My 6 Home Renovation Regrets

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I'm just going to be honest: I've made some mistakes with my home renovations. Between tile grout colors, awkward spaces, and lighting choices, there's so much you can get wrong when purchasing and transforming your home. I'm hoping these mistakes will benefit you so that you can learn from my mistakes, or at the very least, are entertaining to you. In the comments below, let me know what some of your home reno regrets are!

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⏱ Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
00:51 - Fable
01:56 - Jetted Tub
04:06 - Subway Tile Grout
06:10 - Doors on Pax Wardrobe
07:57 - Higher Quality Lighting in Pax Wardrobe
10:12 - Stove is Too Big
12:15 - Poorly Designed Corner Drawers

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[AnnNunnally]

My husband always says, ”2 elephants for a quarter sounds like a good deal, but only if you need elephants and you have a quarter.”

[thetruthno]

In my experience, when a contractor has a screaming deal, its when he’s gotten stuck with something that another client has rejected or didn’t pay for or whatever that they couldn’t return and they are trying to get rid of it.

[zednone]

Everyone needs to *listen* when Nick says "If it bugs you on Day One, it will continue to bug you." Best decision I ever made with our current house was to move the 1970s kitchen to the other side of the room where it could be as modern, spacious, and efficient as I needed it to be. Cost the earth, but every time I walk into that kitchen I smile. #nickknows

[BCPrintz]

As a high rise manager, NO JETTED TUB in a shared walls/floor building.

[felsenruh]

Regarding the sub with jets: here's some wise advice I got out of a Wall Street Journal editorial decades ago. The author said, simply, put time into making a decision that's proportional to the difficulty of undoing it. Which color bath towels to buy? Blue or gray? Pick one - it will cost you but you can easily switch. Paint the bathroom blue or gray? That decision deserves a little more time. Jetted tub versus plain tub? White grout versus black grout: think long and hard.

[MoonthistleHouse]

Oh man. I had a jetted tub once, and it was miserable - the whole pumping system stayed damp inside, so unless you used (and cleaned) the jet system CONSTANTLY, you'd get all kinds of funky stuff growing in it. I will never do a jetted tub again!

[scottcampbell]

I always prefer to learn from OTHER people’s mistakes. Much cheaper that way. Thanks for sharing. 😇

[JamieM]

My biggest kitchen regret was falling for the hype and the appearance of a stainless steel gas range with iron grates that go all the way across the stovetop.
It's awful. I hate it.
I used to simply lift off burner grates & scrub them in the sink. Impossible with huge heavy grates.
The center oval burner was a big selling point....but it has no flame on the back part; only the sides & front, so it doesn't heat a griddle evenly--you can only use the front of the griddle, so what's the point?
The open spaces in the grates that are over the burners are too large for small pots. They tilt & even fall over.
Huge & expensive regret. Hoping this will be useful info for anyone range-shopping.

[losgomez]

The home tour we’ve all been waiting for…
Nick - “here are the worst things in my apartment” 😂😂😂
Absolute love your videos! 🫶🏼

[barborasvandova]

Oh my, my family is dealing with the size of appliances right now. Dish washer died and they need replacement. The problem? They have beautiful, custom-made kitchen. However, they chose dishwasher that is a few centimetres more narrow than 99.5% of dishwashers on the market and they didn't know, because they don't deal with there kind of things often enough and no one told them. Which wouldn't be a problem if whoever designed and created the kitchen warn them or at least made the dishwasher cupboard normal sized instead of smaller and covered that odd two centimetre gap, which would be easy enough. But now, they need new dishwasher and they can't find any that fits in that damn custom made kitchen. So very valid point where I would add - that kitchen will probably last you x times longer than any of the appliances you put in it. So double check you are choosing appliances that have some sort of uniform sizes, so when you need to replace them, you can actually find appliances that fit.

[abbyscaletta]

When I think of Renos I also think “how will I clean this?” The jetted tub takes more time and effort to clean so if you’re not using it, it’s not worth it from that perspective alone. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!

[alleycatcannabis]

I love that you haven't framed these as "decorating mistakes" but rather as things that YOU personally regret in YOUR own home. Just bc it's a regret for you doesn't necessarily mean it will be for everyone. Design is as unique as you are! ❤

Edit: Except the bit about closet lighting, that's for everyone lol 😅

[phatmonkey]

As the wife of someone who does custom tile work on high end homes, (and at times helps him), I think your subway tile with the gray grout is spot on. It's classic with the brick pattern. Otherwise, you don't get the definition - it just ends up being a white wall. And if that's what you want, go with marble.

[lillianbarker]

My mama said there’s no perfect house and she was right. I regret that I let imperfections get under my skin, but it’s so helpful to share what we learn.

[susanfoley]

If you're not making mistakes, then you're not doing anything. Life's too short to hold on to regrets. Keep making fabulous videos!

[strattonskier]

I have a two person jacuzzi and use it at the worst times, when I have over done a daily activity, you know we all push ourselves and I certainly do. When I jump into my jacuzzi, ready to drop dead, you can hear the sigh of relieve for the next 2-3 hours. A good book, a beer and those jets are life invigorating. The I slide into bed a happy human.

[fiddlersthree]

Nick, you're harder on yourself than on anyone else!! Thank you for showing us your regrets -- you're very honest and it it's so helpful not only for avoiding the specific mistakes but the advice about trying things out, determining return policies etc ensures we don't fall into those traps. Thank you!!!

[BSWVI]

Great great advice, especially "If it bugs you on day one, it'll bug you even more on day 1400". Also I'm really loving the new no-firetrucks-given sass!!

[BritInvLvr]

Nick’s stove story is exactly why we wanted a fixer upper. I didn’t want to put up with something I didn’t like only because it was new.

[maryd]

I bought a house that has a huge walk in shower, no lip. It was designed for wheelchair bound people before us. I tell people it’s my favorite thing ever! Thanks for your video. Great advice!