cb, you are definitely making progress with this couple. Too bad that every single design decision is like pulling teeth.
It’s much much easier to flip a house when every design decision is your very own, and the only concern is whether someone will want to buy it. You don’t like having to conform to someone else’s design.
Oh cb, please tell my DH that cherry cabinets are OUT! He wants them in the master bath (with gray tile). Yuk.
I don’t believe fine wood cabinets like cherry will ever be “out”. They may be more or less trendy at any given time, but if you have a quality cabinet with a good door style in a nice color, it’s fairly timeless IMO.
At least I hope so, considering the pricey cherry cabinets I have in my kitchen. 
People still go “wow, nice kitchen” when they walk in for the first time, even 15 years later.
Take a look at the kitchen in this house: https://www.redfin.com/MA/Bourne/7-Pine-Ridge-Rd-02532/home/77482180
I kind of like the red cabinets on the island, but DW insists the two-tone cabinet paradigm is a fad and will be right there with harvest gold appliances or orange formica countertops in a few years. I’m working on her for the new kitchen I will be doing at some point. We’ll see who wins. 
Cherry cabinets would be a plus in THESE master baths that CB is doing…as would a neutral wall tile.
I also think they are going to regret keeping the hideous green carpet…unless they just leave all the junk in those two rooms forever. Once the rest of the house is fresh and new…te carpet…and those vanaities…are going to be even worse!
Any chance there is some water damage under either batherom sink…from some previous leak or spill? You know…mildew potential or just YUCK?
I like real wood, too, and cherry that is not super dark stained is still pretty much in. Funny a new neighbor looked at the 18 yr old maple cabinets in our kitchen and asked when we remodeled. 
Nope, these are “original to the house.” She was amazed that they looked so good and updated compared to what is usual found in the other older homes in the area.
I haven’t had a chance to open up cabinets and look under sink basin. But I can definitely smell mildew so its probably in the cabinets
I don’t have any problem with solid cherry cabinets with a simple door design that are natural. They age beautifully. I have a problem with ugly busy raised panel design with cabinets sprayed with a fakish cherry coloring that is verging on an orange tint. They look cheap to me
Might as well get painted cabinets in a slightly more modern color scheme.
What a shame they aren’t getting the bathrooms updated now. They will have all their entertaining areas updated and fresh and then their guests will go the bathroom and see that dated tile and vanities.
CB…if you could give those bathrooms a retro look…they might work,… up you cannot do that with the current vanity situation. Those aren’t retro…they are old…and worn out.
Take the husband in…and let him smell the mildew.
Maybe there are financial constraints and they can’t afford to completely gut and redo two bathrooms right now. That would probably be, what, another $30-40,000?
I can’t imagine a new vanity in each bathroom would cost THAT much…and it would improve things hugely. I believe they are already doing new floors.
I can’t imagine spending $40k on two baths! We just did a new quartz dual Kohler sinks counter and a large frameless shower enclosure and all new plumbing fixtures installed for under $6k in our MB!!! And these were not cheap things. The shower needed really thick glass becau of the width.
I am sure CB can do her magic for less!!!
Maybe the old guy cannot smell it? I know my senior mother cannot smell the gas when she knocks the stove knob.
Okay, y’all - please don’t convince CB to remodel the baths as well. We need her at our house!
My husband and I are the ones who have contracted with her to remodel our house next in another part of San Diego (not near enough to the ocean!) During our very first meeting, I made a comment to my hubby “wait til we see the comments on the forum” and CB graciously said that it would be private. We really have no problem with CB continuing her adventures in construction saga with our house as the focus, and it’s all because of this forum that we found her anyway. We just prefer not to have the address out there, but everything else is fair game, including photos.
It was so fun to meet CB the first time, and she is just as efficient and knowledgeable as you would expect after reading these flips threads. At the point of our first meeting, we had only had one other contractor’s ballpark estimate, but since we have done some upgrading to the house over the years (pool, landscaping, two baths, roof, tankless water heater, carpeting changed twice, various painting work, some window replacements), we knew after those first couple of hours with her that we would like to hire her for the work. CB had interesting ideas the first day that the “other guy” hadn’t even considered or pointed out, and we could tell that her estimating/pricing would be very transparent. CB was also very responsive, sending us the first rough estimate right away, and we contacted her just a few days later to say GO FOR IT.
So far, our plans have recently been approved by the HOA. Her draftsman needs to finish up the structural part of the docs to send them first to a structural engineer, and then to the City for permits. I’ve already been to the City to dig up original plans, and I had to laugh at myself that I was in the building/offices that she has written about on all of these threads.
My husband and I are empty nesters, and our goal is to perhaps move in a few years, but to enjoy the new remodel first - and then sell the house for a higher price due to the improvements. Our house is the smallest model in the tract anyway, and then the fires of 2003 wiped out half of our street as well as much of the surrounding neighborhood. So we are now surrounded by some beautiful custom homes, and we feel that the upgrading and extra square footage will bump us in the price range.
It will be an adventure! Perhaps “Flip This House Back to the 80’s?” Idk - but wait until you all see the kitchen/entry tile, ceramic counter tops and dropped ceiling with fluorescent light fixture. I know that the original owners of this 1985 house were older when they picked out all the finishes, and when we bought the house as a foreclosure it was ALL orange - same peach paint throughout, orange carpeting everywhere even in the bathrooms (yuck) and orange miniblinds on every window. We have been very busy raising three kids here - finally done with three college tuitions and now even one wedding last year. I also would get STUCK every single time I thought about the kitchen as it was such a domino effect as far as how one change would affect something else, and I sure didn’t want to spend money on a “temporary” upgrade (ie counters) that would then become permanent and untouchable when we could really do the whole family room/kitchen/floors throughout dining and living room.
Time for CB! Let the dominoes fall! (well, in another month or so…)
If you are removing tile, you are basically gutting the bathrooms, replacing the walls, probably the plumbing, re-tiling everything, new fixtures, electrical, etc. I don’t think my estimate is that out of line with what is reported:
http://www.homeadvisor.com/cost/bathrooms/remodel-a-bathroom/
I put in 92107 for the location, it gives the average cost as $15K with a range of $9K to $22K.
My zipcode shows an average of $10K with a range of $6K-$14K.
I don’t doubt cb can do it for much cheaper, she has her own employees and controls the profit margin.
If she is doing it for much cheaper, she’s leaving money on the table, based on the averages.
dfin2013, that is so exciting! Thank you for being willing to have us share in the adventure.
Cat’s out of the bag!!! We can commence taking Before pictures!
Right now we are struggling with trying to get the dang draftsman to finish the plans. This is the same strange duck I’ve used for years and he was quick and reasonable cost. He has suddenly become the slowest draftsman on earth. If he’s not done by end of the week, I’m going to go pick those dang papers up and transfer them over to the structural engineer and we’ll pay to have him get them done.
And I agree that just changing vanities with new countertop would not break the bank and would make a world of difference. They are not worth even trying to paint because the drawers are the old style. No slides on side and they are all stuck and crooked
Oh goodie…can you start another thread about the CC Family Renovation?
Yes, but want to talk to dfin2013 about privacy parameters first before we go to town with full disclosure and photos
Welcome, dfin2013! This will be exciting!
I don’t mind cherry cabinets that have aged dark. It’s the orangey ones that I can’t stand. And we were thinking dark granite with blue flecks at the time…eek.
I need cb to come to Maryland!