Home Renovation

Home Improvement Projects Can Be Fun If You Know The Right Way To Complete Them

Home renovation or improvement projects can really transform your home. It makes your home more attractive and habitable and also increases its resale value. Even if you don’t have a lot of building experience, you can accomplish many home improvement tasks on your own. So, don’t be fearful of taking on a large project. Here are some suggestions on how you can do some very good home improvements.

Think about refinishing your cabinetry instead of putting in new ones. A fresh stain or coat of paint, combined with a new style of hardware, can change the overall look and feel of the entire kitchen. This is an inexpensive task that can be done in a weekend, and it will give your home a fresh, new feel.

Keep your garage organized by getting yourself some boxes that are plastic to arrange the items by type, size, and how often they’re used. Placing labels on each box will make it easy to find the category you seek when boxes are stacked. This is an inexpensive way to make the garage look better, find things when you need them and keep your important items safe from any creatures that find their way into your garage.

Things like chipped paint, water damaged ceilings, and rotting decks are things that are easy to spot in any property that you’re looking into buying. In other cases, like HVAC problems, electrical faults, structural damage, or roofing problems, you may need to employ someone with a trained, professional eye. Therefore, whenever you are purchasing a new home, you should spend money on home inspection to ensure there is nothing wrong with it. Doing this might save you a bunch of money down the road.

Don’t settle for a drab or ordinary living space; the simple addition of colorful prints and patterns can transform your everyday world. Add zebra or leopard print accessories to a living room, such as chair cushions, area rugs, decorative pillows, or wall art.

The long blind cords in your home should be cut, tied or put in loops. Children and pets can become entangled in these cords and strangle. Leave an adequate amount of cord so that it is still functional and nothing more. Tie it up or cut it to avoid any unfortunate events.

Rather than going with a cheap composite material, choose real wood cabinets for your home. Wood cabinets are strong, so they can put up with a lot of abuse without showing wear. As in the past, today the finest quality wood cabinets are made from oak, maple, and cherry. It’s also easy to change their color since they can be stained.

White and red cedar is perfect fencing in fire-prone locations. Cedar wood is known to be one of the safest choices in areas prone to fire, and has the added benefit of being durable and smelling great.

When you prepare properly and take advantage of useful tips like these, you can eliminate the hassle and unplanned expenses that …

Home Contractors

How to Complete a Home Renovation Project Quickly and On Time

It is rare to meet someone who has undergone a home renovation that hasn’t complained that it took too long. Having worked on home renovation projects of varying scales for homeowners getting their house ready to sell or prior to move in or even when they’re living in the home, I have found that there are certain things that help make a project move quickly and efficiently. Whenever I see projects drag on and on for months, even years, it’s because they’re lacking in one or more of these areas. Granted, there are things that come up that are out of your control, but I can promise that if you follow the tips below, you’ll reduce your project timeline significantly.

First and foremost, Have a Plan – Sounds simple enough right? I want to renovate my kitchen or bath. That’s a start, but there’s much more to it than that. Consult with your contractor about your project and find out a realistic time frame to start and complete the work. I recommend you get a calendar and use it as a project tracker. If it’s going to take 6 weeks for example, mark what the finish date is on the calendar. Then, reverse engineer or back track everything that needs to be done and assign a date to everything. For example, Day 1 Demolition, Day 2 Remove popcorn ceiling, Day 3 electrical rough-in, etc. This will also help you know what materials you need and when. For example, if you’re doing demolition on Day 1, you’ll need a dumpster on site. If you’re hiring a General Contractor to work on your project, they will handle these details, but it’s good to ask what you need to provide and what they will provide. If you are installing cabinets on Day 30, and it takes 4 weeks to order the cabinets, that means you need to get the floor plan designed immediately so that an order can be placed and delivered in time.

Have a realistic budget. How will you fund your project? Savings? Loan? Credit Cards? A gut kitchen or bath renovation is not inexpensive. Be prepared to spend several thousand dollars even on the low end. Make a list of everything you’ll need: cabinets, flooring, lighting, appliances, fixtures, sinks, disposal, toilet, tub, knobs, and more. Also, who is going to do the work. Is this a DIY project or will you be employing professionals? If you’re going with the DIY route, be realistic about your abilities and how much time you have to contribute to the renovation considering your other responsibilities – full time job, family, etc.

Know What You Want. Do you have a particular style that you like? How do you want the space to function? How do you envision using the space? What all needs to fit in the space? In the kitchen, consider storage for all the dishes, pots, bakeware, glassware and cookbooks. In the bathroom, consider the number and kind of people using the space …