With Welsh property prices falling in recent weeks, it’s becoming a buyer’s market, which means that first-time buyers can finally get their foot on the first rung of the property ladder. Of course, at the same time, your bank balance may still be feeling the pinch as a consequence of the pandemic and the ongoing cost-of-living crisis. However, this doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to find an affordable property to turn into your first family home.
For one thing, if you’re not afraid of some DIY and you want to keep your purchasing costs down, then you may want to consider the prospect of a fixer-upper. A project home will cost much less to purchase, and you can channel your hard-earned cash into dong it up just the way you like it.
Of course, there are downsides to buying a house that needs to be patched up, but there are also some significant benefits too. If you’re keen to go down this route, here are some top tips on how to transform a project property into a stunning and cosy family home for you and your loved ones.
Pick Your Priorities
Once you have secured your project home, it’s natural to feel a little intimidated when you walk through its empty rooms and hallways for the first time as its new owner. Depending on the age and upkeep of the property, it may require some significant work and you’ll probably find yourself biting your nails and wondering where to start.
While it’s perfectly normal to feel daunted by the task ahead, it can help if you settle on your priorities and develop a strategy for tackling your fixer-upper.
Taking a room-by-room approach will ensure that you get all of the most important areas patched up first, which will make it easier for you to move in sooner. The least crucial aspects can be left until you’ve settled in, and some can probably even be put off for several months.
So, which rooms should you focus on first? The bathrooms are probably the best places to start, as you can’t live without a properly functioning area in which to use the loo and have a wash. Next should be the kitchen, or at least its most essential elements, such as a working sink and cooker, as you need to be able to prepare your meals.
From there, you can choose what’s most pressing for you and your family, whether it’s a finished lounge in which to relax, or completed bedrooms all ready to provide you with pleasant dreams.
Prepare Your Budget For Renovations
Once you’ve got your plan of action all figured out, it will be much easier to come up with a suitable budget for the work, not to mention a timescale and deadlines for when you want each room to be completed.
Sticking to a budget, when you’re working on a fixer-upper, can be tricky, but it’s important to try not to overspend if you can help it. After all, you still need to be able to buy groceries and pay all of your other bills.
That being said, the good thing about taking on a project home is that you spend less on the actual building itself, which means you should have plenty of funds available for sprucing it up. It’s important to contact experts and search for home-building resources, as this can help you when it comes to the actual renovating itself.
Find A Dream Team To Help Make Your Fixer-Upper Fantasy A Reality
Unless you are particularly skilled at all aspects of home DIY, you will have to acquire a ‘dream team’ of contractors to help you get your project property into a safe and habitable condition. it’s particularly important to seek the assistance of trained and certified professionals when it comes to sorting out any plumbing or electrical issues, as these could prove to be a serious hazard if not done properly.
Of course, if you have some willing family and friends nearby, you can also rope them in to help you out with some of your tasks, whether it’s stripping wallpaper, ripping out old cupboards, or giving the walls a fresh coat of paint. You can always repay them with cups of tea and takeaway, and promise to help them out in the future if they ever need a favour from you in return!
The Transformative Powers Of Colour
Once all of the major jobs have been completed and your fixer-upper is capable of accommodating you and your family, it’s time to focus on the arguably more enjoyable part of the renovations. In other words, painting and decorating!
This is a job that you will probably want to do yourself, and you can have a lot of fun choosing the perfect paint colours or wallpaper patterns with which to add brightness and personality to your project property.
When it comes to choosing your paints, you may want to bear in mind that colour is a powerful thing, and some hues can make your home look decidedly more expensive according to experts. Yes, that’s right: simply by choosing the perfect shade of paint, you can make your formerly shabby old fixer-upper into a pricey and pristine show home! But which colours are the best to choose if you want to enjoy this price-enhancing effect?
Neutral shades such as beige and magnolia are two colours you should definitely consider using in your renovations, as they have a timeless appeal and will not clash with any other colour or pattern. However, you might also want to think about using so-called ‘heritage’ tones, such as sage green and a mellow shade of yellow. You can also use carefully chosen contrast colours (such as black and white, or deep blue and terracotta) to great effect in different rooms or even hallways, to create an atmosphere of effortless modern chic.
The Devil Is In The Details
By now, your fixer-upper should be starting to fall into place and it will probably be looking more like the stylish family home you have been envisioning. At this stage, it may be time to start thinking about some of the smaller – but still important – elements that help to make a house look and feel like an elegant modern home.
For instance, you might want to think about investing in some sophisticated interior door handles for all of the doors in your home – and, of course, don’t forget the front door too!
Corston offers a stunning brass door handles collection for you to peruse, as well as a wide variety of other attractive door furniture, including matching hinges and doorstops, so you can breathe fresh life into every door in your project home. It’s little details like this that can help to pull a whole house together and create an effortlessly stylish feel in every room.
Above All: Don’t Panic
Last but certainly not least, in the midst of all of the hustle and bustle and hard graft of transforming your fixer-upper, do your best to remain calm and optimistic.
There may be some unexpected setbacks and the odd missed deadline along the way. However, with patience and persistence, you are bound to reap the rewards of your efforts and end up with a beautiful and entirely personalised family home that you will enjoy living in for many years to come.
