Your renovation story could help someone

Maybe you've seen home-construction crews in your neighborhood, building bigger homes where older, smaller ones once stood.
We know many of you are investing time and money to rebuild or renovate homes in our area, or to do smaller, meaningful upgrades. And we know you're often better off once the old tub is gone, the windows enlarged or the kitchen gutted and opened up to the surrounding rooms.
What did you learn along the way? Now that you’re wiser, share what you've learned with us. We want to publish your renovation story and pictures on our website under a banner called Problem Solved.
You made all sorts of checklists, found the right fixtures and finishes, negotiated with contractors and maybe even corrected a misstep or two along the way. How did you keep it moving and get through it?
Three-course dinners made with a toaster oven while your kitchen was out of order? Did you wade through an inch or two of water before the roof went on? And how did the pets make out? We’ve heard all sorts of stories, but not yours.
Tell us in 500 words or less what problems you had at home, how your building or renovation project addressed those problems and what advice you have for others who may be considering a similar project. Send your story and pictures to home@charlotteobserver.com.
We’ll choose one of those stories and send the brave survivor a $25 gift card.

Karen’s blog: http://homelifeclt.blogspot.com; on Twitter @sullivan_kms

Buyers and sellers can learn from kitchen design survey

If you had a chance to redo your kitchen, what would you change?
Researchers at the online home decorating site Houzz wanted to know for its first kitchen trends survey. They collected information from 7,500 people in the process of remodeling or planning to. There weren’t any big surprises, but what an interesting collage you can see in the results.
Most people didn’t want a bigger kitchen. They wanted to open up their space to make it feel more spacious, look better and become more useful, the report says. Only 37 percent were expanding.
Stainless steel appliances are still the top choice, with 65 percent going for those. Ninety-four percent were changing countertops, mostly to granite or quartz. Glass tile is the look for a backsplash, along with hardwoods for floors.
Traditional decor has ruled for decades in the South, but respondents under age 45 preferred contemporary styles.
The survey also asked the homeowners to rate the importance of eco-friendly appliances and materials. Forty-nine percent rated it as 4 or 5, with 5 being extremely important.
Most interesting, I think, were the reasons for the upgrades: New marriages, growing families, empty nests, and accommodating grandchildren or wheelchairs.
Just different ways of telling us what we already know: We want a kitchen that feels like the heart and soul of our home.

Sullivan: http://homelifeclt.blogspot.com/ and @sullivan_obs on Twitter