How to Prepare for Major Home Renovations
Having just recently experienced the chaos associated with renovations, I thought I might share some of my lessons and hopefully save others some stress!!! There is a lot more to planning renovations than planning the design and materials! Sure that is the “Fun Stuff” but we have to deal with the practical side as well.
Whether painting, installing new flooring or taking down walls, we need to prepare our space before renovations can begin. All those shelves, and hidden storage places we all seem to find, need to get cleaned out! If you can take some time before the renovation starts and go through all the “stuff” that has accumulated for years; it’s a lot less that you will need to store while renovations are happening. So take some time and sort through your CD’s and DVD’s. It’s getting close to the perfect time for a garage sale, so keep what you can’t part with. However, this is the perfect time to sort through those items that you don’t know why you’ve been keeping all these years!
Items you want to keep, pack away so they don’t get damaged in a room separate from where renovations are occurring. Between drywall dust; materials, ladders, and all the tools necessary to complete a renovation, there is usually just no room for your other belongings. So pack them away and keep them clean and safe.
This is also a perfect time to go through what you are keeping and begin planning where you will place it all once your renovation is complete. We had wall units that stored more stuff than I could imagine! We are retiring the wall units for new furniture that has less storage, so I have no choice but to be selective with what we keep. We are also getting a new bar unit that will accommodate everything we need for entertaining; which means we don’t need the wall units. As you determine what you need to keep, it also helps you find the “right” new furniture that will not only look great but accommodate your storage needs and your lifestyle. This really helps in planning the new updated design for any space! Renovations is a great time to de-clutter your life and get back to basics!
If you are anything like me, having our home upside down with things packed in boxed is very difficult! I like things in order and clean. I find myself cleaning every evening, knowing the drywall dust will be back the next day, but I feel better for a few hours! My husband can’t stand stuff in his space and wants to keep “his” areas clear, so he just piles more stuff in other areas – you can just imagine the battles happening – and then we laugh about it all! We’ve watched our clients suffer through the renovation process for years – now we’re getting “pay back!” All our clients reading this can enjoy a good laugh at our expense! We all need to make some compromises during renovations and realize it’s just short term frustration. The pay back is a beautiful space that will function perfectly for the whole family!
A funny story, my daughters’ 19th birthday was earlier this week. Our living room was just having the hardwood flooring completed, my dining room is still a storage area for hardwood flooring for the rest of main level, and we were removing all furniture from the family room so we could start the demo in that room next. I quickly realized I did not have a room where family could sit and have birthday cake! That would not do! We had the flooring finished in our living room at 3:50! I had it swept and washed and I was setting up the furniture in our living room at 4:00 and my parents were arriving at 4:30!! Good thing staging has given me experience in making a room looks great in such a short time! Everything was in place and looked fabulous just as they walked in the door! Nothing like cutting it down to the wire!
Renovations can be stressful but if you take the right approach, and keep a sense of humour they can also be fun and exciting! So make the most of it and have some fun!