Homeowner at last!!!

Drew-

Let me know if you need a contact for floors/blinds. My cousin has a shop and I can give you his contact.

 

Ok, I'll send you an email.

 

No, that's downstairs... duh.

 

To be honest, I was looking for 2200-2400 sq. ft. max. I just decided to do the upstairs cave which is another 400-450 or so sq. feet. It's definitely different from living in a small apartment which is what I was used to - 700-800 sq. ft. It's especially different when you move everything from your apartment and you can basically fit almost everything you own into 1 or 2 rooms in the new house.

 

Make sure to submit your homeowners exemption for property tax purposes.

 

Don't get wood blinds... get the faux wood... you shouldn't even think twice about this.

 

if you can afford it, i would go with real wood floors and granite countertops. these materials last longer and have more presence. they will also increase the resale value of your home. you will be buying something else as you'll inevitably grow out of the size of the place, especially if you want a family some day. my house is over a hundred years old and i've done renovations on the house for the last four years. i just kick myself at the things i did half-assed to save money. if money is an issue, perhaps you can renovate step by step rather than all at once.

oh, and congrats

 

Did you recently buy that house? I'm asking because these days people would go with new, suburbs, cookie-cutter homes vs homes with a bit of age and charm. Also, do you have any reservations with it being so old?

 

If you have a mortgage, don't forget that the interest you pay is tax-deductable.

 

Just my POV, but I cant stand my granite hard to clean and tiny little pours that piss me off.. looks good, but I wont go that route again...

 

well, that's a personal preference, there are other options. you could go stainless steel, wood, polished concrete etc., etc. i have polished concrete floors in my kitchen, for example, looks like terrazzo and is really easy to maintain. i don't like faux materials or cookie-cutter homes. i've owned my house for just over four years and have designed all the renovations myself, including a bathroom with a glass brick wall. the conversation between good, solid materials can give any home character, regarless of age. i've got wood floors, tiled floors, carpeted ones as well as the aformentioned concrete. as regards old homes vs. new, i can safely say that don't build them like they used to. thick wooden door frames, exposed brick walls etc. older homes definately have the character advantage.

 

Man, I looked into this so much when I was getting my house built... lol.

Faux wood can last longer. Wood blinds can fade, warp and crack if exposed to a lot of heat and light. Good faux wood blinds last a damn long time. The clincher is... from about 10 feet nobody can tell the difference. If you're like a typical guy, from 1 inch you still can't tell the difference.

Silestone is a manmade composite "rock". It's just as durable and requires less maintenance than granite. If you can find a pattern/color that you really like in silestone, I'd go that route. Most granite counters you have to seal. You don't have to do it with manmade materials like silestone because it's not porous. Yet it's just as strong as granite and costs a lot less usually. There are different kinds of manmade countertops that are similar to silestone - that's just a brand name. You can also look into products named Cambria, Zodiaq, Avanza, etc. which are all similar types from what I recall.

If you can swing the cost of the granite or silestone (or something similar), I'd do it. I got granite because that was the only option given to me. No way would I choose corian over natural stone. Natural stone blows it away in terms of looks in my opinion.

There is another "cheaper" option that I know a store or two in Dallas offers. They make a thin layer of granite or whatever and lay it over whatever countertop you have now. They form and bond the material to it. I've heard of people having good results doing this, but I haven't done it and don't know anybody in Houston that does it. It's a hell of a lot cheaper, but gives you pretty much the same look.

 

Did you seal it? Unsealed granite can be a disaster. Any house I buy from now on will have granite or manmade stone counters. Hell I may even do floors in the entryway that way!

 

Wow DoD, that's enormous!

I've done a lot of research on this too. I went ahead and got plantation shutters made from the faux wood for all windows in the house.

I'm also having guys come out and give me quotes on getting granite countertops, marble tiles for the entryway, and some nicer tile for the kitchen. But I didn't know about these issues with granite. Makes me kind of worried. But I've never heard of silestone. I just want what looks the most classy so I can impress my hotties. (some day...)

 

Came with the house ready to go sealed and all.. it's top of the line stuff, but I never had it before and found out it's not my cup of tea..

 

Im building a custom home right now and am going with Avanza over Granite for a few reasons:

1) No maintenance
2) You can put hot stuff right on top with no side affects

Hot items will burn sealed granite.

I thought about doing the stained concrete, but instead, will be going to lumber liquidators and doing all hard wood floors for about $1.50 a square foot.

I got a good deal on my stainless steal appliances, including a stainless steel viking range surrounded by a brick/stone overhead.