house plan design

What renovations are worth doing?

10/09/2024Prasetyo

A few months ago, I received an email from a woman who had bought a 1964 ranch with all its original interiors: wood paneling, Formica countertops, a blue bathroom, the works. She hosted a housewarming party for her friends and relatives. Six different people at the party asked her The Question: “So, when are you going to flip this place?” When they heard that she had no desire to flip the house, which she found to be interesting and charming, her guests were shocked and tried to convince her otherwise. She should try for a return on her investment; the

Lifestyle changes, aging homes, rising prices spur record spending

05/09/202428/10/2024Prasetyo

About a year after the onset of the pandemic, Kathy Lange-Novak and her husband, Frank Novak, decided it was time to update their Fitchburg home.

After 26 years, the floors, countertops and appliances were showing their age, and the couple thought they needed to upgrade before putting the house on the market.

“This is the first time we’ve remodeled anything,” Kathy said. “It needed an overhaul.”

Like so many Americans, the recently retired couple had spent most of the past year at home as COVID-19 health restrictions limited their social activities.

“It’s one thing when you go, ‘We could really

‘It’s Gifts and It’s Debt’ | News

02/09/202426/10/2024Prasetyo

It was the spring of 2008, and Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Michael D. Smith’s task was cut out for him: renovate several of Harvard’s nearly 100-year-old Houses. The homes of thousands of undergraduates at Harvard, many of the Houses were built in the 1930s and have not been significantly improved since.

By 2008, though, Smith and other Harvard administrators felt it was time to give Harvard’s signature housing system a face lift. The project, called House renewal, was set to renovate each of the 12 Houses and “reimagine” the undergraduate experience.

But that process has proven easier to