12 home renovations you’re likely to regret later

Talk about hindsight being 20-20. Before you start demo-ing walls and buying everything mid-century modern, consider the wisdom of realtors who have seen the renovations homeowners really regret.

It’s rare to watch a home improvement show without seeing the crew tear down walls to create a huge great room. Sure, it’s trendy and the appeal of having an open and spacious living area is tempting, but you may regret it for reasons you didn’t think about, especially if a large island replaces the family dining table. “While the room may be very large, it doesn’t offer many options: It leaves the family with only one room to relax in, any mess is immediately visible and remains that way until tidied, there is no table where you can relax and enjoy a meal, and sometimes you don’t want to hear whatever the kids are watching on TV,” says realtor Michele Morrison.

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A free-standing bath is a quintessential element in the coveted spa-like bathroom but this renovation may prove to be a renovation washout. They take up a lot of room and are difficult to keep clean and tidy. “These tubs take up a lot of space in the home, I don’t think they’re going to be used much, and, in fact, in drought-prone areas, they’re very unlikely to be used at all either now or in the future. Water conservation and large, single-use tubs are not a great combination,” says Morrison.

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You never use the spare bedroom so why not make it into something more useful, like a walk-in closet with a dressing area? Before you get excited about slanted shoe shelving and a valet pole, you may want to consider the lost liveable area. “It’s wonderful for you and your clothes, but what happens when you decide to sell your home? You lost a bedroom when you created the closet. Your home also lost value, unless you convert the closet back to a bedroom,” says real estate broker Leneiva Head.

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You’re drooling over the gorgeous, artsy custom tiles you’ve seen in all the glossy home magazines – and that nautical inlay design on the hardwood floor you saw in the resort would be perfect for your entrance. Hit the pause button on your fantasies. “These can’t be changed as easily as an accessory,” notes Head. “What will you do when the ‘it’ colour or design isn’t ‘it’ anymore?” Is this just a passing phase? Or will you still love it years down the road?

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Granite and quartz countertops? C’mon. You’d rather embrace something a little hipper like the rustic meets industrial trend of concrete benchtops. Head admits it’s her favourite trend in benchtops at the moment, but she says, “You can’t just change that baby out when you tire of your glassware suffering a great fall.” Besides broken dishes, concrete surfaces are porous and have to be resealed regularly and they have a tendency to crack. Things like olive oil and red wine spills can mark the surface… or make a great patina in time. You decide…

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The farmhouse kitchen design really brought the open shelving to the forefront. “It’s much more versatile than cabinets by way of placement design. Aesthetically it’s a great concept!” says Head. But if you think about it, people who lived in a farmhouse kitchen all those years ago probably didn’t need a room full of cabinets because they didn’t have the abundance of dishes, cookery and gadgets that we do today. “You may regret this stunning concept when you realise there’s truly no storage space. Who doesn’t have a need for the Tupperware cabinet?”

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Farmhouse and mid-century modern are undoubtedly cool interior design trends but realtor Luis Dominguez has some advice before installing timber cladding on every wall or converting a spare room with a Mad Men-inspired bar that would make Don Draper proud. “A homeowner should be careful to not fall for a trend that will most likely come and go. I would personally give them time to settle and would pick the best option once it’s matured,” he says. Of course, if you own a home built in the mid-30s to mid-60s, mid-century modern makes sense, but if your house is a Victorian, probably not so much.

When it comes to outdoor renovations, extensive maintenance and unforeseen expenses are what usually leads to regret. For example, a koi pond is a lovely element in your garden, but it requires a lot of hours to maintain and they tend to attract frogs. Another green feature Dominguez sees as regret for some is climbing ivy. Sure, it’s charming and ever so quaint when it’s creeping up a stone exterior, but it’s also a pain because it’s invasive. “It will require a lot of maintenance, not to mention that it may cause structural damage over time,” he says.

“It can go 50/50 when it comes to re-purposing a garage into additional living space,” says real estate agent Mary Ann Graboyes. All that square footage is tempting to convert to a family room or gym, especially if you don’t use the garage much for parking your car. But then that unexpected season of rain or harsh winter comes along and you’re singing a different tune when you’re hauling groceries into the house. And what if you want to sell the house later? Prospective buyers may not be too crazy about not having a garage to park cars and store the lawn mower and kid’s bikes. “Homeowners should think about the home’s potential resale value prior to making that commitment,” says Graboyes.