Renovations - Where to Begin?
Are you thinking about refreshing your house? Do you want to change the décor, but you don’t know how to start? Do you like thousands of different accessories, furniture, colors, but you are not sure how to connect it together? Don’t worry we all have been there Here are few simple steps, which help you put everything together.
1. Prepare inspiration folder
Start collecting pictures of things you like. If you see something nice in the store, take a picture, you see something in the magazine, cut it. You like piece from your friend’s house – don’t take it just take a pic. It doesn’t have to be particular thing, it might be everything you like, texture, book, color, flower etc. Start putting everything together. You might create an inspiration box, binder or just store all digital pics in one folder on your computer. It is useful to label each pic with store name and the price. In few months you might completely forgot where you saw it. After a while you will see what is in your heart and in what direction your style is shifting.
2. Plan your expenses with 30 percent margin
Finances are crucial part in entire planning. Once you have an idea how your house should looks like (more/less) – it is time to figure out how much you can or you want to spend. Make a list of things you need to do and buy. Make sure that you included everything. For example, let’s say you are renovating bedroom. You need paint, maybe wall paper, window coverings, and furniture, light and décor accessories. Are you thinking of changing floors as well? Add material and labor cost to your budget. If you paint by yourself you need to include paint accessories cost: brushes, cover foil, masking tape etc. If you are planning to hire somebody, you don’t need paint accessories, just add labor cost. When you are planning your budget, you don’t need to know exactly what piece of furniture you want to buy or the color of paint you want. Just do some research what is the price range of the things you like and implement it to your budget. You can play with those numbers later, maybe you will find cheaper bed, but more expensive area rug. Good idea is to include 20-30 % margin in your budget, you will have cushion for unexpected events during the renovation. And trust me no matter how experienced with renovation you are, there is always something that requires a little bit more money that you have planned. Or simply you will find some piece which you fell in love and it is a little bit more expensive that you fist planned.
3. If you can’t afford for everything you want, postpone some expenses
In your inspirational folder you might find things which are very expensive, and you are not ready to spend that amount of money. And it ok, you have always two ways to resolve it, first you might look for cheaper version of thing you like, you don’t need to buy exactly the piece you found in the magazine, you can find something similar in Home Sense or other chain stores for less money Or if you absolutely need this particular thing, you might, start saving money for it and buy it later (unless it is building material ).
OK, so you have your budget, you have your inspirational folder, now it is time to start shopping and scheduling work…
And if you still think it is too much, you can always hire Interior decorator :-)
