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New York-based designer Leslie Bunker’s Rhode Island vacation home has seen better days. Victorian cottages from the 1890s were poorly insulated, had no air conditioning, and had single-pane windows, making them drafty in the winter and damp in the summer. \u201cI redid a bathroom that looked like it would melt into the ground,\u201d she says with a laugh. Still, the house was hers and she had no intention of giving it up. After replacing the roof, she and her husband installed solar panels, added air conditioning, a heat pump, and as much insulation as they could. “We didn’t want to move. We loved the home’s quirky charm, and in this real estate market, the idea of \u200b\u200bmoving or building entirely was very daunting. We thought, ‘Let’s hold on to what we have.'”<\/p>\n
Bankers are among the millions of Americans who are choosing to stay put and engage in the important work of renovating their homes rather than chasing greener pastures at a new address. Heading from new york times<\/em> They have warned the National Association of Home Builders that homeowners will spend more on renovations, citing everything from an aging home inventory and a lack of available housing to tighter mortgage rates. Harvard University’s Joint Housing Research Center estimates that renovations will reach an all-time high of more than $524 billion in 2026 alone.<\/p>\n So interior designers and architects who have grown accustomed to healthy new construction and move-ins are finding something interesting. If it looks like renovations are taking over the project pipeline, that’s because they are. “The renovation market is much more pervasive,” says Chicago-based designer Kim Skodoro, who estimates that renovations now account for more than half of her projects, an increase from three or four years ago. “A lot of people buy a home and get amazing interest rates, but then they lose that interest rate when they move. It makes a lot of sense for people to renovate where they are.”<\/p>\n Skodlo says this applies to all demographics, from growing young families already established in their desired area to empty nesters who find it too expensive to get what they want elsewhere. “It’s too expensive to move now, so people are saying, ‘Let’s embrace what we have and make it great.'”<\/p>\n Bunker cites another interesting reason for choosing renovation over new construction. That’s because older homes are often subject to current zoning regulations. When homeowners demolish a home and start building a new one, they can lose valuable square footage. “If your garage is near a property line and you want to demolish it, it will be subject to new zoning so you will need to observe setbacks or comply with volume,” she says. Bunker recalls a recent client who wanted to tear down and rebuild a house, but when he learned the new home’s footprint was smaller than the existing building, he quickly chose to remodel.<\/p>\n Lindsey Walsh, an interior designer based in Pennington, N.J., has seen a similar increase in renovation projects, which she attributes as much to aging inventory as a newfound appreciation for older homes. \u201cA lot of what makes this area such a great place to live is the history of the homes and the architecture of the area,\u201d she says of the centuries-old communities her clients seek out in the New York metro area and along the East Coast. “There’s a certain elegance and prestige to living in an enviably old home.” Homeowners’ enthusiasm for aging homes may be a matter of necessity, not just style. According to real estate brokerage website Redfin, the median age of homes currently on the market is 36 years old.<\/p>\n These designers say that while the broader economics of the housing market are certainly influencing some clients’ move toward renovation, their personal economics are more nuanced. For clients who have a limited budget but want to refresh their current space, Bunker says, “renovation can be much more targeted” than relocation, both in terms of financial cost and scope of work. Overall, the kitchen and bathroom are the focus of most projects. Nashville-based designer Elizabeth Birch has developed a service she calls “No Demo Reno” because she receives so many inquiries about these spaces, often with unrealistic expectations about how much they will cost. This service leaves the existing space, cabinets, and other structures intact, but changes almost everything else. By changing mirrors, lighting, and fixtures, she can create a fresh look for clients who don’t have the budget for a complete overhaul. Her method also addresses the tremendous inconvenience of clients living in construction zones for long periods of time (one of the obvious disadvantages of renovating current homes), as well as the delays and costs associated with optimizing homes that clients are patiently waiting to move into.<\/p>\n However, some home renovations that many other clients are working on have more typical new construction project budgets. “These are major renovations: building additions, lowering ceilings for different lighting effects, tearing out tile and hardwood floors, replacing windows, moving walls. These are not cheap adjustments,” Skodlo said, noting that some can cost upwards of $1 million. “It’s actually quite expensive to change a home, especially when you’re talking about cavernous rooms like this. More and more people are saying, ‘Well, it doesn’t have to be that big, because I’m going to make it beautiful enough that everything else is fine.'”<\/p>\n Elizabeth Graziolo of New York-based Yellow House Architects has seen her clients’ values \u200b\u200bchange in this situation. \u201cIt’s less about scale and more about value and control,\u201d she explains. “Many clients feel that by investing $500,000 to $1.5 million or more in renovations, they can achieve a highly customized, high-quality result rather than purchasing an expensive new home that requires significant effort. Often, this is a strategic decision: ‘If I’m going to spend this amount of money, I’d rather have it shaped to fit my needs.'”<\/p>\n The move to renovations reflects something deeper than just finances. \u201cWhat is most interesting is that retrofitting is no longer seen as a compromise, but is becoming the preferred approach,\u201d adds Graziolo. \u201cClients are thinking longer term and more holistically about how they live. Renovations allow for a level of thoughtfulness, craftsmanship and individualization that is difficult to achieve in speculative or newly purchased homes. In many ways, this shift is leading to better, more considered architecture.\u201d<\/p>\n Melinda Kelson O’Connor, a designer and architect based in New Jersey and Philadelphia, says her clients are seeing other benefits in remodeling. \u201cRenovation offers something that new construction simply cannot: the ability to work in stages. This gives the client real power and ownership over the process. In contrast, with new construction, you typically have to resolve and finance everything all at once.<\/p>\n In response to this moment, designers are approaching renovation projects with more forethought and consideration than a simple new build or move, and adjusting their processes to ensure a smoother client experience. \u201cRenovations require more detailed drawings to better understand the existing conditions, improve coordination with contractors early on, and reduce uncertainties on site,\u201d Graziolo says. \u201cDrawing accuracy and clarity are even more important during renovation projects. The more accurate the design on paper, the more efficiently the project can be executed on site, ultimately saving time and money.\u201d<\/p>\n For Kelson O’Connor, renovation also requires greater organization and a willingness to adapt. \u201cIt\u2019s important to incorporate the reality of the unknown directly into the billing model,\u201d she says. “You’ll learn more about your home as walls open and hidden contexts are revealed, and that knowledge will inevitably influence both design direction and budget. Pricing and design iterations must remain responsive to these discoveries throughout the process.” To manage all variables, she opts for flexibility in the pre-design and schematic stages, moving to fixed charges as unknowns are gradually eliminated. \u201cThis approach provides transparency for our clients while maintaining the adaptability necessary to respond to what the home reveals along the way.\u201d<\/p>\n Of course, ideal clients are those who have a good budget and are well prepared in advance. But not all customers have the deep pockets to essentially build a new home on top of their existing one, or the funds to deal with the inevitable. If you are fielding small renovation inquiries or are facing a declining pipeline of projects as a result of conservative client trends, consider a business coach or baud<\/em> Columnist Gail Dobie advises designers to go back to the drawing board.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you wait until it’s less busy, you’re about six months too late,\u201d says the Pearl Consulting co-founder. She suggests mapping out your local market and shifting your message to the luxury sector. “It depends on what level of customers you’re serving. You have to look at the market and say, ‘What is the market doing? What’s the high end? Are we serving the high end?'” If you’re a midsize business, you’ll probably need to take on smaller renovations. But if you’re on the high end, you might not be affected as much. \u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n #Renovation #progressing #Designers #adapting<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" New York-based designer Leslie Bunker’s Rhode Island vacation home has seen better days. Victorian cottages from the 1890s were poorly insulated, had no air conditioning, and had single-pane windows, making them drafty in the winter and damp in the summer. \u201cI redid a bathroom that looked like it would melt into the ground,\u201d she says … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":695,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[502,1],"tags":[1440,1439,1438,702,1437],"class_list":["post-694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-design","category-general","tag-adapting","tag-designers","tag-progressing","tag-renovation","tag-renovation-is-progressing-designers-are-adapting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/picsura.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/picsura.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/picsura.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/picsura.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/picsura.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/picsura.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/picsura.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/picsura.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/picsura.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/picsura.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}