'I Almost Threw Up': Alison Victoria Proves That Even Design Pros Flounder When They Redo Their Own House

On Alison Victoria‘s new miniseries, “Windy City Rehab: Alison’s Dream Home,” she renovates her own home—and shows how much harder it can be to make over your own space versus a client’s.

In the second episode of this three-part series, titled “To Dream Is a Nightmare,” it becomes clear very early on that this project’s budget is spiraling wildly out of control. Victoria has extremely expensive tastes and refuses to compromise.

She had purchased a 6,250-square-foot warehouse for $370,000 and was using it for storage and a showroom, but she’s decided to turn the building into a four-bedroom, 3.5-bath luxury home, also incorporating a showroom and office.

The process seems to be such a fiasco that it makes her physically ill—and makes us cringe again and again. But you’ll also be amazed by the trouble she gets into—and out of—and the renovation lessons you can learn along the way. Check out what she taught us this week.

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Victoria decides she needs to sell her condo in Atlanta in order to fund her dream home in Chicago. She wants to get as close to $1 million as possible, but that’s not going to be easy, partly because she wants to rip its heart out before she sells it—which includes the exquisite fireplace mantel she bought in Paris.

“This mantel means everything to me, and it’s got a lot of history involving where I found it,” she tells her real estate agent. She absolutely needs that mantel moved to her Chicago home.

“It’s just not going to come with the unit,” she tells her agent.

“Oh, that’s heartbreaking,” says the agent, visibly cringing.

“I know that by taking out certain things that I am taking away from some of the value,” continues Victoria. “But this mantel is really, really important to me.”

Once the fireplace is removed, they put the condo on the market at $950,000 and it sits there, not receiving any offers Victoria would even consider.

“Honestly, I walk in here and I’m like, ‘This is a million-dollar property,'” says the agent. “But that is not the price units are going for here.”

Without comps in the neighborhood in that million-dollar range, buyers are reluctant to bite. Still, Victoria will not reduce the price.

“That’s pretty much my break-even point,” she says. “I can’t control the market, I’m not willing to budge on my price, and now I’m just sitting with the property in Atlanta while building this house. I’m in a place where I have to figure out how to find money elsewhere.”

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Since her condo in Atlanta isn’t selling, she needs to get a loan. But this is where the lack of comps gets her in trouble yet again. It’s tough to get a loan when the place is nowhere near finished, and without similar property sales nearby for a lender to compare this with.

“Comps are really important,” says Victoria.

In the end, Victoria reveals that she’s borrowing $400,000 from friends to complete the project. That’s not risky at all (wink-wink).

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The costs keep mounting. Did Victoria not realize that it’s going to be a lot more expensive to make over a building with massive, 20-foot ceilings?

She has to have extra-tall shelving built and oodles of electrical wiring to go all the way up. She’ll have to have more and bigger artwork and mirrors to hang on those walls, and more tile. Even the drywall and paint that goes on those towering walls are going to be more expensive.

Victoria seems surprised by this when she gets the estimates. Really?

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Victoria asks Ramon, the electrical contractor, to add a few sconces, two car chargers, floor warmers, built-in lights for the custom cabinets, and several other extras that she deems essential.

She is absolutely gobsmacked when Ramon tells her those changes are going to cost her an extra $46,000. She’s so surprised and upset by it that she gags on camera.

“There, I almost threw up,” she admits.

Her next question is a good one: “Where’s the breakdown?” she asks, wanting to know the details of how all that money will be spent.

Her agita eventually pays off, because when Ramon gives her an itemized breakdown, he reduces the price of the change order from $46,000 to $16,000. That’s quite a difference!

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Just when you think things have gone completely off the rails, Victoria finally says she’s willing to compromise.

She originally had plans for three working fireplaces in her home—one in the living room, one in the atrium, and one in her bedroom. But when she finds out that it’s going to cost $8,000 apiece to have the fireboxes built and the mantels installed, she balks. That doesn’t even include the price of the mantels themselves (or the cost of transporting one from Atlanta).

“The answer is no,” she tells the contractor who made the estimate. She decides the Atlanta mantel in the living room will be merely decorative, and not a full working fireplace. That way she cuts down installation fees by a third.

Victoria was renting an apartment while waiting for her dream home to be completed. But her lease runs out before the makeover is done, so by this episode’s end, she’s living in a hotel, bleeding even more money by the day.

She’s supposed to move in in eight weeks, and nothing, not one room, is even close to being done. Victoria is known for taking risks, so it’ll be interesting to see how this gamble pays off—or not.

Lisa Johnson Mandell is an award-winning writer who covers lifestyle, entertainment, real estate, design, and travel. Find her on ReallyRather.com