THE FIX IS IN : IT WON'T BE PAINLESS, BUT WITH ADVANCE PLANNING AND PERSEVERANCE, REMODELING CAN TURN YOUR HOUSE INTO A SANCTUARY.

Byline: Diana E. Lundin Daily News Staff Writer

It all started innocently enough.

Susan Fogelson needed new kitchen appliances. But if the stove and refrigerator were brand spanking new, wouldn't they look odd in the kitchen unless there were maybe some new cabinets in there, too? And what about the floor? And lighting?

She and her husband, Andrew, lived in their house for 15 years and loved not only the property, but the community as well.

``It quickly went from a small thing to a much more major thing. We wanted a really wonderful kitchen, a really wonderful bedroom and a really wonderful bathroom,'' said Fogelson, a Hidden Hills educational therapist with a private practice.

``Rather than move, we just decided to do it with the house we had.''

By the time the dust settled, the Fogelsons had their new kitchen, plus an addition - the entire second floor as a master bedroom suite.

Home remodeling can start out innocuously - maybe the kitchen cabinets could use a face lift - then turn into the home's equivalent of a nine-month pregnancy.

The No. 1 reason people remodel their homes is for more space, said Bryan Patchan, executive director of the Remodelers Council, a Washington, D.C.-based trade group.

While that may seem obvious, Patchan points out that ``new homes are probably the standard of what people want, and an average new home is 2,200 square feet. People are living in homes that are smaller than they would like them to be.''

The second reason homeowners choose renovation is because, like the Fogelsons, they don't want to move, or can't afford to.

Other reasons homeowners remodel, in order, are to add more amenities, needed maintenance and repair, or lifestyle considerations.

``The kitchen and the bath are the biggest emphasis now, both in new home building and renovation,'' said Jana Herrington-Walker, an interior designer with Lotus Interiors in Tarzana.

Whether anyone in the family actually cooks, there is big demand for high-tech gadgetry with the ``latest and greatest'' in kitchen appliances and islands for chopping, washing or sitting. And families are spending more time in the kitchen, so much so that desk areas are being added on.

``It makes sense to have enough room that a lot of different activities can be going on at the same time,'' Herrington-Walker said. ``The kitchen seems to be the true emphasis in the whole home.''

A minor kitchen remodel in Los Angeles, with new countertops, refaced cabinets and flooring, is going to run somewhere around $10,000. Replace your cabinets completely, add new appliances and put in custom lighting, and a major remodel jumps up to $27,000 - and that's without tearing down any walls. Go completely custom and add some space, and you can tack on thousands more.

A bathroom remodel starts at about $10,000 in Los Angeles, where residents are paying a premium for goods and services. An all-new bathroom using existing space begins at about $14,000, Patchan said. ``Bathrooms are small square footages but have a very intense concentration of expensive features,'' he said.

Commodes, for example, used to cost about $150, but with a water-saving device, the prices are now about $300 to $500. ``That's the kind of thing that raises the price. The technology is different, but it's not free,'' he said.

It takes a lot of patience and humor to survive home remodeling. To begin, ask yourself why you're doing it. What do you need? What are you lacking?

``The first thing people do is remodel the kitchen,'' said Jannita Gonzales, IKEA's kitchen manager. ``People buy their first house, and usually it's an older kitchen and it just doesn't function properly.''

If you're planning on updating to sell the house, you may be able to get by with a minor remodel. For example, in the kitchen, you might reface cabinetry and put in new countertops.

But if the remodeling is for yourself, think it through further, said Patricia Silversher, who has been through a bedroom addition and kitchen and bath remodels in her Glendale home.

``If you're going to be living in the house for a while, then you don't want to cut corners,'' she said. ``It'll be well worth it.''

Silversher, who bought magazines and books on kitchen and bath remodeling for inspiration and examples, took on the renovation as if it were a full-time job. In the end, it paid off. ``You really have to know what you want and be strong about that,'' she said.

For Silversher, God is in the details and she wanted her 1928 house to reflect her tastes, from the vintage crystal knobs she found for her kitchen cabinets to the white matte tile for her countertops and the discontinued French tile she found for her bathroom at a bargain $2 a foot.

``I'm the one who is living here,'' she said. ``I like details. I like high maintenance.''

While some remodeling involves tearing down the walls, a lot of what you're trying to accomplish may be doable in existing space. To learn what can be done, you may want to hire an interior designer, whose fees range from about $300 to $5,000, depending on the complexity of the job.

``We tend to broaden people's views and open them up to new ideas, even if they're already working with an architect or contractor,'' Herrington-Walker said. ``We try to come up with room arrangements that make more sense, that make it more livable.''

Many manufacturers offer kitchen planning kits, and you can make use of your computer to find such useful World Wide Web sites as Kitchen.net, developed by the publishers of Kitchen & Bath Business (http://www.kitchen-bath.com). There are also CD-ROM programs such as Books That Work's ``3-D Kitchen'' that can help you see your finished design.

And don't forget the free services of designers at such places as IKEA or the Home Depot.

``They just need to make an appointment and bring their measurements,'' said IKEA's Gonzales.

Catherine Connelly, an interior designer at the Home Depot in Van Nuys, knows what's popular these days, from the blond woods in kitchen cabinetry to spa tubs for the bathroom at $400 to $2,000.

``Make a wish list,'' Connelly said. ``At the top, write what are the things that mean the most to you. Then, if you run into a budget problem, you get the things your really want.''

If you want to go the do-it-yourself route, consider the free in-store classes or videotapes that can teach you such things as tiling a floor.

But whatever you do, keep in the back of your mind one little word: resale. Everyone wants their personalities to shine through their remodel, but what is gorgeous to you in your kitchen may kill a sale for a potential home buyer.

``We try and stay neutral with surfaces that are going to remain intact,'' Herrington-Walker said. ``You may put a little detailing in the tile work, but use something that is going to make it a little easier to resell. In other words, use wallpaper and window treatments and cushions that really have a lot of color or character, keeping the backgrounds on the neutral side for the purpose of resale.''

Toni Yamin had her Sherman Oaks home remodeled over a period of seven years.

``When we first bought it, we didn't plan on doing too much of anything,'' she said. ``But the more we lived in it, the more we decided we wanted to modernize it in a higher-end look.''

They began with the bathrooms and eventually remodeled the entire house, ending with the kitchen. ``One thing just led to another,'' said Yamin, who now lives in a house almost twice as large in Calabasas.

She advises anyone taking on a remodeling project that the process is frustrating.

``It's so disruptive,'' she said. ``From June through September (the year they remodeled the kitchen), we ate dinner on the patio. You've got to make major lifestyle changes. You've got to keep one sink, one toilet and one tub working somewhere.''

No matter what, there will always be major problems, from delays in parts to tradespeople, Fogelson said.

``You have to understand, almost everything needs to be done twice. We really liked our contractor, we really liked the people we were working with. It doesn't matter. There are still disasters on a daily basis,'' she said, but added, ``There's almost nothing you can't have fixed.''

The cost of building your dream home Kitchen (200 square feet) Minor remodel - $9,400x ($8,000)

Includes refacing 30 linear feet of cabinets, new counter tops, new sink and faucet, new wall covering and flooring, new oven and cook top.

Major remodel (using existing space) - $27,000 ($23,250)

Includes all-new cabinets, new counter tops, new sink and faucet, custom lighting, new flooring, add a 3-by-5-foot island, ventilation, dishwasher.

Bathroom Minor remodel (5 feet by 9 feet) - $10,000 ($8,400)

Includes new tub and toilet, new double sink vanity, new faucets, new medicine cabinet and lighting, new ceramic floor and new ceramic tile around tub and shower, new wallpaper.

Major remodel, add a 6-by-8-foot bathroom - $14,100 ($11,700)

Additions Family room (16 feet by 25 feet) - $38,300xx ($32,000)

Master bedroom suite, 24 feet by 16 feet - $40,700 ($35,600)

x - Prices are estimates for L.A. metropolitan area. U.S. figures are in parenthesis.

xx - Price includes all materials but not furnishings.

Rating your investment If you sold it in a year, you could expect to get back on your investment:

Minor kitchen 100 percent

Major kitchen 86 percent

Bathroom addition 97 percent

Bathroom remodel 72 percent

Family room addition 115 percent

Master bedroom suite 109 percent

Source: Cost vs. Value Report, published in Remodeling magazine, a Hanley-Wood trade publication.

CAPTION(S):

10 Photos, Box

Photo: (1--Cover--Color) Catherine Connelly displa ys some of the counter top colors available at Home Depot.

John McCoy/Daily News

(2) What began as Susan Fogelson's need for new appliances ended with a remodeled kitchen, bedroom and bathroom in her Hidden Hills home.

Terri Thuente/Daily News

(3--4) Bathroom motifs range from the stained pine sold at IKEA, above, to high-end tiling stones and fixtures, below.

(5--Color) IKEA's decorators, including Stephanie Monroe, offer their services for free.

(6--7--Color) IKEA's vision of a modern kitchen, above, features lacquered beechwood cabinets; below, others may opt for a European limestone floor and English cream crackle splash.

Tina Gerson/Daily News

(8) Bathroom

(9) Kitchen

(10) Additions

Box: The cost of building your dream home (See Text)