My Kitchen, Bathroom and Garage : Handy Guide For Redecorating Your Homes Most Important Most Used Rooms
Thursday, March 12th, 2009 | Places
Remodeling your home is a sensible alternativeto simply packing up and purchasing an ideal home. However, remodeling is not necessarily cheaper; simple planning mistakes or poor contractor selection can lead to disastrous emotional and financial results. Thorough research and organization are your two biggest weapons against avoiding the common pitfalls of a home remodel. Use them!
Your kitchen, your bathroom, and your garageare great rooms to begin a home remodel project. But before you actually begin work, there are quite a few questions you must ask yourself. The most important requires a truly honest answer: how much can you afford? You need to be financially realistic when remodeling any portion of your home. Unless you are very thorough during the contractor bidding process, your home remodel is expected to run 20% to 30% higher than your estimates.
While there are many possibilities for remodeling your house, this article will only discuss these three different rooms: your bathroom, kitchen and your garage. For most people, the bathroom is their own private sanctuary. Where else can you shut out the world and soak up a soothing bubble bath or stand under a hot shower? When you are planning your bathroom remodel, you need to consider where you naturally spend most of your time: soaking up the suds or looking in the mirror. The answer to that question shows where you should focus your ideas. Did you know there are such things as towel warming racks and heated flooring? And it is always recommended that you spend a little extra when it comes to bathroom fixtures. By investing more cash on the extra bells and whistles can easily transform your bathroom into a mini at-home spa.
A kitchen remodel is usually the most costly (not too mention most complicated) home remodel project you can begin. It is a huge undertaking; don’t take it lightly. It is highly advisable to hire a qualified contractor than to try and tackle your own kitchen remodel. If you accept bids from several contractors – which you should, your scope of work needs to be extremely specific regarding the materials that are to be used for your new kitchen (detailed proposals can be more accurately compared). Not too mention, if you aren’t specific in regards to materials, there is a good chance you will get materials either too expensive or inferior than what you wanted in the first place.
Designing the layout of your kitchen is the most important part of your kitchen remodel. Every aspect of design should meet with your approval prior to starting construction. You also need to consider the down time; how long can you tolerate not having a kitchen? The more severe your remodel, the longer you will have to find a way to live without a working kitchen.
Outside of hiring a licensed contractor for your remodeling project, it is also a good idea to hire a consultant to oversee the progress and quality of work you receive from your contractor. Most of us cannot tell the difference between high-quality electrical wiring and bulk, discount wiring, but a professional contracting consultant can. He or she can prevent your contractor and subcontractors from taking shortcuts.