It always makes me chuckle when I walk into someones home for the first time and among their list of requests, usually sandwiched between "can we knock down that wall and move the kitchen to the opposite side of the house," is "we don't want to spend a lot of money." If you can only afford a Hyundai, I'd love to say, then why are you looking at a Mercedes? Anyone who has ever been involved in a renovation project on any level knows it is next to impossible to predict what might linger behind the walls of any house. Most of the popular design shows today always show the hosts running into unexpected problems (some scripted, some not) and the clients, in turn, storming off in fits of rage. My advice..don't renovate if you don't have thick skin! What you can do, I might suggest, is "fluff" what you have to make it look updated, refreshed and lovely. Take, for example, the dated 90's bath above (cabinets are laminate and tops were formica). To give this double-sink bath an update I simply replaced the countertops (new sinks came as a gift with purchase from the company), added a tiled backsplash, purchased new drawer pulls and faucets and framed the mirrors with molding. Adding a fresh coat of paint to the walls and new towels, all said, this fluff job cost less than $2,500 and took under one week to complete. Sometimes a fresh face is just as nice as a new one!
