Make Your Home Remodeling Project Fun Instead of Stressful

Are you thinking about a new project at your home?  Is the mere thought of any renovation making you a little uneasy or sick to your stomach?  If you had a negative experience the last time you remodeled, your heart is probably racing right now.

Close your eyes and take a deep breath. With 30 years of experience in residential remodeling, we can offer you some tips to simplify the process and reduce your stress. And yes, maybe even make it a little fun along the way.

First thing you need to do is break down your dream project into several realistic goal areas. Say you want to make some changes to your kitchen and maybe perk up the attached powder room. Do you have the time, money and mind set to do both at once, or would your budget and family situation be better off with a two phase project with some down time in between?

A project of this size does create some upheaval in your home no matter how efficient you and your contractor are. Some people can tolerate a longer period of disorganization than others and would rather do one big job. Others can handle the craziness of two separate jobs as long as there is a break in between. Consider whether you can live in your house while your work is being done. What provisions will you have to make to survive without a kitchen and a bathroom?  Now I could live without a kitchen indefinitely, but the lack of a bathroom would be a serious bummer in our house.

You also need to set a realistic time frame for the project you want to accomplish. What do I mean by realistic? If you estimate that in a perfect world, a particular job would take 6 weeks, better be prepared to handle 8. There are so many variables to even the most well-planned job that delays are almost inevitable. The special-order faucets you had to have are delayed because of a fire in the factory, or because a clerk somewhere keyed in "antique bronze" instead of "satin nickel".   And of course, the weather is always a factor that can make or break a schedule regardless of whether the work is to be done indoors or out.

Now you have established some realistic goals and a workable time frame. Since I promised you some fun, let's get to it. There will be lots and lots of choices to make before your project begins and while it's progressing. There have been numerous studies done that tell us that have too many options to choose from increases our stress level.  Something that may help focus you when you are swimming (or maybe drowning) in a sea of choices is what is known as an "inspiration piece"  An inspiration piece can be anything. Yup, anything that you love to look at.  It could be the colors in an afghan your grandma knitted for you.  It could be a piece of pottery.  It can be absolutely anything and the important part is that when you find it you will know.  

Several years ago I redid my kitchen. I really didn't know where to start. Between choosing cabinet style, color, trim, and tile I was pulling my hair out and was afraid to commit to anything. After all, it took me 15 years to get Bob to agree to do the kitchen and I knew I was going to be living with whatever I chose well into my 80's. I actually went around looking for an inspiration piece. Let me tell you, you can look at paintings, pottery, flowers, geometric designs  or whatever day in an day out and wait an awfully long time for inspiration. I had none. Not a whiff of inspiration. But do not despair. One day I was wandering around an appliance store and a burgundy Viking stove caught my eye.  Right away I knew I had my inspiration piece!  I designed my whole kitchen around that burgundy stove and amazingly enough, most of my decisions fell easily into place around it.  Of course, it did take a year to pick out the backsplash tile, but that's a story for another day.

Bob and I are really excited to be working on this blog and hope you will find it helpful. If you want us to discuss any particular topic in residential remodeling, just let us know. We hope to use our readers as our "inspiration piece".