Taking your home from ho-hum to beautiful and functional can be an overwhelming task. Sometimes it gets you to think about moving to greener pastures… For more space, a better space plan, a newer home, or even an older home with more character. Here are my tips on how to begin designing your home, trying to figure everything out and evaluate the possibilities…one step at a time.
Staying or selling?
If you are staying in your home for the next number of years it may make the most sense to invest in making your space more functional and beautiful while you’re there. You may decide to do either an internal remodel or addition depending upon your timeline and your overall budget.
A kitchen or bath remodel will take anywhere from 3 weeks to 3 months – depending on the size and scope of the project. Consider the time of year you are undertaking these projects. You want to set yourself up in the most functional way possible! For example – kitchen reno during the summer so you can prep more food on the BBQ or enjoy eating outside. Or a bath remodel during a time when you will be on vacation so that you have access to the necessities when yours is inoperable.
Getting your home ready for selling – begin designing your home
If you are selling, there are ways to make your home in ready shape to sell. Painting or touching up spaces with simple cost-effective upgrades can increase the value of your property and help it sell faster.
You will in most cases get any investment you get back for these costs. Things you can do – painting neutral walls, decluttering, renting furnishings if you have out of date or really worn items.
One of the biggest mistakes you can make when selling a home is to fully renovate a kitchen or bath hoping that will get you a higher selling price. In most cases, you’ll be putting in lower-grade quality finishes, and have to go through the inconvenience of all the work and displacement that goes along with the project. In the end, you’ll still realize the buyer doesn’t have the same taste or notices the lower quality. They will not want to buy something ‘new’ that in the end want to rip out and change!
ROI for the most expensive rooms to remodel
When you begin designing your home, consider the return on investment. It can be a bit subjective, but we can look at it from two different perspectives.
When in your home you have a specific place that is the hub of your home. In most cases, yes, it’s the kitchen. For some families, it may be a family room or a mudroom/office combination or even an outdoor space. These are usually the spaces that you’ll realize the best ROI for your investment – purely from a usage standpoint.
The other way to look at it is from a sales perspective… If you plan to move within a 2-5 year time frame, think ahead! What rooms will get you the most bang for the buck if you put in the investment? In most cases, yet again it’s the kitchen or bathrooms. Yes, they are expensive, so if you have a tighter budget you may find that finishing a basement that creates a whole other level of your home will add present-day value. This way it’ll still appeal to a buyer in the near future if you can’t spend $100,000 on a kitchen.
Remodel or refresh? Addition? Bump out?
So now what to do? Should you remodel and pull down the walls, reconfigure the space? Or touch things up with a careful eye and refresh?
A remodel of a three-piece bathroom will usually cost between $20-30,000 depending on what area of the country you live in and the quality of workmanship and finishes. Refreshing can definitely be achieved in under $10,000 and many times, if done strategically, under $5,000.
In addition, depending on the size is usually in the hundred thousand dollar range and above. There is a lot of upheaval during this time, so in most cases, you’ll need to budget for alternate housing as well.
Begin designing your home: start with rooms that are used most, or cause you the most pain
So if you want a beautiful home, and like most of us, decorating all of it at one time or only at some celebrations isn’t an option… Look to the rooms you use most or cause you the most pain! This may not always be obvious. Yes, we use the kitchen a ton, but is it REALLY causing you the most discomfort? Write a checklist of all the areas that cause you annoyance and then notice how many times a day each of them messes with your flow or efficiency. This could be something as simple as replacing a sticking door or putting up proper shelving in a mudroom.
List areas by importance, by how many elements in that space steal your energy. Then use this guide to help you determine which areas to tackle first!
We can’t always get on those big-ticket areas first, and it really feels amazing when we can get some of the smaller ones knocked off your list.
Done-for-you or DIY? Yes, I can help you 😉
So you’re at the point of jumping in and want to begin designing your home. You’ve got to think about whether you’ll begin designing your home yourselfer, or do you just want a magic wand solution?
That brings us to your desire to get your hands in the mix with do-it-yourself design packages, or you just want the room done for you, with all details soup to nuts which are full-service design services.
If you enjoy the design process like measuring, gathering details, shopping and installing, you can work with a DIY design package with me! It provides a conceptual plan for you to use as a “recipe” to pull together a beautiful and cohesive space on your own.
You’ll know this is the right path for you if you answer yes to the following:
- You need furniture and want to make sure you buy the right size and style for your space.
- You’re 90% done with your space, but just need a plan for the finishing touches.
- You’re going to build or construct something yourself and like to make sure you are going about it right before you start.
- You’ve been working on a project for a while and you just want your space done.
- You don’t have a design bone in your body and you need help.
- You’re not great at making decisions and prefer someone to tell you what to do and what to buy.
If you just want your room done, like magic, then full-service is more up your alley.
You’ll know this is the right path for you if you answer yes to the following:
- You’re not interested in managing your design project. You prefer to trust the process and leave it to the design professionals.
- You are a busy, hardworking professional. A beautiful house is a dream but you don’t have the time to shop, design or manage a project. You’d just love to get it done!
- You’d like to renovate your home. All you need – a trusted team of professionals to guide you through the process from start to finish.
- You want a beautiful and functional home for your family to really LIVE in. You are interested in high-quality and timeless furniture pieces that will transition with you through the years.
Do you need advice on remodelling, or have a project starting? Get unfiltered advice, recommendations and a preliminary design plan to help you get past indecision or overwhelm here – book a consultation call!
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