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All Things Renovation
Rapid Fire Remodel And Design Questions From My Friends (And All My Answers)
Two of our closest friends are renovating their first home and they are IN IT. They recently came to visit for a few days and asked me all sorts of questions, mostly wanting my opinion based on my experience. I’ve probably written about all of these before but thought it would be fun to document how I answered them all casually right now, in 2023. Remember there are a million ways to do remodel and most of design is based on personal preferences, but I also LOVE giving my opinion for those open to it. So here you go:
Solid Wood Or Engineered Wood Flooring?
I am pretty team “engineered flooring” these days – it’s just gotten SO GOOD and is easier to deal with. Our Zena wood flooring is applied to engineered plywood to make it more durable (less warping and buckling). For my brother’s house we have Stuga (shell color) and it’s beautiful (not installed yet but the samples are so pretty). Most of the higher end ones you can still refinish up to four times. My two quick thoughts are stay away from the fake hand scraping texture and don’t go too dark and shiny – that usually means it’s a cheaper product and looks like it. But I love my solid wood flooring at the mountain house so much so either can be great.
Smooth Coat Walls Or Sprayed Orange Peel?
Smooth Coat
Orange Peel
This one is very based on budget as there is a huge price and time difference, with orange peel being SO much cheaper and faster. It’s essentially masking the drywall seams by spraying a bumpy texture on it, whereas smooth drywall takes weeks of mudding, taping sanding, over and over. Smooth wall looks clean, flat, pretty and higher end, whereas orange peel can look contractor grade. I’m a designer and my pickiness with finishes is extreme so I haven’t opted for the orange peel. But knowing the cost and price difference I would never come down against orange peel for most people. And honestly if I were on more of a budget in a future project (not my forever home) I would do a combination – I would likely do the rooms you care about (living room, kitchen, etc) in smooth walls (or light hand trowel if it’s common in your region – its not in Portland). Then in basements, TV rooms, kids’ rooms, playrooms, kids’ baths, etc – the rooms that you simply don’t care about as much, save some money and go for that orange peel. This is what we did at the Portland Project years ago and no one noticed the orange peel down in the basement (including the bedroom and the playroom). Additionally, stay away from rounded corner edges unless you are going for a post-modern vibe – instead opt for metal corner edges that look cleaner (especially with orange peel). Two of my best friends have an awesome house, all orange peel and their stuff is so cool that you do NOT notice it (nor were they going to pay to have the entire house redone). So if you bought a house with Orange peel walls and you feel bummed, just know that if you go more matte with your paint color and have cool art, no one but a designer will notice and then who cares?
Should We Hardwire In Speakers For Music?
I know this seems so specific but my brother and I talked about this SO MUCH as well. What he ended up doing is putting in speakers that can work with any system. I personally am scared of high tech permanently installed in houses because it can break or date the house very, very easily. But I’m probably the wrong person to ask because I don’t love loud music and I’m perfectly happy with blue tooth speakers when/where we are listening to them. Ken and Katie also don’t want high tech to break or date the house so he said this systems is so basic that it can work with Sonos and the machine itself can be updated. He’s also doing a very high end house, so I get having some smart features. If you listen to a ton of music all day every day I think it’s obviously a great feature. But wiring that through your house is also not cheap, FYI. Nothing is cheap ;)
Exposed Or Closed Treads On Stairs?
I like both! We exposed the treads in the OG Portland Project and our mountain house because the sculptural shape of the individual steps can look really pretty. I think it’s historically been the more classic and high-end look. Having an outer stringer that covers the edge of the stairs so you can’t see it is cheaper to execute which is why it’s more common in builder grade houses. It can look really pretty though. I loved how Chris Loves Julia and Sarah Sherman Samuel (obviously way more post-modern in design) did it in their respective entries.
Carpet Or Wood Flooring In A Kids’ Playroom Or Bedroom?
I love both. It really depends if food and paint are going to be involved because then definitely don’t go too light. I LOVED the carpet in our mountain house play attic (don’t forget the 1″ memory foam carpet pad). I love a cozy wall to wall, but if you have toddlers and you think they might rub their disgusting little marinara hands on everything then I’d go wood + washable rug.
What Paint Finish Do I Paint Everything?
There is so many ways to do this, but here are some general guidelines that we did (and ARCIFORM agreed):
Ceiling: Matte/flat as there might be more imperfections and anything with a sheen will show more imperfections.
Drywall Walls: Eggshell or matte. Eggshell is slightly more sheen and slightly easier to clean, but they are pretty close.
Door and Window Casing: I like this to be slightly more shiny than the walls, so likely satin or semi-gloss. I personally think that when they are painted the same color in a flat finish it looks like you only wanted to tape off once and shows no architectural/textural difference.
Wood Paneling (on Walls): Satin or semi-gloss. I think this is mostly for durability on the wood.
Bathroom Walls: I think flat/matte or eggshell is fine. I don’t love satin or semi on most normal drywall rooms, TBH.
Doors: Match the trim/casing (Again, I like slightly more sheen than on the walls even if the walls are flat and the casing/door are eggshell).
I have strayed from this many times, but this is off the top of my head what I would recommend right now.
So leave more of your questions in the comments and if you like this post I’ll do more like these. And just a reminder, you can literally break every rule, you can make anything work, your house is yours and shouldn’t be a source of stress. It’s almost all about personal preference and how you love to live in your own home (but if you like this post and don’t have my book yet, you could snag it where there is a lot of info like this in it).
Opening Image Credits: Photo by Kaitlin Green | From: Welcome To Our Bedroom + All The Upholstered Beds We Considered And What We Chose
I think the smooth vs orange peel is very regional. Drywall in New England is generally only smooth. It doesn’t mean you are getting a blue board and plaster finish, and it doesn’t take weeks. I don’t think you could find someone to even do orange peel, so no price difference.
how interesting. team em… could we learn more?
There’s an old post with a huge discussionon this.
I can’t remember the title though, sorry.
Maybe an EHD Team Member might link it here for you?
I was born and raised in Pennsylvania and have lived in New England and the Mid-Atlantic states my entire life until we moved to the Portland area several years ago for work. I had never even heard of orange peel walls until we started house hunting here and every single house, whether new construction or an older home, had orange peel walls and ceilings. Although they bothered me at first, I’m now used to them and like Emily mentioned, if you hang great artwork, no one even notices.
I think we do something in between in the Midwest/Chicago. Essentially it’s just drywall and smooth taping and mud only where they connect. So it’s not that much work. My assumption is that it’s even less work and materials than when they do orange peel. Drywall teams work very fast, speaking from observation. The effect is as smooth as the drywall is. Obviously a paint brush can add a little bit of texture to make sure the tape doesn’t look more smooth than the rest. It’s not paper smooth, but it’s not orange peel either. I certainly haven’t heard of anyone doing mud all over in our region. In my home country, people are obsessed with a smooth gypsum finish, so it’s standard there. But I think they have different needs in terms of straightening up walls, and they don’t prefer hollow (wood+drywall) walls anyway. They use drywall but not always.
Was coming here to say the same thing! Smooth vs orange peel must be SO regional. I’m in the central east coast of the US and all drywall is smooth everywhere, it’s never even a discussion. And it does not take weeks; 1 room takes 3 days tops, which can include hanging the drywall itself. It often doesn’t even need full days from the contractor — it takes, for example, half a day to tape and mud, then wait till the next day for it to dry, then take a half day to sand it and mud again, wait till the next day, then take 2 hours to do a final sanding. (I’ve had it done in a couple different houses at this point, during various renovations.) I had never seen a house that was orange-peel texture throughout until I started visiting friends in Colorado, and at first I was mystified by it. Now I want someone to do a nationwide survey so we can find the geographical patterns, lol!
Chiming in from Virginia- nothing but smooth walls here. I have seen one example in person while traveling and really dislike to. I guess it was more noticeable to me because no where near me has it!
Ditto! I live on the East Coast and have traveled all over but never saw orange peel walls until I visited friends in CA and OR. It’s just not a thing. My dad owned a construction company and then worked at a drywall company so I’m pretty familiar with the process, and I don’t know how smooth drywall could take weeks? You hang it, you tape it on the seams, you mud that, you sand. Are people putting joint compound (which is what mud is? it says “joint” right in the name!) over the entire wall? That seems … odd.
I think they are – and I’ve never been able to understand why. Your dad should move to the west coast and start a smooth drywall business!
When I built my house we had the option of only “mudding” the seams or getting a high level finish where the entire wall was coated -I think it was a level 5 finish. It was a higher end house so we went with the entire wall finished (it was supposed to look more like old plaster walls vs drywall)
PS. I live in Pennsylvania
Yeah – this has come up a few times before on the blog – on the east coast smooth drywall is standard, fast, and the cheapest. You would only do orange peel if you wanted some really specific look or you were trying to cover something weird up.
Chiming in my with own regional observations: I grew up in Chicago and never saw orange peel drywall ever. Now I live in Denver and it is truly everywhere. In my opinion, it speaks to the cheaper, newer housing stock in Denver (generalizing here) versus a place like Chicago with more historic heft. All my Denver friends who are from the East Coast or Midwest lament the state of their orange peel walls. It makes wallpapering tricky and there’s something very “builder-grade” and slapdash about it. (Our new Denver house has completely smooth drywall everywhere — the last owner redid it all — and I would be lying if I said this wasn’t a small factor in me wanting the house!)
I’ve always seen mudding the seams and then priming over the drywall directly, i’ve never seen a level 5 finish being done
I’ve lived in Colorado for 20 years but grew up outside of Boston. Orange peel is everywhere here and I hate it. My mom’s husband is a longtime contractor outside of Boston and refuses to even use drywall in his jobs – plasterboard and plaster only for all his jobs. It is beautiful, I must say – the walls have a handmade quality that reminds me of Roman clay, but waaaay more subtle. That said, it is fussier to deal with – I remember walls crumbling every time I put a nail in them as a kid!
I live in the Mid-Atlantic in a WWII-era house with plaster walls (except the basement, which I insulated and finished myself with smooth drywall as that is by far the most typical in my region). But the original bathroom–and only that room–has textured plaster. The texture is sort of halfway between orange peel and popcorn, on the ceiling and all walls above the dado-height tiles. I don’t love it but nor do I trust myself to skim coat it evenly, so I live with it and wonder: why just the one room? I’ve heard that texturing walls dampens sound slightly, which might have been a consideration since the bathroom shares a wall with one bedroom.
This is I guess more a question for the readers than for Emily, but I’m curious as to what percentage of the states would have “orange peel” texture as the cheapest/standard option vs smooth walls? And is this common anywhere else in the world outside the US? I’m from NZ and have lived in Europe & Asia and have almost never seen it, I think it would if anything, cost more to texture the walls.
Some things to think about with wood vs carpet etc is what type of heating you will have/what climate you live in. Underfloor heating doesn’t work well with thick carpets/underlays on top of it, and in a hot climate tiled floors are common. I think also some of us are floor people, (the kind that often sit on the floor even when there’s a sofa right there), so if the floors are not carpeted then plush rugs become essential.
I’m in Michigan and it’s smooth walls here. The orange peel (or any sort of drywall texture) finishing is just baffling to me. Seems to be more of a west/southwest thing in the US?
Hi Eve,
NOT a thing in Australia!
And no way does finishing dry wall (we call it plaster board, but it’s the same) take tgat smount of finishing!!
They nail it on, apply a special tape to the joins, skim ONLY the joins, sand those joins, seal and paint.
I bought a paint with built-in sealer to do a ceiling on my back porch and I didn’t have to seal, either.
.
Another difference is, until recent times snd cheaper builds, most Australian hpises were dpubld brick exterior/single brick interior walls. So no easy ripping out and putting up walls for renovations, like in the US.
I’ve lived in Colorado, Minnesota, and Iowa and my experience is orange peel walls is very common in all these states.
In California textured walls are very common. We live in a 50s ranch and it still has textured walls.
All textured walls here in Arizona as well.
Yes either orange peel or a much more textured, almost troweled type look! My 1951 house is super textured and every house I’ve lived in here in Tucson (never lived anywhere newer than a 1960 home though) is the same.
I’m confused, aren’t both of the pictures of stairs closed tread? I thought open tread are the ‘see through’ variety that give a more modern look. And potentially dangerous with kids around!
Also, I’ve literally never seen that orange peel texture as an option. Standard finish where I am in Canada is smooth drywall – I’m sure you could find someone to do a textured finish, but it would actually end up costing a lot more. This must be a regional thing? And smooth drywall shouldn’t take weeks – we had a bathroom done recently and the drywall was 1 day installation/taping/mudding, then they sanded it I think twice and it was done. Guy was a pro!
I think she’s referring the the side view of the treads (treads are the part your foot lands on) and you are thinking of the riser (the part that’s parallel to the walls.) it’s confusing because both of the pics she shows from Mountain and Portland homes have “open treads,” meaning you can see see the shape of each individual step/tread from the side. To see what “closed treads” look like, you have to click on the two links in the paragraph after the pics. Basically it’s about whether there’s a “stringer”—a separate piece attached on the side of the staircase that “closes” off the side view of the individual treads—or not. I read it a couple times bc I was genuinely interested and that’s what I’ve surmised. Not positive though!
Is orange peel a west coast thing? I’ve lived in the Midwest and now on the east coast and the options are either drywall (by far, the most common) or plaster (much less common and usually only in older houses).
I love this style of post! I like that some of the questions definitely only apply to a reno, while others can apply to anyone doing even a more minor update their home. Please do more of these! My question would be: when updating a bathroom, how do you decide how much tile to do on the walls? Obviously painting is much more affordable, but what areas do you get the most bang for your buck or are most important? (Aside from
shower area of course).
Love this post! Another question: What would you do with a house that has hardwood flooring throughout EXCEPT for the kitchen which is cheap wood-look vinyl? Try and match the rest of the house? Tile just the kitchen? Something else?? Thank you!
I’ve seen ‘Home Town’ match wooden floors in old houses, perfectly.
I’d match it. It always looks better.
My architects were confident they could match the white oak flooring (after refinishing) that was in my original living room but nowhere else. We carried it through to the kitchen and office on the same floor, and you CANNOT see where the transition goes from original to new flooring. It’s literally invisible.
I don’t know why people downvoted Rusty’s comment… I agree that a seamless floor can often be the best look. It’s not hard if you’re refinishing the whole floor. If you’re not refinishing, that might be a different story.
Fwiw, I find tile in the kitchen to be hard to stand on and the grout difficult to keep clean.
Agree
Same situation here. I’m in a 1947 bungalow. The living room is those thin oak veneer boards, I think the kitchen was probably linoleum until a previous owner put in vinyl flooring. I haven’t been too kind to the living room floor, had assumed it could be re-finished but apparently hardly anyone around me does it, and it likely can’t be re-finshed again because the floor is veneer. To address your question though- I asked about matching these boards and no one sells them anymore. If you have newer hardwood though, sounds like it can be matched based on comments below. (I’ll add and if you live in a city/area where other people are also doing that- trying to get people to lay custom tile, install a Rohl fauct, and farmhouse sink has been really hard where I live!)
Textured walls seem to be a US thing? I have never seen orange peel walls in Canada (or Ontario at least!). Flat drywall is the basic finish here.
Never seen them in BC either! Always smooth. And, after building one house and renovating another, I’ve never been asked about the finish. They automatically do smooth.
Also in Ontario, and totally agree. Only exception has been older (early 1900s) apartment blocks with plaster walls and textured finish. What we do have too much of, except in new builds, are textured ceilings. Makes you wonder why smooth walls are standard but ceilings aren’t!
I’m in Alberta and it’s because the ceilings show flaws much more so once the house settles – so they texture it (“knock-down” or “popcorn”). I so envy all those smooth ceilings I see in US homes!
Also smooth drywall here as the default walls.
I’m from Iowa and used to be a real estate agent for several years. Orange peel is the norm. It’s less expensive than smooth walls and here’s why. The contractors don’t worry so much about the finer details when mudding, taping and sanding because the orange peel will cover any imperfections thus saving time. And there are variations in the orange peel texture itself. Some is a little texture and some is more. And some is what is called a “knock down”. Meaning they sprayed a rather heavy texture and then took a trowel to knock it down – it creates a different kind of texture. I don’t like it but no one ever asked me. And of course the older homes are plaster. And there was one house I saw where the walls were textured with what they called “cow coat”. I don’t know but you can’t make this stuff up. It looked terrible and I have never seen or heard about it before or after. Honestly, I think it’s more of an issue with having a good drywall finisher. No one seems to want to do it around here.
Maybe it’s like manicures being cheaper in ny – plenty of people just know how to do them really fast? Learning to tape and mud doesn’t seem that hard to me, but maybe no one’s taken the time to learn on the west coast so a one off request ends of being difficult and expensive?
Remodeling questions? About anything? Hot dog! How I’ve been waiting for an opportunity like this…
But first here’s an idea: How about having a permanent spot (maybe a small form) on your website for reader remodeling/decorating questions. You don’t have to post answers to all of them or even post the questions themselves, but they will give you insight into your readers’ concerns and perhaps provide inspiration for posts when the EMD idea well runs dry.
So, here’s my most pressing question: Like many American homeowners, we are blessed with an aging combined shower/tub unit. There is no room for separate shower and tub units, moreover our second bathroom is a powder room! So, we need to replace our alcove shower/tub with another and we are FULL of questions. What are the best materials to use and what are their pros and cons? How should we configure toiletry nooks and shelves? Do attractive safety bars actually exist (and if so, where can we find them?)
Thank you!
You might check the website of the National Kitchen and Bath Association for answers and ideas:
Great post! I have a comment on the paint finishes section. I once read on a designer’s blog (can’t remember where) a recommendation to use satin or eggshell rather than flat on ceilings, as it “lifts” them. I happen to have both in my house and it is SO TRUE! The slight sheen makes the ceiling appear taller and looks amazing! I definitely prefer it to the flat painted ceilings that I have :)
That is great to know! I’ve never heard that before but love the idea.
I’ve heard of using slightly shimmery (in a sophisticated way) wallpaper or gold or silver leaf on a low ceiling to do the same thing, so that makes sense! The reflective surface gives the impression that you are seeing into it, adding depth that makes the ceiling seem further away.
I’m here to add to the paint finish.. we rent a 1920s farmhouse, and a lot of the paint is flat. And with kids, it is SO hard to clean! My living room is eggshell, but still have to scrub a bit to get dirty handprints off the wall. I don’t know if that’s because they’re plaster? But I recently painted my bedroom and the main bathroom in a satin finish- and honestly, I love it. I love the sheen when the sun hits it, how easy it is to clean, and the way the plaster texture shows through.
We’re currently building, and all the walls and ceilings will be sprayed satin in our new house!
Textured walls abound in CA. We bought a house (Monterey County – built in 1972) and the first thing we did was remove the popcorn ceilings and smooth out the wall texture – it was orange peel upstairs and faux wood paneling downstairs. They applied a glue and then skim coated walls and ceilings. So much dust from sanding! But it only took about 1.5 weeks for that + paint and looks like a new house! I figure it is easier to patch (pets and kiddos and hanging stuff and life) than trying to match random texture. 100% worth it.
Gah! Love, love, love the Portland Entry. I wish you would do a longer post on those stairs, the railing, and the post. It was my inspiration for our renovation and made my best guesses but it’s a gorgeous entry that deserves more words.
I’m so curious about your brother’s house! I thought I recalled it was introduced to us as being a project we would get to follow along with; perhaps the family changed their minds on wanting it documented? Thanks for the content as always.
I live in Northern California, but grew up in the Midwest and had never seen orange peel until I moved to the west coast. We remodeled 3 years ago and I TRIED and TRIED to find a sheetrock guy to give me smooth walls (our house was built in 1894 so I think orange peel looks stupid in this age house–I even considered importing somebody from back home). The best I could get was something they called “imperfect” Kind of like the orange peel in that they spray on some mud and knock it down, but in super large almost smooth sections–so it looks smooth unless you get up close and look at the walls where you can see the feathered edge of one of the knock down areas. Well named almost perfect but not quite. Oh well, in remodels there are some compromises you have to make.
I’m loving the regional differences of wall textures and pricing, who knew?! I have lived in Texas and Colorado and orange peel is much less expensive, “slick” walls taking longer and a premium. I have the same thoughts on paint sheen as Emily…however I wanted to let everyone know after trying MANY low and high end paint brands and sheens, my favorite by far for walls in any space (kitchens, hallways, bedrooms, bathrooms, you name it) is Benjamin Moore Regal paint in the Matte finish. It looks essentially flat (I prefer my walls as flat as possible in sheen) while still being wipeable and scrubbable. With 3 kids and 2 dogs, this is a must. I also find it touches up really well even years later, just really brush out your touch ups strokes with your brush. I have tried 3 other brands that have a comparable “Matte” product and claim to be scrubbable and they were not when put to the test. I am also team engineered hardwoods from a sustainability standpoint and if you have a slab house, it will move with your house better. That being said we finished original hardwoods in a 1959 house because they… Read more »
We had a minor water leak in our basement, which had engineered hardwood floors in a horrendous shiny red finish— it all had to be replaced. We put down LPV and I LOVE IT. Perfect for a basement, and feels very nice under bare feet. Not sure I would want LPV on a main floor, but there are some really lovely planks out there now.
So helpful! How about this: how much space should there be between the bottom of the door and the floor???
I love this post, and how Emily’s book goes more in detail with all of this stuff. I’ve been referring to it often as I prep for our new build!
Late to the party but wanted to comment based on my work experience: ORANGE PEEL texture is common in western states because for decades after WW2 they couldn’t build houses fast enough and this technique allows builders to finish quicker. It’s messy and costly to have it smoothed out, I wouldn’t bother unless the rest of the build quality is also high end. You can calm down the orange peel texture with matte paint (satin or semi-gloss really makes it look nubby). The advantage of orange peel texture is that it is easier to disguise any damage that happens over time/use of the home. The only texture I absolutely would always remove is knock down on an interior wall – why would they do that? 70’s were a crazy time! ENGINEERED HARDWOOD is more stable than traditional hardwood (less subject to cupping or warping). It’s a hardwood veneer over a plywood substrate. I wouldn’t hesitate to install a good quality engineered hardwood floor and just did in my latest house. LVP (Luxury Vinyl Plank, or SPC Stone plank) has a digital image of wood encased in layers of textured vinyl/plastic material and with a slightly cushioned backing. This is Lifeproof,… Read more »