Stop the Presses: Remodeling means fixing up, not throwing away

Dianne Elizabeth is president and publisher of Springfield Business Journal.

I love remodeling. In fact, I am one of those people who is not happy unless I am actively changing something about my environment. So if we're not working on something, I'm planning what we really should be doing. It's a control thing.

The annual Remodelers' Show presented by the Home Builders' Association of Springfield, Oct. 17-19 at the Fairground's E-Plex, is my ideal project hunting ground. If I haven't thought of something that ought to be torn out, torn down, sanded and painted, or just rearranged, then this show will suggest exactly what to do.

Exhibitors will show you exquisite windows and doors, glowing light fixtures, shimmering new plumbing, rich flooring, artistic tile, kitchen and bath surfaces worth suffering for, and a world of choices in cabinet hardware. And these are only a tiny sampling of the delights at the show.

Last year, right after visiting the Remodelers' Show, I decided to have a skylight put in. This amazing invention lights a dark interior room, magnifying the natural light from only a tiny opening in the roof. Wonderful!

The advent of cable and public television programming featuring remodeling projects also has served to whet my appetite to tear things up. The only thing I'm lacking is a team of hyperactive remodelers to put things back together for me.

It's a crying shame that my own projects don't move along at a pace to match the speeding film clips on "Trading Spaces" or "This Old House." Nights spent tossing and turning on sheets coated with sawdust and sprinkled with the fine grit that collects during the sheetrock process can go on forever. It's a shame, too, that I am getting too old and too tired just when my imagination is really starting to take off.

I have lived through various periods in my life (key words: lived through) when nothing, absolutely nothing, about my home or work space was the way I wanted it to be. And I have learned from my desperate mistakes during these times. Ill-conceived color schemes, botched wallpaper jobs, split mouldings, and dripped paint on carpeting have taught me patience, planning skills and the value of expert advice and assistance.

But still, new construction is not my chosen path in life. I prefer a home or office that has been used or abused, a place that needs me. Used furniture is also my choice. I like to paint it, and then rough up the edges, just to make sure it still looks old.

No, there's nothing like an old house with dark and dated rooms to bring out the renovator in me. Visions of before and after dance in my head, and I just know it will all be ready by Christmas.

Perhaps you've read some of the same popular articles that I have. Headlines such as these: "Renovated historic properties rated most valuable in nation," "Remodeling dollars top new construction spending," "Remodeling driving building supply industry," and "Home fix-ups fire-up retailers." The list could go on and on.

In my view, remodeling is an important national trend. Finally, we're getting away from moving away and building just a little farther outside of town. We're fixing up the good spaces we already have, moving away only from being a "throw-away" society.

And I am with my purse full of paint and fabric swatches ready for the next project.