fixtures and money saving tips

The structure is complete, meaning all foundation and brick work is done.
The floors were redone and the house was painted.

To complete a nice finish you cant use old fixtures and hardware, at least not in a current dated condition.

For the kitchen, we saved by using existing cabinets and changing the hardware. Hinges and knobs were changed out for about 200.00. I purchasd hinges at Home depot and knobs online. You can save some money and trips to the store.

Most of the lights were changed with 4.00 fixtures from Ikea.
Doorknobs in a brushed nickel (about 8.00 per door ) were changed.

When choosing fixtures make sure and use items that give your investment house a clean updated look. If you have questions just go to some open houses. i like homes that sell for 250k and up as they usually have more updates and give some insight into what designers are promoting today.

If your ceiling fans are in good shape you can always paint them a nice silver or bronze. There are many new colors and kinds of paint for doing so.

We had a dishwasher in perfect condition but the almond color didnt give an updated look. You can buy a large sheet of stainless steel and use for several dishwashers and even a backsplash as we did on our latest project (Lathrop). cost 125.00

Progress is made after foundation work

Foundation work was complete. But with foundation work comes other problems. Consider that many times bricks will have to be fixed and sometimes porches dont come out level.

The fix: Since bricks around the window were crumbling, we took this opportunity to put in a new and larger window. basically we were already paying for the labor with the brick work so it was just a bit more than the cost of the window.

For the porch, we wanted it to be level, so instead or repouring concrete we added a nice slate and floated the porch level.