It is official! after years of planning, drawing and working towards having our dream house, we finally bought our home about 3 months ago. This home is exactly the opposite to what we planned for, so…
We had to change our plans and drawings!
Do not plan until you are sure which house you are going to make your own. All our projects were specific for a modern home. We bought a Colonial home that is wonderful but just completely opposite to what we thought we would get. This home has an energy to it, you can feel good in any part of the house.
We had to start planning again every single room of the house. I have to add, We did move from a modern, smaller home to this colonial bigger house. I felt the pressure to decorate fast so the house won’t look empty, but I made myself wait until I was sure I had an specific idea of what I wanted from every room.
When you are sure what you want your home to look like, start making a list of the things you need to complete in every room and if possible tape it in the door of that room to cross out whatever you have completed.
I made my lists including steps to prepare de space, what to demo, install, rough floor plan of each room (for calculating the flooring required for that room) size of windows (to buy the blinds).
After you have the list of things you need to complete to finish the room, you can go from room to room to make a list of the materials you will need. I did not add furniture or decor to this list!
Ex.
Removed
Clean
Prepare for painting
Paint
Install
Touch-up
When you have the list of materials you need to buy, make sure you get any coupon you may have (like the moving coupons from Lowes or Home Depot). Try to make few trips to the hardware store that way you can apply your coupons to the whole purchase, it is worth it!
Make sure your list includes all the materials and tools you will need. Ex, spackle, sand paper, paint rollers + brushes, appropriate containers to hold the paint and off course the paint.
We jump the “trying the paint in different spots kind of thing” and we ended up with trims that look white in some spots and pink in others… This is NOT what we wanted. Do not skip this step.
Taking trips to buy material too often, take a LOT of your time, try to schedule them during business days after work, so you don’t spend your most productive days buying what you need instead of working in your house.
you can ask your self; what am I going to do? what do I need for that? how am I goin to reach high/low places? take yourself through the whole process to make sure you write down all the materials you will need.
Write down your plan, It is very easy to get off track. Try to have a check list of the things you decided to complete in order. Prioritize! and go back to the list whenever you feel you are loosing your way.
If you pay attention to the details and DO NOT cut corners, you can achieve a professional look in your house and will boost the value of your home. Know when to hire a professional and do not speed the process if that means the quality won’t be great!
It is more expensive to pay two times for the same job!
I think for now those are some of the most important things I have learned. We still have so much work ahead and I will keep you posted with before and after pictures. This house is full of projects we are working on everyday. I’ll be back soon to show them 😉
If you have any questions of how we are making this big project work, well I am here to answer them!
See you!