There’s nothing like feeling as though your home has been refreshed. While that can sometimes be accomplished with a fresh coat of paint, sometimes you’ll need to do more. Renovating your home could be an option.
If you feel overwhelmed at the thought of that, you’re not alone. Many people see home renovations as a stressful and hassle-inducing experience.
You’ll have quite a bit to organize, alongside needing to put together a budget for it. Add in the multiple contractors you could need to work with, and it’s easy to see why many people can get stressed.
Taking a planned approach, however, will avoid this. Focusing on a few particular areas will keep this to a minimum. Some of the more notable things you’ll need to focus on are:
- Your budget
- Materials
- Which contractors you work with
- How the renovations will disrupt your daily routines
Alongside this, you’ll need to plan out specifically which renovations you should do. Some come more recommended than others.
Not only should they be hassle-free, but you shouldn’t have to spend too much on them. They could also improve your home value while making it more comfortable to live in.
What To Do When Renovating Your Home: Top Renovation Ideas
Install New Doors & Windows
Doors and windows make more of an impression than you might think. They’re something you’ll need to focus on when you’re renovating your home. It doesn’t need to be difficult.
In fact, it could be as simple as replacing them or even giving them some maintenance. If you do consider replacing them, go with one of the more energy-efficient options.
These will have an impact on your utilities; as they’ll let less hot air out, you’ll need to power your heating units less. In turn, your overall bills should come down.
If you choose this route, make sure you work with a trusted window installation company. You wouldn’t want to simply go for the most affordable option. You should also ensure that you’re getting quality work done, regardless of the cost.
Lower The Living Room
While this could be one of the costlier home renovations, lowering your living room can be recommended. It offers multiple benefits, with the most notable being that it makes the room appear larger.
If the room itself is particularly small, then lowering it – even by a foot or two – can expand it. That’ll be seen literally and figuratively. As a trend, this home renovation is relatively new, although it’s quickly gathered steam.
Taking this approach could still be relatively unique; though relatively popular, it’s still unique to see in some areas. By coupling this with the strategic use of mirrors, you could make the room appear even larger.
Create Usable Space
When many people think of making their home bigger, their mind goes to extensions. These aren’t the only way that you can do so, however. Instead, you can focus on making more usable space.
One of the easiest ways of doing so is by decluttering. That doesn’t simply mean throwing out belongings. You should also consider getting rid of walls or other large areas that aren’t needed and take up space.
Even switching out some of the appliances, furniture, and other areas could be recommended. Replacing cabinets with hanging storage options could free up floor space while maintaining your overall storage levels.
If you take this approach, it’ll make your property more functional while giving you more breathing room. It could also give you the space to put more furniture or other belongings in, if that’s what you want. Investing in a few key furniture pieces for a stylish home could help you create a space that’s both practical and aesthetically pleasing.
Experiment With Shapes
While furniture typically comes in a rectangular shape, you’re not limited to this. You could experiment and start using different shapes with them. With furniture, that’ll simply involve looking around for different options.
Working this into your renovations is also recommended. Not all of your rooms need to be rectangular or square. Mixing in different furniture shapes that compliment the room is recommended.
It’s worth planning this out so that you can match your furniture with the upcoming renovations. If you’re going for a more curved room, for example, you could consider circular furniture.
While it may take some creativity to get this done, it should be simpler than you’d think. Don’t forget about experimenting with shapes on the walls. Creatively-designed shelves, for instance, can be an attractive look.
Don’t Forget Under The Stairs
When many people install stairs or have them renovated, they focus on the area that they’ll walk on; the steps that get you from one floor to the next. The railings will also be concentrated on to help improve how it looks.
These aren’t the only parts of the stairs that you should think about. Under the stairs can also be used. While this could be a small area, it could offer more uses than you’d think. Even making it a simple storage area could be recommended.
You could also get more creative with it by installing a visible bookcase or decorative piece. If you have large stairs, you could create a small seating area here.
While much of this could depend on the stairs you have, it’s still worth exploring what you can do. Your imagination is the limit.
How To Cut Costs When Renovating Your Home
It’s one thing to know how to renovate your home; it’s quite another to afford it. Home renovation costs are often much higher than people would want.
There are more than a few ways that you can reduce these, however. Taking a DIY approach whenever you can is recommended. Coupled with that is sourcing the necessary materials you need yourself; contractors often charge a premium for these.
That’s far from the only way you can reduce your home renovation costs, however. You can try:
- Have A Detailed Plan: Home renovations have a lot of moving parts. It’s easy to overlook something, especially in the heat of the moment. Should that happen, issues could pop up in the future. You can avoid this by ensuring your plan is as detailed as possible.
- Reuse Materials: You mightn’t have realized that you can reuse materials in various ways. Repainting kitchen cabinets and turning them into something else, for example, reduces the need to buy more materials. As these can be one of your largest expenses, you can reduce your home renovation costs significantly with it.
- Find Knock-Offs: Speaking of materials, it’s always worth looking for knockoffs. These can mimic the look and feel of more expensive options but cost a fraction of the price. You can also do this with fixtures.
You shouldn’t sacrifice quality when you’re taking this approach. Though picking the cheapest possible option for everything you can can be tempting.
You’ll need to wonder why these are so cheap, however. Sometimes, it’s because they’re low-quality. If they are, then your home could suffer in the future.
By ensuring things are high-quality, but affordable, you’ll keep your costs low without needing to put up with issues in the future.
When looking for high-quality items, you should make sure you take your time and don’t rush into any decisions. It might be best to consider the design of your home and all the furniture that you desire early on in the renovation process. Renovations can take a long time and can change a lot on the way. By doing your research near the beginning, you are giving yourself plenty of time to research the right items, pick your theme, make any changes, and source the items. To help you get started, you should look at trending themes, from using midwestern furniture in a rustic theme to a chic boho look, there are many to choose from. Once you know what you want, you can begin to source the items. This will probably take just as much time as choosing the theme, as you want to look for reputable and credible suppliers, over cheap ones. Make sure you read their reviews, and where possible, visit showrooms to see the quality of the items firsthand. This will ensure you get high-quality items that are made to last, and you don’t ruin your renovation with cheap items that are going to break in a few months.
What To Know When Renovating Your Home: Wrapping Up
Renovating your home doesn’t need to be as difficult or complicated as you’d think. Focusing on certain projects can make it simpler than you imagined. Though that means putting some effort in up-front, it’ll be worth it.
When you’re doing so:
- Make sure you choose the right contractors.
- Have an in-depth budget that includes 10% or more for emergencies.
- Ensure your pets are taken care of somewhere else during the renovations.
By keeping these in mind and focusing on the above areas, you should make your home renovation more hassle-free than you’d think. It should be quite straightforward.
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