You were sick of your old kitchen, and now you’re sick of your brand new kitchen. A look at the COVID renovations we now regret.
The last year has brought a lot of… changes. Some were forced upon us: Wearing masks, sheltering in our homes, and social distancing. And some changes we chose to implement ourselves, like the copious number of families who moved out of cities to suburban homes and the others who stayed put, but got sick of staring at the same four walls for days on end, and decided to launch into a home renovation project.
But, as many have found, not all remodels are created equal. While many are loving their new life in the ‘burbs, or are obsessed with spending all their time in their modern kitchen, some really regret gutting their mudroom or redecorating their once beloved family room.
I checked in with the ladies of the Private HerMoney Facebook Group to see how they’re feeling about their COVID remodeling projects — and to see if any of them regret spending their money on projects they thought they’d love, but aren’t so sure about now. Here’s what they had to say.
The Full Reno
Colleen C. just did the darn thing and gutted her kitchen all the way. Like, down to the studs. A big, bad home renovation project She started right before the pandemic hit — yes, the first week of March 2020 — and had a lot of trouble getting things done due to the craziness of lockdown. She had to rush to find everything she could before stores and companies shut down.
A Paint Job
Renee W. worked in her kitchen, too, but didn’t do too much. In fact, she just slapped a new coat of paint on it. A fresh, white coat of paint. Ahhhh. And she loved it, until she followed the trendy websites and painted her island blue. And now she’s all “ugh” every time she looks at it. “It was too much for me,” she says. “I am so not trendy.” Neither are we, Renee.
New Furniture
Michelle W. gave her living room a little facelift by refurnishing. But all of the refurnishing was done, like everything else in the last year, online. She loves the look of it, but since she never got to sit on her new couch, she’s actually already replacing it because of how uncomfortable it was. Patience would have been a virtue in this case.
Sticker Shock
Jill S. found herself reflecting a lot these last few months on a past remodel. While she loves her home and the remodel was exactly what she wanted at the time, she was shocked to find that what you spend on a remodel and at what price a remodel is actually valued is very different. (In other words, if you spend $50,000 on renovations, it’s not going to add $50,000 to the home’s value) The lesson she took away from that experience? “If it’s the right neighborhood, the right location for you to be there for a long time, you can do things that don’t make sense, numbers-wise, and it will turn out okay in the long run.”
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