A house becomes a home when a homeowner’s personality is injected into the property. It could be painting the walls, adding wallpaper, or changing the purpose of each room in the house. The choice of furniture and materials can blend to help a house feel like an extension of the homeowner’s personality.
With the average person spending approximately £330 every year decorating their home, the love for home renovations is commonly shared across the country. To ensure a successful home renovation project, planning is crucial. Planning a renovation project can help minimise risks in transforming spaces in your home into your dream space.
If you are considering organising a renovation project, use this guide to help you plan the process and transform your house into your home.
Establish A Budget
Starting with the foundation of the renovation project, you need to establish a budget. The budget will influence how the project progresses, choices in materials and what rooms can be renovated. It helps to ensure you are not overspending on materials or furniture to complete your project. Without a budget, it can be easy to get carried away with spending more to help complete the project. However, this could cause financial complications that could have been avoided with a budget in place.
Consider the size of the renovation project and which area of your home you want to decorate. A kitchen renovation will cost more than a bedroom renovation due to the materials and work needed to be completed. As such, a kitchen will cost more to complete than a bedroom. If you want to renovate the whole house, ensure that you break the project into sections. Decide how much you are willing to spend for each area of your home. This will help tremendously with planning out your budget.
Identify The Purpose Of Each Room
After deciding how much you are willing (and able to spend) on renovation work, you can begin to look at what the purpose of each room is going to be. For those that have just moved into a property, the initial renovation could be to turn the house into their home. This means deciding which bedroom will be the master bedroom, or if there is space for a dining room or area.
Identifying each room’s purpose will help you plan how to decorate the space. You can see how much space you have for your plan for the room. For instance, if you are renovating a bedroom, you know the size of bed you could fit in the space or if a sofa bed would be the better option. Knowing the room’s purpose can help with choosing what furniture can fit in the space, and ways to brighten up the space if it is a small room.
Decide Where To Start
When you know the purpose of each space, the next decision is where to start. For instance, if you plan to renovate the whole house, look at which rooms you want to complete first. These could be your most used rooms, such as your bedroom, bathroom and kitchen. You might choose to renovate the room that will likely take the longest to complete (i.e. the kitchen) and then progress on to the next area of the home once complete.
A structure for how you intend to renovate your home will greatly help. You can plan accordingly and decide when to order materials and furniture to complete the space. It will also help show you how to improve before starting the next renovation project on your list.
Saving vs Investing
Of course, the temptation to splurge can be too enticing. This is especially true when renovating areas of the home, such as the bathroom or kitchen. You might find appliances or tiles that you prefer which come with a higher price tag when compared to the other options on the market. However, there are advantages of choosing to save, including saving money to invest in other areas of the renovation project.
Spend time deciding what areas of the renovation project you want to invest in and where you could save. You might do this when establishing the budget, as you can see what funds you have available to spend on the project. Choose to invest in items that you know will last a long time. Think about the longevity of the materials used. Considering these points will help you decide where you can save and what to invest in your renovation project.
Choose When To DIY And When To Hire A Professional
Alongside the debate of when to save and invest comes the next topic of discussion: DIY vs professional. Many will argue that most of the work in a renovation project can be completed by themselves. Of course, this is true. Choosing to DIY parts of a renovation project can bring satisfaction and pride in knowing that you have completed the work. Additionally, it helps you to save money investing in the services of a professional.
However, some tasks do require a professional to complete. One of these areas is electrical work. If you are planning to sell the property, you need to provide potential buyers with proof that the electrical work has been completed by a professional. If you need any plumbing work, consider searching online to find a reputable option to help. Use the ‘plumbers near me’ section on MyBuilder, and read the reviews of former customers to see if they are reliable. Above all, if you are not confident in your abilities to complete plumbing work, electrical work, tiling or fitting cabinets, it can be worth seeking the help of professionals. It might seem like an additional cost, but it could save you significantly from having to repair any issues your DIY skills create. Most of all, investing in a professional can offer peace of mind that your work has been completed to a high standard.
Consider The Long-Term
Think about your long-term plans with the property. Is it your forever home, or will you sell in the future? Asking yourself this question will help you decide what areas of renovation you can save and invest in and if you should hire a professional. If you plan to live in the property for the foreseeable future, you might take your time with the renovation work as there is no immediate rush to complete it. Instead, you can focus on one area of the house at a time, saving up in between projects to ensure you can update it to your ideal space.
However, if you plan to sell the property, consider what potential buyers will look for when viewing your property. Design each room with the desirable amenities that potential buyers want in what will hopefully be their home. For instance, many potential buyers want a property with a lot of light. As such, you can paint the walls in your property with lighter shades to help create the illusion of a bright space and a bigger room. It will help in attracting potential buyers. When you think about the long-term plans for the space, it will help you with answering the other questions mentioned above.
Live In Your New Spaces
Before starting a project, learn about the most common mistakes made to ensure that you do not fall down these traps. It will help ensure that the project runs as closely as planned.
Enjoy living in your newly renovated spaces, whether you are planning to sell or rent in the future or putting your roots down. Bask in the hard work and investments that went into transforming your property. Be proud of the outcome, and learn from the lessons it has provided.
