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two joiners installing a kitchen
At the end of an 18-month renovation, homeowners expect to be happy and satisfied, but that wasn’t exactly the case for Clayton residents Lori and Dustin Hausladen, who gutted most of their first floor and enlarged their kitchen. Lori recalls that she was so focused on the logistics of the new kitchen—flow and functionality—that she didn’t spend enough time on aesthetics. When the project was complete, she found herself underwhelmed by the finishes she’d chosen and overall feel. Style matters just as much as function. “Make sure you give them equal time, attention, and budget,” she says.
Todd Dufour says he’s glad he lived in his Brentwood ranch for more than a year before deciding to renovate: “You might move into a house and think that you need to immediately renovate, but if you have the luxury to live in a house and see how you’re going to use the space, it’s so helpful.” Dufour began by refinishing the hardwood floors but eventually decided to gut the home, reconfiguring the main floor to better accommodate his lifestyle.
Elizabeth and John McLaughlin recently renovated their primary bath, taking down walls to make the room bigger. Says Elizabeth: “I learned that the project is going to take way longer than expected but that working with a kitchen or bath designer is priceless and will help speed along the process. A designer will help with selections, coordinate with your contractor to make sure things go smoothly and, as has been the case recently, steer you away from selections that are on backorder and might delay your project even further.”
In the renovation of her 1857 Webster Groves home, Lisa Neimann took the place to the studs. Because of the age of the home, it was important to Neimann and her husband to preserve the history and character of the house. Neimann was tempted to follow new home trends—in this case, saturated-color kitchen cabinets—but she learned that picking a more classic option would help maintain the integrity of the home. “We ended up choosing a white cabinet in the kitchen. Some of the more trendy kitchen colors I was debating are, in my mind, already losing their luster.”
You might think that the hardest part of a renovation is over when construction is finished, but adding your personal touch to a new space can be daunting. Something that looks good on a store shelf might not look good in your home, and vice versa. “It's hard to know what looks best in a space so I bought a ton of décor and brought it home to determine what works. Anything that didn't make the cut got returned,” says Kristin Luparell, who has remodeled every square foot of her Creve Coeur ranch over the last seven years.
Lisa Peckham, who renovated the primary bath in her Ballwin home last year, encourages homeowners to work with experts in their field. “Hire experts for each part of your job. For our first attempt at a bathroom remodel, our contractor tiled the walls and floors, and then we had to rip everything out due to lack of precision in the tile placement,” she recalls. “We brought in a guy who specialized in tile, and his work was perfect. It’s worth spending a little more for someone who is an expert in their craft—in the long run, it will likely save you money.”
Renovating the kitchen was at the top of Darci Madden’s to-do list when she moved into her new house, a 1930s colonial in Ladue. When the project was done, though, she realized that the new space made a big contrast with unimproved spaces. She decided to paint the entire first floor and renovate the powder room, next to the kitchen. “When you improve one area of your home, it makes the other areas look not so good,” she says. “There were areas of my home that [once] didn’t bother me but suddenly looked shabby and dated.”
Two years ago, Stevie Telken and her husband, Matt Telken, renovated the first floor of their Chesterfield home. The project took approximately four months, delayed by COVID-19, but under the guidance of their contractor, they had fortunately purchased most appliances, lighting, and hardware ahead of time. “Purchase as much as you can before the project starts,” says Telken. “Delays happen. It’s better to be sitting on your new items than holding up the trades waiting for them to arrive.”
Peter and Margot Vishion tore out an existing backyard patio and gazebo, replacing it with a covered patio complete with heater, outdoor kitchen, dining area, television, and fireplace. “Don’t go cheap,” says Margot. Think long-term. “We bought materials that we knew would last. We didn’t go with trends.” The couple elected finishes and colors that complement the architecture of their 1940s Georgian Colonial.
“Trust your gut,” says Katy Jane Johnson, who lives in Richmond Heights. In renovating her kitchen two years ago, she decided to maintain the footprint but left no surface untouched. Johnson and her husband, Nate Johnson, replaced the floors, appliances, cabinets, backsplash, countertops, hardware, and lighting. They worked with a decorator, and Johnson highly recommends it, but she advises homeowners to trust their instincts when it comes to making decisions: “I always questioned one specific choice my designer made but didn’t vocalize my concern. It’s the one element that I don’t love about my kitchen.”
