Transforming your home can be a slow and arduous process and there are plenty of hurdles to overcome on your way to a dream home. The best way to ensure this journey doesn’t take any left turns and the end result fulfils your vision is to do your research and plan ahead of time. That’s why we have assembled this guide of key decisions you need to consider before committing to your home renovation.
The vision
One of the most common regrets people express about their home renovation efforts is that they often find the end result to be underwhelming. Home Renovation takes a lot of money and energy and it can be extremely frustrating to realise afterwards that you may have missed the mark on design or didn’t factor in the intended functionality of the space you wanted to renovate. Even if your original design has been realised to a ‘T’, sometimes it turns out that what may have seemed like a great idea in your head doesn’t work that well in reality. That stylish black couch that you’ve been eyeing may not be so stylish when your white cat chooses it as its favourite spot in the house. And that cosy padded feature wall? You may start wishing it was a bit easier to clean when your kids splash juice on it.
Our recommendation: getting good advice is everything. Simply talking things through with your friends and family can help you vet your plans for potential flaws and overlooked details. Meanwhile professional designers and builders can offer you ideas and insights that you haven’t considered before.
The scope
Portioning your renovation project into smaller sections may seem like a good idea at first. You don’t need to go all the way with financial commitments and the usual inconveniences that come with home renovation can be minimised. You also focus your efforts where they are most needed without overhauling other parts of your home. However, the ease of such a piecemeal approach can be deceptive. Different areas in need of renovating stack up while you’re still working on the first part of your project, you end up having to pay more for the materials as plans change and you have to make adjustments. It is also worth noting that a ‘never-ending makeover’ drains your resources and can be increasingly stressful the longer it drags on.
Our recommendation: it’s better to plan ahead and roll out a major home renovation in one go. You can discuss time framework, work schedule and budget constraints with your builder to be in full control over the whole process.
Materials
There are plenty of different materials to choose from no matter what kind of renovation you have in mind. Roof tiles, floor coverings, paint – there are textures and colours out there for every taste and every wallet. However, not all materials are equal in quality and even quality supplies may turn out to be incompatible with each other. Paint and adhesives can be especially tricky as there are hundreds of options out there, yet some of them work only on certain surfaces.
Our recommendation: look up brand reviews online to save yourself the trouble of having to pay twice or re-do parts of your project. When shopping for paint or varnish try out a sample before buying a large batch.
There are plenty of important decisions to make before you start your renovation project. Where are you going to live during the works and what’s your schedule going to be like? What kind of design do you want and how to make sure it blends well with the rest of your home? Budget, permits, materials – all of that may seem a bit daunting at first. But with proper planning and management home renovation can also be a very exciting and rewarding project. Hopefully this article will help you prepare for a home makeover – as for the rest, you can leave it to us!
