THE REALITY OF REALTY

I love watching the home improvement shows and am addicted to House Hunters. I have learned a lot about what goes into a renovation and how much things cost with special emphasis on having a realistic contingency fund because something usually pops up that wasn't planned for.  I also learned that a good project does not happen overnight if you want it done right. Anyone who has painted knows the prep and clean-up almost take more time than the actual painting. Not sexy or glamorous, but part of any project is stopping to repair, sort, clean, etc. 

However the worst part about those shows is the people!  Of course I know they are going to pick folks who bitch about everything and expect a million dollar house for a hundred thousand. Where did these people come from?  What have they been led to expect? Even my first house was reasonably priced and I did not go into it thinking "this place sucks and I will immediately remodel".  Apartment dwellers with all the fancy finishes they have now come to expect or people who also watch these crazy shows?  I am especially embarrassed when I watch the international shows and the Americans always say "it's so small" or "if it doesn't have a dishwasher I'm walking".  I can't help but notice the painful face the Realtors try their best to disguise when dealing with these types of remarks.  They also say they want to live like the natives, but with all the modern conveniences.  Huh?

Speaking of Realtors I have learned if I ever buy again to tell them my budget is 50 to 75 thousand dollars less than I'm willing to spend.  They inevitably ignore the buyer's stating I will not go higher than such and such.  What a joke.  I take that as apparently a challenge for the realtor to show them everything but what they asked for.

The funniest one I saw recently showed sheer horror that the "toilet" did not have a separate room and door. The very words were snobbishly uttered "who would have a bathroom where they come in to use the sink and have someone sitting right there next to it on the toilet". Ah, I normally do not anticipate company when I am using the bathroom so one can only imagine what their earlier life must have been about. Also if you can't wait to use the other facilities you have invited yourself into my personal moment so not my problem.

I also enjoy when they say they don't want cookie-cutter and want character and then demand the same white kitchen, stone counter tops, "soaker tub" (bathtub in the real world), open concept (why add the redundancy of "concept" to "open") and hardwood floors. Wood floors are off my list the first time I see the commercials for special products you have to use to protect against children, mud, dogs, high heels, oh I don't know life happening and people using your floors.  Yes, we had hard-wood floors in the 50's but they were full of the scratches of real use.  Anything that requires me to scream at visitors, bar my grandson and grand dog from walking and apply fancy finishes every two weeks is way more attention than I ever want to pay to an inanimate object.

Saw pictures today of a local flipper who showed a newly remodeled kitchen with, you guessed it, white cupboards, stone counter tops, stainless steel (scratchable, dentable, fingerprint magnet) appliances. What "proverbial" Jones are we trying to keep up with? Do we have no imagination or are we afraid of being judged if we don't have everything everyone else has? Boring....

But there is one modern convenience that I whole-heartily endorse. My own bathroom attached to my bedroom. Otherwise another bathroom for everyone else and family is just fine. I grew up with seven people in my family and one bathroom; and SURVIVED! I actually saw a program where the father said if each child did not have their own bathroom that was a deal-breaker, again Huh? But yes, two bathrooms are nice and it will not contaminate your guests to use the same bathroom as your children or vice versa-horrors. 

My whole point is buy what you like. Decorate in a way that reflects your unique personality and family needs. Everything is not going to be exactly what you want at the price you want to pay. Remodeling doesn't have to happen today. Be bold, be different and if your circle criticizes or turns up their nose at your choices well just serve them the cheap wine and get a new circle.