Posted on Dec 13, 2022

Duo Dickinson likes to think of the time when it was common to buy a modest house with the expectation of improving and enlarging it as one’s means increased.

“Traditionally, we have adapted, renewed, and revitalized our existing homes, rather than search for the ‘salvation’ of the next new home,” the author-architect writes in his latest book “Staying Put” (Taunton Press, $24.95). The depressed state of the housing market has forced many to “focus on the home they have now rather than assume a lifelong leapfrog up a never-ending path of escalating home values.” As a result, “families are rediscovering the traditional tether to home-sweet-home as a specific, fixed place rather than a movable stage set for our belongings,” he writes.

And for all those houses still wearing a “For Sale” sign after months on the market, he’d suggest their owners turn the house they’d trade in into a dream home they’ll be happy they kept. “Millions of families feel trapped, living a sentence of domestic frustration in homes that do not work for them while being unable to move to solve the problems they confront on a daily basis,” Dickinson writes. “This book offers tangible hope for getting the home you want from the house you have.” Those who do it right might end up with a home that’s easier to sell if they still want to move when the housing market turns around.

The Cape before remodeling.

But Dickinson speaks loudest to those who buy into a neighborhood and seek to create for themselves a house that serves them well there. Those who buy to stay can benefit from living with a house for a while before deciding to renovate it. “One of the advantages of remodeling in place is that if you’ve lived in your home for any length of time, you know exactly what your home’s problems and potentials are,” he writes.

Dickinson, who has a portfolio of about 600 houses and 30 years experience, offers guidance on how those with the means to remodel can make the best of it. He uses more than 60 of his more recent projects to illustrate his guidance. Remodeling costs for those projects ranged from $100 per square foot to more than $1,000.

Dickinson covers the research and information that will help to mesh a homeowner’s dreams with building code and municipal requirements. Among his tips to save money and headaches: “Before you jump into a remodeling project, find the one local attorney who deals with the town most.” Someone who knows your area will know “the opportunities and what the bottom line really is in a sea of ​​ambiguity.”

Throughout the book, dozens of before and after shots show how both interiors and exteriors are improved. Dickinson goes room by room, covering kitchens, bedrooms, bathrooms, living rooms and social spaces as well as home offices, entryways and mud-rooms. Within the chapters, he touches on lighting and light flow through spaces as well as determining electrical needs for a family’s lifestyle.

Dickinson has seven books on residential design, and he believes in using innovations that can make a new or remodeled home as beautiful as possible for as little money as possible. Many of his tested ideas and techniques are covered in this volume. But sometimes a home isn’t worth remodeling because of the potential for excessive costs and other factors. Among the book’s guidance is how to figure that out as well.

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