Home renovations can seem intimidating for any homeowner. Between budgeting, creating inspiring spaces, or just maintaining what you have, the process can seem exhausting. Check out our ten tips on reducing renovation stress with ideas like buying to last, visualizing your space before buying, and setting a budget before considering items!
1. Buy to Last
To save money, you need to think twenty years down the road. Your house experiences a lot of wear and tear, and if unnoticed, decades of damage can pile up. That’s why it’s always best to spend a little to save a lot more time, energy, and money!
Supplies, products, or labor that break easily might be cheaper in the short term, but the long-term could end up costing you more. We’ve all heard the horror stories from people who settled for a cheaper price and ended up regretting it.
2. Do Your Own Shopping
You know what you want more than anyone else, and the best (and cheapest!) way to ensure everything looks the way you want it to is looking at products yourself. A comparison of prices and items helps you understand what you want and how best to fit your own budget while finding quality items.
3. Plan For the Future
What will your living situation be down the road? Are you making any more renovations? Think about what your long-run plans are, and consider how this impacts the budget you want to stay within. Expanding, moving, or maintaining, your choices can influence willingness to spend more money on certain home improvements over others.
4. Talk To Your Contractor
Open and active communication with your contractor can save so much time and hassle. Let the experts get their jobs done, but don’t be afraid to set up clear and detailed wishes or ask questions. The clearer you are, the more money you will save.
5. Visualize, Visualize, Visualize
Before you do anything, picture it in your head. Or better yet, looking up examples of similar projects can do a lot to help you understand what it will look like. We’ve all had buyers’ remorse after buying something we either didn’t need or isn’t quality- and with home renovations, these can be expensive mistakes. If you can’t find something that looks right, talk to a home improvement expert, they’ll be sure to find the tools you need.
6. Make It All Fit
Does your space all work? Floor, walls, even furniture? The bigger the project, the bigger the impact it will have on the rest of your home. The easiest way to save money, in this case, is to do an entire “set” all at once. That way, you’ll not only know what you’re getting into, but will also be able to create a room that flows together- mixing style and savings is always great!
7. Have a Common Theme
We’ve all seen those rooms where items don’t flow or feel connected- one kind of window design on the wall with an exterior door that doesn’t match, a collection of couches and chairs that don’t go with the carpet or paint- these all cost money to fix. It’s better to plan around a common “theme” for a room or space. If a room faces away from the sun, brighter colors to draw the eye- perfect for those overcast days.
When you’re trying to bring a drab entrance space to life, pastels or more muted tones might be best to contrast the light from an open door. Regardless of the choice, having set and stylized plans help to make rooms flow and feel more comfortable and inviting.
8. Don't Settle For Second-Best
Ensure that everything, from the initial planning stages to the final touches are done with the best approach for you. This isn’t a race, so you get to decide what that means.
9. Make Sure You're Getting What You Pay For
Always double-or-triple check to see if the product or service you bought matches the quality you expected. It’s better to catch a defect or problem early before installation than to only see it after it’s too late to fix without spending more money.
10. Always Budget It Out
Nothing stings more than starting a major home renovation then running out of money when it’s halfway done. Take time before really getting into a project to run through the numbers. A good rule of them is to assume you’ll need to pay 20% more than you’d expect. Look online, and do research to find the best prices for your needs.
Any sort of home renovations or repairs can seem overwhelming before you start, but with a good plan in place, you’ll be able to keep your home in tip-top shape!
