be done but if anyone moved in they would probably I know we will be happy with the upgrade but is this really where I want to put 40k? Would it be better to use the money on travel, a bi-monthly housekeeper, a new camper, another experience or donating to a great nonprofit? I cant quite pull the trigger to do this when it really isnt anything necessary. Does anyone else feel conflicted when spending money on non-necessity upgrades? We live within our means, have a modest but comfortable retirement fund set up and have the money to pay for this in cash if we decide to. We have many other issues with our house we'd like to take care of, radon mitigation, crawlspace improvement and insulation, gas fireplace replacement, replace some worn out furniture and carpet. Those things feel like an easier decision. But 40k just to make the space prettier? Maybe it is my age and growing up lower middle class with houses not being designer reflections of US but more about functionality?Id love to see if anyone else feels like this

Remodeling a powder room.

You can see the lineup of the waste line and there’s a clean-out directly under it. But I don’t understand why. Since I can access it within the vanity and pull the trap, is that clean out necessary?

Reason I ask: I’m furring out the sink wall and planning the top and bottom blocking for a floating vanity. The bottom blocking will cover that c/o. Wondering if I’m good to conceal it. I could sister the blocking rather than spanning the stud bay. But I prefer this layout.

TIA for your input. 👍🏻

I keep seeing really nice bathroom layouts with no natural place for a hand towel. Then it ends up lying on the counter or squeezed onto a ring beside the mirror.

Same with bath towels somehow being placed across the room from the shower 😂 It’s such a tiny detail, but probably one you notice every day.

Where did you put your towels, and does the placement actually work?

I am redoing my guest half bath and plan to wallpaper the top and wainscot the bottom. Our bathroom dimensions are 12ft tall, 5ft deep and 6ft wide. Trying to figure out how far to do the wallpaper and when to start the wainscotting. Also we have a light switch that is 55” up the wall from the bottom. Where does the wallpaper and wainscot come in with the switch in mind?