HOME OVERHAULS: STUNNING WHOLE-HOUSE RENOVATION TRANSFORMATIONSDIY VS. PROFESSIONAL PROJECTS: WHAT'S BETTER? 53

At some stage, you quit pointing fingers at the layout and start asking if you're the problem. Not because anything's disastrously broken. The bones are still standing. The ceiling's not leaking. On paper, everything functions. But it also sort of doesn't.You keep twisting the same sticky doorknob. You avoid that one tile that squeaks even though i

This one stupid tap wasn't even broken. Just slow. You had to twist it slightly left and then back a hair to the right to get non-freezing water. If you turned it too fast, it'd shriek. Not deafening, but oddly high-pitched — like a dying violin. I put up with it for years. Blamed the plumbing. Blamed the setup. Blamed everything except the fact