When renovation meets innovation

“Help, I need advice! Tell me what to do with this weird corner below the stairs in my house!”

“Show my husband that our brick home’s exterior would look better painted.”

“I can’t stand these ‘orange’ wood cabinets that were custom built by the previous owner. Would they look better stained black or painted white?”

Such are common questions a typical homeowner might ask his friends and neighbors. Every home has its quirks; some more than others.

I remember watching “This Old House” and “Home Improvement” as a kid. When we wanted practical tips and advice, we watched the former. When we just needed a laugh, our eyes were glued to Tim Allen on the tube.

Flash forward 15 years to when we first moved to New Rockford and bought an early 1900s two-story on Central Avenue. I remember asking someone if they wanted to “trade spaces.”

That was a big deal then, the home improvement show “Trading Spaces.” Guests on the show traded places with another family and renovated a room in their home. The budget was $1,000. Sometimes it went well and the homeowners were glowing, and other renovations had homeowners literally in tears (or in a rage, depending on the severity of the change).

Hildi Santo Tomas was the one designer nobody wanted, simply because a homeowner never really knew what to expect from her.

One day, she stapled more than 7,000 silk flowers to the wall of a family’s bathroom and painted the cabinets and window trim an obnoxious metallic gold.

In another episode, she literally fastened another family’s furniture to the ceiling of their living room, to make it look like they were “dancing on the ceiling.”

But this one tops them all – Hildi once slathered wallpaper glue all over the walls of a living room and tossed hay on them. The room looked like a horse that had rolled in the hay on the stable floor. That time, the production company reportedly paid for the removal, which took 17 hours!

Now, we’ve entered a whole new level of crazy in the world of home improvement.

Rather than sit around the cafe roundtop and ramble to their besties about their home improvement woes, people take to social media and get advice from perfect strangers on the internet.

Somehow I’ve made Facebook believe that I’m interested in these wild and wacky renovation posts, where people ask a group of thousands to use Artificial Intelligence to help them visualize possible changes in their home.

Yes, I admit that I’ve creeped on the comment sections of a few too many posts from people seeking opinions from keyboard warriors across the globe. It’s entertaining to say the least.

The three things I’ve seen most often are people wanting to disguise their brick exteriors, fill random nooks and crannies and deface their solid wood cabinets.

What’s trending and what’s falling out of fashion? Well, not everyone agrees in today’s world. Is a brick home painted white with black trim considered classic and timeless or an overdone modern trend? Well, that depends on who you ask. And, when you open yourself up to advice from internet trolls, you definitely won’t like some of the answers you get.

When I was a kid, I remember being told, “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.”

I can see from the comments that there are plenty of other people who were apparently also raised by my grandma Vonnie.

They usually say something encouraging without answering the actual question. They might comment, “It looks nice just the way it is,” or “Live in the home for a little while first before you tear that wall out. It might grow on you (or worse, it might be load bearing).”

Then, there are the ones who feel very strongly that brick and solid hardwood should not be “scarred” by paint. EVER.

I can just hear the Tommy Boys saying, “For the love of God, don’t paint the brick!”

Personally, I love the look of rich, stained wood and bold-patterned brick. When we renovated the office in New Rockford and built an addition on our home, we chose solid wood doors and trim and stained them in rich colors.

There’s brick on the front facade of the office, and someday when we decide to give the exterior a facelift I want to give that brick new life!

Yet, I’m certainly not going to criticize someone else who decides that they can’t stand to live in a kitchen with “orange” wood cabinets or prefers fresh, limewashed brick over the traditional red or brown. To each his own.

Remember the kitchen soffit “trend”? Well, that’s what we call a “Kitchen Nightmare” right here in our own home. When we finally scrape together enough funds to redo our kitchen in 20 years, we will rip out those dumb soffits and install cabinets all the way up to the ceiling, even if I can’t reach the top shelf!

What’s happening at the Foster County Courthouse is a demonstration of commitment to preserving historic structures. I had the opportunity to go behind the scenes with General Roofing and Construction this week, where I got some insight into the massive project underway. I can appreciate that they are giving a historic structure new life. Find more on that on page 9 of the Independent.

Although they’ve completely gutted the interior, the beautiful brick structure remains. Additionally, they’re planning to repurpose the old woodwork as much as possible. I look forward to more trips to the basement as the project progresses this spring and summer.

Find a way to retain the beauty of what’s there while readying the space for another century of use. Now that’s something worth doing.