Is it me or has Sarah R completely lost touch with reality? A couple of things about her new show are throwing me.
First it's the whole house by the tracks I don't understand but I'm willing to wait to see if it becomes a problem when selling. Meanwhile, tonight her show was on the master bedroom and at the end she says something to the effect of only being able to have so much neutral in the house so they decided this room wouldn't be. Maybe my TV is off colour but that room was totally neutral as far as I could see and absolutely typical for her. Is my definition of neutral off? I really didn't see where the big stretch was. Did I misunderstand or is she too getting sucked into the land of which white do we choose? I just don't see light beige carpet, white walls, and some light blue thrown in not being neutral.
Also as they are going over the prices the chandelier was 'just' $300, the table lamps were 'just' $395 each etc. and so on. By my calculator that's $1100 on lighting and that doesn't include the pot lights they put in and the next statement is they are $3,000 over budget for the room.
In my world, that just wouldn't be possible. There is no way I could go that far over budget in a bedroom or justify spending that on lamps when I didn't have the budget. It just seems really excessive especially when pointing out what bargains she got on other things. Gads, am I the only one not made of money who can't operate that way?
I don't know, maybe I am just so sick of these shows not delivering. I'd so much rather these experts actually show us how to do something within budget but instead they seem to just increase the spending instead of getting creative in showing ways to get the look or feel while staying on budget. The other tactic is when they get 'loaner' furniture or whatever and then say 'oh the room was done for $x" but the reality is none of us could do it for that. I don't know why they even bother telling us they have a budget or what they spent.
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Oh I see. You know you didn't hear this from me (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) but if you ever have concerns about renewing a mortgage ask around until someone can point you towards a good and creative (vs a run of the mill) mortgage broker. Being self-employed and having a good accountant most banks wouldn't touch me for a mtg but the right broker knew how to get it done. it's all in how they are willing to take into account other assets etc. when your tax assessments don't meet normal requirements and knowing which funders require what paperwork. If your house has increased that much you have a substantial asset there to work in your favour.
wouldn't you ??
Now why are we getting Realtors in.....?
next door was up for sale, shared driveway, he parked in front of our house (that has the fire hydrant) and that's a no-no, and he had a broken leg in a cast, so I suggested he park in the driveway and one thing led to another - no thoughts of selling !! Although we may have to, DH's income and mine may not re-qualify us for the current mortgage without MIL's income, too ...it's a wait-and-see game right now
It's nice when you can look at your house and know it's gone up that much. Now why are we getting Realtors in.....?
Meanwhile, I think you hit something. Doing a reno for yourself often works out just right. After all, unless the neighbourood is turning over in some dramatic way, the chances are that the same things that attracted you to the area are what buyers are looking for and that they may well be into the same things (thinking here of young families, empty nest, whatever).
I have never liked Sarah, except in the old Room Service days when she did an arty or DIY project. Her colours are bland, bland, bland and I could NEVER live in a house done by her.
One episode I saw was where she was looking for "cheap" vanity for a bathroom, the dis one, I think. She bought this dresser or something online for about $400, then took it and got it sprayed - how much did THAT cost, I asked myself???
Having said that, we bought this house 2 1/2 years ago, DH, MIL and I together. we spent about 15% of the purchase price on renos (completely re-did the bath and kitchen and a couple smaller things, too) to suit ourselves, as this is our "forever" house. For instance, we did not put a bathrub in, as MIL had mobility problems and so we put in a large shower, with a built-in bench. Anyways, I had a real estate agent in the other day, and his suggested list price after just a quick walkthrough was 50% over our total purchase and reno already - and he did not know about the new furnace and the new sewer pipe. And, the place was a mess . . . .
I sure hope she factored those costs in or she really would end up in the hole.
All of these decorating shows are the same in that the items they pick out are beautiful but certainly not within the budget of the average working person. I would love to see a decorating show where they really got to Winners and Walmart, etc and choose items off the rack and decorate with these items. This is something I could relate to - although I do get some good ideas from these shows (just have to buy from less expensive stores).
Hmmmm.... I just wondered about the profit margin on this house. Really, if you think about it how much did she really make? How much time did she put into this house? How much is her time worth.... not to mention paying Tommy and the contractor? Do you think that these fees were factored into the houses budget? It was never mentioned in the breakdown of where money went in the rooms? I looked like they spent a good 8 months redoing the house.
I have to say that Sarah is my mentor. I loooove her quiet decor sense. It's exactly what I love.
I suppose I would agree with doing it for resale in only one respect and that would be whatever is being renoed be done properly, to code, no slap dash nightmare. For anything else, unless a person knows they will be selling in short order, not a chance.
Paint can be changed really quickly if needed. Decor doesn't get sold with the house and can be rearranged or whatever for sale. As far as doing a bathroom or whatever, I think you have to do what makes sense to you. Maybe you do or don't keep a bathtub but again, if you plan on staying you do what works. A buyer (and maybe this is because this seems to happen so much here right now) is going to change things the way they want it anyway, houses get old and need fixing every 20 years or so anyway.
I wonder what Sarah's tune would be if the advice for selling was everything should be in deep rich colours. Do you think she would adjust her love of white and cream everything based on resale? Somehow I don't think so.
I guess this is where I have lost some respect for Sarah. She has proven she can't set or keep a budget even when it means some of her own money/profit and presumes to show this as an example of how it's (flipping) done when clearly no competent flipper would take this approach . She's recommended chandeliers over bathtubs (against code everywhere which seems to have given away her credentials) so why would I believe she knows anything about selling/buying practices? She can do a great job of decor (if you like her light colour schemes) and producing shows so she should stick to that. I'm not so sure about any of the other things which are not in her field of expertise.
we just went through this, but only because we were thinking about moving.....colors and such were done in mind for resale. However, we still continued to have things to suit our needs....for example, the washer and dryer in the kitchen. We left it upstairs when we put the house on the market and our home sold quickly so obviously it wasnt a problem for the buyers and they dont plan to leave it upstairs. Kimberly Seldom's thoughts are complete opposite, she recommends that you live in your home for you and not with resale in mind and i agree with her. In our new home, we will do things to suit our needs, no resale thoughts ;) Same with decorating a home....i think no matter what you choose now for cupboards, counters etc...20 years from now we still stand a chance of looking dated or really disliking our choices.....i had to keep that in mind when making choices for the new house....i picked what we really liked now.
smiles
janetc
[I]"It also makes me wonder when someone as experienced as Sarah sets a budget and then can't even work within it. Why would I hire her if she can't even figure out how to get the look/work when spending her own money?"[/I]
ITA! I started watching the series with about 3 shows left to go, and the finale. The budget thing was pretty unreal, especially the way she was blowing the wad on things she could easily get for cheaper. The basement was a real unexpected budget killer though, but she shouldn't really have set her budget until she knew what she was dealing with either!
The other thing that struck me was advising viewers to always renovate or build with resale in mind, even if you're planning to live in your house for 20 years, because you never know what might happen a year or 5 from now. On one hand, I totally understand her point, you don't want to put something totally wierd in your house that would only appeal to you, but on the other, when we build and decorate a house, we do it to suit our family's needs, wants and lifestyle. I'm not going to live with something I don't care for just for resale if it happens. What do you think?
Anyone know what it sold for?
this weekend I watched my tape of the final episode of Sarah's house. I have to say I was really surprised at her and have to think that is one career killing series (as far as going for this type of job goes). For the life of me (being a marketing type) I can not imagine what possessed her to reveal how far off budget she ended up (50% off, $460,000 instead of the original $300,000). Smart money would have just adjusted her starting figure to something closer to the end tally.
Now tell me, no matter how much you loved a person's work, if you have what is supposed to be a $300,000 reno budget (as per their alleged expert quote) and they come in at $460,000 wouldn't you consider that person to be a very bad project manager? If you bought that house with the intent (as Sarah had) of spending roughly 50% of the purchase price to attain a sell price of double the purchase price (essentially giving you a profit of 25% of the sell price) and then had the project manager spend 80+% of purchase price which means you now only net 10% of the sell price, wouldn't you be royally pissed off? I mean sheesh, 10% of $1M+ vs 25% is some very big money to be out (especially once you take out the Realtor commission from the profit...let see, that leaves about 4 - 5% profit I think which probably vanishes when you work out financing costs over the length of the project).
Nope, for me, I can't see anyone who is smart enough to have that kind of investment hiring someone who is so far off their estimate to do work for me. I would think I'd want someone who knows what they are doing when they quote and sticks within the 10% margin that reno work seems to have. What's really boogling is being silly enough to actually now show people how bad you are at estimating after spending so long to build such a good reputation.
Just shaking my head. Whether you like the outcome of the house, like the process of the show or not, revealling how far off she was on the budget was just a really bad move IMO.
It would be interesting to know what that house would have fetched without Sarah's name attached to it. I wonder if they would have even broken even in the end.
At least the bathroom came in on budget...must be nice to have that kind of budget eh? I found it interesting to see the difference between Sarah (female) and Tommy (male) in how they would do things. He didn't really appreciate bath or hand shower at all she didn't see why he thought 2 sinks and wall between toilet and bath were important. I have to say I agreed with her on all those counts and it was probably a good demonstration of why you need both to design a space both sexes will use.
I agree I saw her show last night and it was the bathroom they were doing and the things she put in there were really pricy but if she has sold it good for her. I suppose there are people out there that would buy it furnished just to say they have a Sarah house.
These shows are a tad unrealistic. I think the reason they can't stick to a budget is they are more concerned with getting the show on the air than the project they are working on. These designers have some good ideas, like the bed etc. but, why don't they hire person with some construction experience to advise them BEFORE they order and begin buying things. I've seen other shows where perhaps they order a whole lot of ceramics and then decide it's not quite what they wanted so they re-order something different...that's a costly mistake contractors couldn't afford....designers have a certain amount of knowledge but, they really need someone advising them along the way unless they can afford to use materials already paid for on other projects.
Funny how that works. It seems anything to do with building or decorating or repairing a home is automatically "allow for overages" when other industries come in on quote or eat it. Barring the unforeseen type things that can happen it's really frustrating that so many just accept it.
I always find it interesting that the professionals can't stick to a budget or a timeline. I work on projects all the time, and if our project managers always overspent, our clients would not be happy.
yes it was sold furnished.
If she sold it unfurnished, she probably really made more than that as she can also use the furniture. I wonder if someone would buy it furnished.
She sold the house - I heard that it went over list! That is about a $300K profit she made!
I'm watching Sarah's House right now. Not crazy about her fabric choices, but that's the EXACT upholstered bad that I want (but in chocolate brown velvet :) ). Too bad they didn't show how to make it!!
Ummmm... shouldn't she have thought about the size of the headboard BEFORE she had it built and then realized it won't fit up the stairs?? :confused:
okay, Sarah is one of my favorite designers....however i completely agree with this budget crap....NINETEEN THOUSAND BUCKS on one room....holy sh&#! i could redo my whole home plus furniture for that cost. Sticking to a budget doesnt mean buying 300 hundred dollar lamps or spending $19.0000 bucks on one room.....if going over budget isnt an issue, than so be it....but it sounds like they are complaining about going over...duh! I think its time that they shopped with me. :D My favorite show with Sarah was Room Service and she can still do me a serene bedroom makeover...lol
smiles
janetc
OKay, using that logic, why didn't Sarah go to Winners and get her lamps so she wouldn't blow her budget? See that is what gets me. they present it as a good lesson in living on a budget and then they overspend and expect us to figure out how to do it within budget. So how is this helpful?
It also makes me wonder when someone as experienced as Sarah sets a budget and then can't even work within it. Why would I hire her if she can't even figure out how to get the look/work when spending her own money?
I don't mind trying to figure it out when a show doesn't presume to fake me out. Redesign is like that. He does the room and there really is no mention of price so you are left to figure out how to achieve it within your means. that's fine, no false expectations. To say "here is how much I have to spend" and then not even come close is like a lost leader.
Sarah has always been good at making things, being creative, and her first show was full of ideas but she doesn't seem to be using those skills on this house. She just brings out the credit card and shrugs.
I think that there are lots of good ideas you can take from her. I love to watch both Design Inc. and the new show. If you use a little imagination you can look for-lets say for instance-a similar looking lamp and end table at Winners. I think she does a fantastic job and I'm guessing a lot of other people do also considering how popular she is. I don't think a lot of people would tune in if it were not so glamourous. I think it is fun to see the beautiful ideas and then try to find something similar within my much less glamourous budget.:)
I sooooooooo agree with you that most of these shows are mainly directed to the wealthy. I believe if people have that much money they aren't watching decorating shows. The only show I watch nowadays is City Linebut I get most of my ideas from this forum.
There are a few things i don't get either. Okay so fine there are tracks behind the house and i guess some people (neighbours and all) are willing to buy a house there because of the area....I wouldn't buy one with tracks behind it. Does the house come fully furnished? If i was paying over a million for a house i wouldn't want half of those things. Some things I really like and others i don't...i really wouldn't want to pay for things I don't want. Yeah the master last night was totally neutral...dont' know what shes talking about there. Overall the room looked beautiful and i agree about some of the bargains...not really being bargains. I think the reason she said the chandelier was cheap is becuase those used to sell for about a grand easily. The lamps weren't cheap. I thought the side tables were reasonable...not cheap by any means though. I love the fact that she finds old pieces and has them sprayed...would love to do some of that myself...just can't find too many stores like that out here though.
Personally, I wouldn't spend over a million bucks on a house next to railroad tracks. Or in Toronto, for that matter!! Sorry TO ladies -- but your city just scares the crap out of me!! :eek:
I'm also a bit perplexed by this budget thing. Over $19,000 to re-do the den/office last week?? Even if they put in new windows and did re-framing, it still shouldn't have cost that much!! Just how much did the "splurge" ceiling light fixture cost, I wonder.....
Wasn't crazy about the colour scheme in the den/office either. Yellow just doesn't appeal to me. The leopard print cushions were cool, though :)
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I assume the neutral colour scheme is to make it easy on the eyes for potential buyers. :) As far as budget goes it is TV show like many others..... geared to the wealthy.
Also as they are going over the prices the chandelier was 'just' $300, the table lamps were 'just' $395 each etc. and so on. By my calculator that's $1100 on lighting and that doesn't include the pot lights they put in and the next statement is they are $3,000 over budget for the room.
I have to agree on this one...when she went through the break down of what things cost I was like "What the.." Those things were expensive in my mind....I couldn't see paying $395 for one lamp!!!! I feel that when I find a bargain its like the valances I bought for 88 cents or the lamp for $10...Those are bargains!! $395 is more than I pay for a months morgage!!!
Jen