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How to find Contractor/Designer

Thistle

Veteran

Our current house was too big for us when we bought it 13 years ago and moved into it from a one bedroom apartment. We had unused rooms and most of the house was unfurnished. Two children and an amazing amount of toys, winter gear, and furniture later, and we feel cramped.

We've talked about buying a new house and moving, but we're less than 6 months away from paying this one off. Would be awesome to have no mortgage payment while I have 2 kids in daycare (which is more than twice my mortgage).

I am sure there are things we could do to make our current house better suited to us, I just have NO idea what they are. When I look at the fees we'd pay just to sell this house, makes me think it might be worthwhile to bring in help.

I've talked to family, friends, and co-workers, and while they all think its a really good idea, none of them have ever done it and have no idea where to begin.

So I thought I'd check with you lovely ladies and advice, guidance, or experience you'd be willing to share.

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25 replies

Latest reply was from UmmLila (Lisa)

Glory

Veteran

I think this is a great idea. See what options there are before taking any steps to move.
I was in a similar situation about 4 years ago. I wasn't sure where to go so I ended up searching the local paper for stories about designers over the past 2 years. It was surprising how many articles there were. I ended up hiring one of the women who was highlighted after looking at her website. She was terrific. She spent only about 1.5 hours with me but had a list of suggestions on how to move forward.
The other option is to ask the parents around the park where you take your children to play, and of course at work. Then you can interview by phone and check out the websites.

Word Lily

Veteran

Do any of the local colleges/universities have interior design or architecture programs? Profs names would be listed online, and they might give you a couple names of students who'd be happy to walk through and talk about options with you, more informally, give you ideas. Or the profs might be able to recommend professionals working in the field, too, if you want to get official more quickly.

Liz

Veteran

It may sound counter-intuitive, but call the real estate agent you would have listed your house with and find out who they use to stage houses.

Someone who stages a house knows how to look at a house with a fresh eye toward making it look bright and spacious. And they often have names of trusted contractors or designers you could follow up on.

Sara L.

Veteran

We have an older house that needed work when we moved in. We hired a designer (basically an architect without her license, but as we didn't need stamped plans for a building permit she fit our needs and was cheaper than a licensed architect). She talked to us about our wants/needs, measured the house, and them came up with a bunch of different options. We've implement some (redoing bathrooms) and others are still on our long-term list (knocking the wall out between the kitchen and dining room). It was fairly inexpensive and we have done some of the work ourselves and some will need a contractor. We found her by word of mouth.

abc

Veteran

We found a contractor by watching a construction project in the neighborhood then asking those homeowners for a reference, we got their contact details and went through with our own project with the same contractor. Worked out for us. Good luck.

Laurie

Veteran

Definitely talk to your neighbors. If you are in neighborhood with houses of similar model to yours, it's likely that others have made improvements that you could ask to see. People ask to see our house all the time! Definitely ask about contractors they have liked. There are many nightmares out there, a good and honest contractor is like gold.

High end furniture stores have designers on staff. While they are focused on selling furniture, their expertise is in space and design. I got really lucky 5 years ago and met a designer who has become a dear friend (he had dinner at our house last night!) He has influenced every single nice element in my house, not just furniture. We have moved walls, steps, doors etc at his advice. I painted all of my wood trim white at his advice, tremendously improving my home. The colors of paint on the exterior (4 different shades of 1 base color for brick, siding, interior porch...) were directed by Patrick.

I hope you can find a Patrick where you live (I'm in MD in case you are close by!)

Classically Casual

Veteran

You might look at HOUZZ for your area for recs. We recently bought a second home in an area where we have zero contacts, and connected with a great guy through HOUZZ. Good luck! And congrats on the mortgage!

Anonymous

It sounds like lack of storage space might be your biggest problem and seeking expertise in that area might be your best bet, unless you think you need to add an addition to your home. I think it is wise of you to address the issue in your current home rather than buying a bigger home. Your current home may be the perfect one to stay in as you age instead of having to downsize down the road.

Laurinda

Veteran

Kudos for thinking about this so creatively!

I've been intrigued by Sarah Susanka's "Not So Big House" series, you might want to look through her books for ideas. I was impressed by an example she gave of a woman who contacted her about a family room addition, even though her formal living room sat unused. With a few tweaks the unused living room became the family room space she needed.

Work with What You've Got: You May Already Own Your Dream House

MsMary

Veteran

I found mine through http://www.houzz.com. I searched for "[my city] design build" and came up with a great team of designer/contractor who did an awesome job for me.

Thistle

Veteran

Mary- how did you pick among the contractors? Did you call a couple, meet with them before deciding?

Jules

Veteran

We have finally almost completed a major reno, finishing the basement including a crucial second bathroom. However, before that, I found that purging, organizing and using the space to its full potential was key. Actually, it's still key since my house is still "small" by many standards. Furniture is chosen very carefully and I let go of previous poor choices - there's just literally no room for failures. I enjoy using my dining room when we have guests, but folding chairs made our kitchen easier to eat-in when it's just the four of us - we only pull them out as needed. My older daughter got a loft bed so she has space underneath for a desk. These things are really specific to your space, lifestyle and expectations though.
I've also seen people do major renos and then not furnish or use the space very effectively. For instance around here in our small city homes, it's popular to make the first floor entirely open concept. But where will you hang your TV? How do you layout furniture? If your neighbours have similar homes, check out their renos.

Pat_P

I would ask people you know - whose houses you like - for recommendations for professionals to hire. Many times the good and affordable renovation pros don't advertise or even have a web site. They get all their business from referrals. So it really pays to ask around.

unfrumped

Veteran

I second the Susanka's books as a way to stimulate thinking & feel more prepared to discuss with designer or contractor as you go along. Her approach is different from a lot of homes on the market. Another thing is to do some virtual home tours and kind of see what appeals about other homes.

Thistle

Veteran

Yeah, we have some space, it's just not used. We eat at the dining room table every day, but never the kitchen table and it gets piled up with coats, car seats, lunch bags etc.

Our family room (with the TV) is sued constantly. Our living room only really used by me as it now houses my computer after we converted the computer room to DD2s nursery.

I also have a finished basement that gets no use as the girls are too young to be down there by themselves. I just have no idea what to do to make it workable. I desperately want a mud room, especially with our winters.

KikiG

Veteran

You are in a high-bulk season of your life--but this is temporary. Your kids are an age that they have bulky indoor toys. Eventually, you will get to the point where the big ugly plastic things give way to much less bulky entertainment devices. It sounds like you need to ditch the kitchen table in favor of something nice looking that will function like a mudroom for the boots and backpacks and diaper bags. With respect to the rest, probably you are storing things because you are too exhausted to make the decision to get rid of it. When I sorted out my attic to move, I realized that 95% of it was just decisions postponed, not valued possessions stored.

With respect to the mudroom. there is a nice one in the home of the blogger Thrifty Décor Chick, but this may not work for your space.

I once lived in a house with a much-used den on the back of the house, that opened to the kitchen, and on the other side of the wall, on the front of the house, was a large, nice space that was a "shrine" of a living room/dining room combo and never used. We ate at a cramped table in the middle of the kitchen. Do you see where this is going? We turned the formal living room into the family room, the old den became a very lovely place to eat, and we eventually remodeled the kitchen. In that small house, the mudroom was a wall mounted coat rack, which worked ok, because the climate was so mild as to render snow boots and snow suits a curiosity item from the Great Frozen North, not any form of reality.

Jules

Veteran

It sounds like you need a "landing zone" (or sometimes "landing strip") - a place to put stuff when you first come in the door. Apartment Therapy talks a lot about this concept. A mudroom might be ideal, but in the meantime, do you have hooks or a coat rack by your entrance way? We have both adult height and kid height hooks - the latter means the kids hang up their own stuff, which they can do from age 2 or 3. Also I know where to look for their things vs. ours.
Otherwise - I really agree with KikiG. At 5 and 9 most of my girls' stuff is in their rooms now, a big improvement from baby and toddler stuff all over the main floor. The basement reno is partly so they will have a place to hang out with friends as they get older. So our plans were future-focused, anticipating the next phase. Oh, and fear-focused - my fear of having two teenage girls and only one bathroom!
If you are not really using the basement, could it be used for temporary storage of main floor furniture? Ie/ get what you need to make the main floor functional for young kids - toy storage, etc - with a long term plan to move that stuff downstairs and your other stuff back up...

MsMary

Veteran

Thistle, I am a satisficer rather than a maximizer, so honestly I met with these ladies, we clicked, and I hired them. I did get a couple of other preliminary bids just to make sure they were in the ballpark, but there were never any other serious contenders.

I agree that asking around for recommendations from people you know is a good way to find somebody, too. I recommend the heck out of my girls to anybody who will listen!

Sara L.

Veteran

We talked to 2 or 3 designers before picking the one we eventually went with. We were pretty happy with her after our initial meeting but wanted to make sure we weren't rushing into anything and that her prices were competetive. I second the idea of talking to your friends and neighbors about contractors.

Thistle

Veteran

We have a block part in 2 weeks. It should be a good time to ask around a bit.

AviaMariah

Veteran

Not to hijack but Mary's link about satisficer vs maximers just gave me an aha moment. I would be the former, DH the later. Which would explain why we met with a designer two years ago and still haven't done anything. By the way, we found the designer through friends and I'm sure she's great. It will be fun to see what you decide to do.

anne

Veteran

Thistle, this has been such a fascinating thread!!

I hope the neighbours you can talk to at the block party are helpful, in addition to the suggestion in this thread. I have had great fun reading the suggested links.
I have to say that the Susanka article link really surprised me. I would say that in the last 30 years 80% of Australian houses would have been built with a open plan living/meals/ kitchen area and yet this seemed to be presented as a new idea - is that really the case in the US, or is it just because of your older housing stock?

And in the last 20 years the number of houses with separate dining rooms has really dropped. Our house is unusual in having one (though it is not a separate room as such) but we use ours as DH's home office and it also houses our piano and our wall hooks. We found having a space on the wall with hooks really helpful and we moved them out of the entrance of our old house into this space. You may need more space than that if you have car seats as well as bags.

Jules and Kiki are right about the bulkiness of your girl's stuff right now, and how that should change!

Also, I think if you are going to change having places where you dump stuff (like your kitchen table) you have to change your behaviour. It is one thing to have a place for stuff - it is another to put it away at the end of a day when you are tired and the kids are clammering. I am saying that as someone who is very bad at it!!

JAileen

Veteran

We had a bathroom redone last year. We needed a contractor obviously. Our neighbor had just had an addition put on her house and raved about her contractor. We met him and hired him. He did a great job. We have already had him do another small project. That's the best way to find a contractor.

I think it's wonderful that your house is nearly paid off. Not only will that be great when paying for child care, but also for saving for college. This is huge. Your house may be big enough already, but just isn't configured right. In other parts of the world people live happily with much smaller spaces than we suburban Americans. Plus, if your house isn't giant, you save on heating and cooling costs, AND you won't feel the need to downsize later on.

Thistle

Veteran

Our house is around 1800 square feet. So, big enough back in the days, and that does not include the full basement that is 3/4 remodeled and sitting unused. *sigh* I rally was clueless on kids!

The big reason we love our house is that it backs up to a city park. The entire block does. Lots and lots of trees (about a football field deep of them) and no backyard neighbors! Amazing wildlife and privacy for living in a suburban city.

UmmLila (Lisa)

Veteran

Let me also suggest that if you're doing any serious renovations, that you do not accept "estimates" on cost, but insist on a specific price in advance. And also, that you set a reasonable schedule, with price reductions in your favor if work is not completed on time.

I have found the realtor who sold me my house to be a tremendous resource.