The Property Brothers Think These Living Room Upgrades Are A Waste Of Money

When you're ready to upgrade your living room with a renovation, you might want to consult HGTV's Property Brothers for essential home features that are worth splurging on. Identical twins Drew and Jonathan Scott, better known as the Property Brothers, have been performing on-air home renovations and providing remodeling advice on various HGTV television shows and their own social media accounts since 2011.

The two brothers have lived through many different design trends going in and out of style during their long careers, and people value their opinions on upgrades that are worth doing and those that are better avoided. Two living room renovation trends that they've seen homeowners deploy and then regret later are wall-to-wall carpeting and wood-burning fireplaces.

Interestingly, one of the primary reasons the Property Brothers have for avoiding both of these upgrades is that they generate dirt and other contaminants that are a hassle to clean, creating extra maintenance for you while you live in the home. If you ever plan to sell the house, having dingy wall-to-wall carpeting may deter buyers who worry about pet odors and allergens hiding in the fibers. If your living room renovations end up scaring away potential buyers in the future, your chances of recouping the cost of the work will go down. It's difficult enough to achieve close to a 100% ROI on renovations when selling your home, so you don't want to make errors in choosing the kinds of renovations to do.

Drew and Jonathan Scott say that wall-to-wall carpeting is a living room flooring option that's making your home look dated while creating maintenance and cleaning hassles. It occasionally requires hiring professional cleaning companies or buying or renting a DIY steam cleaning machine to remove dust and allergens that can create unpleasant smells. "Carpets are a trap for dirt, dust, and other allergens, and they wear easily," Drew Scott told HGTV Magazine in an interview. People who have pets will see a faster buildup of dirt, dust mites, and other contaminants in wall-to-wall carpet.

Even if you're doing a new wall-to-wall carpet installation as part of your living room renovation, this type of flooring only has a lifespan of up to 10 years before it starts to show wear and begins affecting the look of the house in a negative way. With wall-to-wall carpeting being installed less often, buyers may even assume that your new installation is older because fewer homeowners choose it. "These days no one says, 'My dream home has wall-to-wall carpeting,'" Drew Scott told HGTV Magazine.

Jonathan Scott says wall-to-wall carpeting is a better choice in kids' bedrooms than in living rooms. For a living area, he prefers hardwood flooring with an area rug, which fits in with a modern design. Area rugs shouldn't be so large that they cover the entire hardwood floor, though; aim for at least 12 inches between the wall and the area rug.

Although wood-burning fireplaces provide a feeling of coziness inside a home that is difficult to duplicate, you should understand the hidden downsides to traditional fireplaces before deciding to install one as part of a living room renovation. One downside that the Property Brothers notice is that the hassles with maintenance and cleaning outweigh the fireplace's benefits. 

In an interview with Parade Home & Garden, Jonathan Scott says clients doing renovations often want to keep or put in a wood-burning fireplace over the recommendations from the Property Brothers. "Every single client who we've ever had who said, 'I need to keep a wood-burning fireplace,' has come back six months later and said, 'I wish I went to a more efficient either gas or electric unit,'" Jonathan Scott says. Homeowners who change their minds a few months later about the wood burning fireplace find high costs to do the swap. "At that point, it was going to cost a lot more money to switch over because of all the work that was already done," Drew Scott told Parade Home & Garden.

Rather than installing wood-burning fireplaces during living room renovations, the Property Brothers will recommend choosing between electric or natural gas fireplaces. Electric units only need occasional cleaning, while gas designs require annual maintenance visits from professionals for safety reasons. Wood fireplaces require regular cleaning to remove ash, creosote, and stains on the glass doors. Annual visits from a chimney sweep are necessary, too.