Before You Renovate... Watch THIS First! — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00One of the easiest mistakes to make when
2. 0:02updating a home is assuming the answer
3. 0:04is to start over. New floors, new trim,
4. 0:07new cabinets. But often, the biggest
5. 0:09improvements come from what already
6. 0:11exists. It's likely that your room has
7. 0:13things worth keeping. The challenge many
8. 0:16of us face is those items not being
9. 0:18supported by anything around them. Like
10. 0:20a company of soldiers without radios.
11. 0:22Each one of them is on their own mission
12. 0:24and we need to get them on the same
13. 0:26target. Recently, a gentleman named Mark
14. 0:28reached out about his 200-year-old home
15. 0:31which had a library and an adjacent bar.
16. 0:33He said, "I'd like to refine the space.
17. 0:36It has a great base, but it needs a
18. 0:37cohesive look and feel." I think that's
19. 0:40an important distinction. He wasn't
20. 0:42asking us to completely reinvent the
21. 0:44room, nor was he asking us to erase the
22. 0:46history of a 200-year-old home. He
23. 0:49recognized there was already something
24. 0:51worth preserving. He felt like the room
25. 0:53hadn't quite reached its potential. And
26. 0:56after looking through the existing
27. 0:57photos, we understood exactly what he
28. 1:00meant. My name is Chadry and today I'm
29. 1:02sharing with you a project that was less
30. 1:04about creating character and more about
31. 1:06uncovering the character that was
32. 1:08already there. If you would like our
33. 1:10help in designing your room, you can
34. 1:12have that help by clicking the link in
35. 1:15the description below.
36. 1:17Whenever you walk into an older home,
37. 1:19you want to try to answer one question
38. 1:21before anything else. What has this
39. 1:24house already done well? Because if you
40. 1:26ignore that question, it's very easy to
41. 1:28spend money removing the very things
42. 1:30that give the home its identity. In
43. 1:32Mark's case, there was already quite a
44. 1:34bit working in our favor. The original
45. 1:36wood paneling, the built-in shelving,
46. 1:38the fireplaces, the hardwood floors,
47. 1:41even the arched opening leading into the
48. 1:43bar. Those aren't problems to solve,
49. 1:46they're assets. The room already had a
50. 1:48story. It just wasn't being told very
51. 1:50clearly. With this room, it was very
52. 1:52important to recognize that the paneling
53. 1:55was not the issue. This is one of the
54. 1:57biggest lessons from this entire
55. 1:59project. When people look at pine
56. 2:01paneling, they often assume the paneling
57. 2:03itself is what makes a room feel dated.
58. 2:06That's not what happened here. While
59. 2:08looking through Mark's photos, we kept
60. 2:09coming back to the same conclusion. The
61. 2:12paneling wasn't fighting the room.
62. 2:14Everything else was. The furniture
63. 2:16belonged to one style, the lighting
64. 2:18belonged to another. The television felt
65. 2:20provisional, like someone realized it
66. 2:22was missing last minute and tossed it in
67. 2:24there. The shelving was doing its job,
68. 2:27but it wasn't contributing much beyond
69. 2:28storage. Nothing felt connected. So,
70. 2:31instead of asking, "How do we get rid of
71. 2:33the paneling?" we asked, "How do we help
72. 2:35the paneling become part of a more
73. 2:37cohesive room?" That one decision
74. 2:40changed the direction of the project.
75. 2:42One thing you can appreciate about
76. 2:44Mark's approach is that he never asked
77. 2:45us to strip the room back to drywall and
78. 2:48start over. In fact, he specifically
79. 2:50mentioned wanting to respect the age of
80. 2:52the house. I think that's a mindset more
81. 2:54people should consider. Not every older
82. 2:57feature deserves to stay, but not every
83. 2:59older feature deserves to go, either.
84. 3:01Some homes already contain the
85. 3:03ingredients for a remarkable room. They
86. 3:05simply need someone to organize them.
87. 3:08That's exactly what happened here.
88. 3:09Instead of replacing the architecture,
89. 3:11we allowed the architecture to become
90. 3:13more noticeable. Once the colors became
91. 3:15complimentary, once the lighting began
92. 3:17emphasizing the right features, and the
93. 3:19furnishings felt like they belonged in
94. 3:21the house, the paneling, fireplace,
95. 3:24built-ins, they all suddenly carried the
96. 3:26room the way they were always capable
97. 3:28of. It's tempting to look at a room like
98. 3:31this and give credit to the wrong thing.
99. 3:33People assume the paint color is what
100. 3:35creates the atmosphere. The paint is
101. 3:37supporting the things creating the
102. 3:39atmosphere. Once the walls, cabinetry,
103. 3:42and ceiling were treated as one
104. 3:44continuous backdrop, a shift occurs. The
105. 3:47books become more noticeable, and the
106. 3:49artwork gained more presence. The
107. 3:51leather seating felt richer while the
108. 3:53fireplace became more prominent. Even
109. 3:55the natural light coming through the
110. 3:56windows became more dramatic because it
111. 3:59was framed by darker surroundings. The
112. 4:01noise of the room had been reduced and
113. 4:04when a room becomes quieter, the things
114. 4:06that matter finally have a chance to
115. 4:08speak. When you compare the before and
116. 4:10after, the change in the shelving is
117. 4:12really enjoyable to see. Mark already
118. 4:14had built-ins, that wasn't new. What
119. 4:16changed was how the shelves participated
120. 4:18in the room. Instead of disappearing
121. 4:20into the background, they became part of
122. 4:22the architecture. The integrated
123. 4:24lighting plays a big role in that. It
124. 4:26isn't there simply to brighten the
125. 4:28shelves. It creates depth. It separates
126. 4:30the books from the darker cabinetry and
127. 4:32after the sun goes down, those shelves
128. 4:34continue contributing to the atmosphere
129. 4:36of the room instead of fading into
130. 4:39darkness. Light shouldn't just help you
131. 4:41see a room. It should help define it.
132. 4:43There was another comment that
133. 4:44influenced several decisions. Mark
134. 4:46mentioned that whenever people come
135. 4:48over, everyone eventually ends up around
136. 4:50the bar. Comments like this are useful
137. 4:53because they tell you how the room
138. 4:54behaves. You don't want to fight those
139. 4:56habits. You want to embrace them. That's
140. 4:59why the library and adjoining bar feel
141. 5:01connected instead of separate. The same
142. 5:03finishes continue through both spaces.
143. 5:06The colors remain consistent. The
144. 5:08lighting follows the same language.
145. 5:10Walking through the arch doesn't feel
146. 5:12like entering another room. It feels
147. 5:14like the next chapter of the same
148. 5:16experience. There's another decision
149. 5:18here that most people wouldn't notice
150. 5:19unless it was pointed out. The floor
151. 5:21lamps beside the seating areas have a
152. 5:23gentle forward arc. At first glance, it
153. 5:26seems like a small design detail, but it
154. 5:28isn't. Think about sitting in one of
155. 5:30these chairs with a book in your lap. A
156. 5:32straight floor lamp will brighten the
157. 5:34corner of the room, but much of that
158. 5:35light stays behind your shoulder. By
159. 5:38allowing the shade to project forward
160. 5:40just a little, the light falls directly
161. 5:42onto the pages where you actually need
162. 5:44it. That means the lamp isn't just
163. 5:46filling the space. It's supporting the
164. 5:48reason the room exists in the first
165. 5:50place. The bar is another example of
166. 5:53looking at what's already there. Mark
167. 5:54wanted to keep the mahogany countertop.
168. 5:56That's very reasonable. It already had
169. 5:58the warmth and character the room
170. 6:00needed. So, instead of replacing it, we
171. 6:02built around it. The darker millwork
172. 6:05gives it more presence. The lighting
173. 6:06draws your attention toward the
174. 6:08cabinetry. The materials now feel
175. 6:10related to the library instead of
176. 6:12existing beside it. Very little changed
177. 6:15structurally, but the experience changed
178. 6:18completely. That's a reminder that
179. 6:20transformation isn't always measured by
180. 6:22how much you remove. Sometimes, it's
181. 6:24measured by how well everything begins
182. 6:26working together. Looking at the
183. 6:28finished room, the biggest success isn't
184. 6:30the paint color, or the furniture, or
185. 6:32even the library itself. It's that the
186. 6:35room finally feels like it belongs in
187. 6:37this house. It doesn't feel forced. It
188. 6:39feels native. Like a series of dominoes,
189. 6:42the paneling finally works with the
190. 6:43furniture. The furniture works with the
191. 6:45fireplace. The fireplace works with the
192. 6:47library. The library flows naturally
193. 6:50into the bar. Everything is moving in
194. 6:52the same direction. So, before you start
195. 6:55making a list of everything you'd like
196. 6:56to replace in your home, spend a little
197. 6:58time asking yourself what deserves a
198. 7:00second look. You may already have the
199. 7:02strongest feature in the room. It just
200. 7:05needs the rest of the space to finally
201. 7:07support it. If you like the video, hit
202. 7:09the thumbs up. If you feel like sticking
203. 7:11around a while, feel free to subscribe.
204. 7:14See you in the next one.
205. 7:21>> [music]
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