Crowning Achievements

Upgrade Now Or Later?

Often clients come to me for home renovation advice.

Recently, one of them just asked me if it would be wise to upgrade their flooring to hardwood. They also thought about painting before they sell their home a year from now. Here are my thoughts: If you are going to do it, do it now so you can enjoy the upgrade for the year. Those improvements are generally well received and can translate into a shorter time on market. Especially in a market that isn’t flush with multiple offers and a very limited supply of homes.

I would suggest putting in a great product to really show it off. Putting in an average or cheap product in a home can be worse in my opinion than leaving the home as is. Unfortunately then a seller is looking to recoup the investment and potential buyers may be deterred from buying a home that will require them to rip out a recent ‘upgrade’.

While the floors are ripped up, a fresh paint colour that is complimentary to the floors can go a long way. Now anyone that has done a reno, knows that ‘mission creep’ is a very real possibility and most often an inevitability. New flooring likely requires a reinstall or new install of baseboards.

Since you have boots on the ground working on the floors and baseboards, consider adding crown moulding to balance the look against the new baseboards. In my opinion, crown is one of the best investments dollar for dollar that can go into a refresh. It adds a level of sophistication to the room or home and especially when the profile of the material matches the décor of the home.

If you are living in an older home in New Westminster with a heritage feel, the crown you choose will likely differ from an install in a newer concrete tower Downtown with a contemporary look. Crown moulding seems to be one of those jobs that intimidates amateurs but the experienced installers can move quickly. It also saves the person painting from cutting in where the wall meets the ceiling since the crown covers that corner but that does leave you fine tuning the bottom seam of the crown.

In recent years, we’ve also seen many examples of crown installed below the ceiling by several inches to accommodate recessed LED lighting strips laid down in the cavity created by the crown profile. This gives the room a soft glow with many colour choices. Find a crown that you’ll be proud to show off and don’t go cheap on the installation. Quality work should just blend in with the room but poorly installed trim and moulding will stick out can have a buyer question; if that is the quality of the visible renos, what is behind the walls that they can’t see?