Deciding the best path for your home renovations and remodeling
projects can be intimidating. The most important element of any home
improvement project is to determine you needs and desires. It's
important to complete this process before meeting with builders or
general contractors.
Creating a hierarchy and sorting through ideas is critical.
Start
by making a notebook for collecting and organizing your ideas and
thoughts. Any information should be added during your investigation
process. Create tabs in your notebook which include the following
categories: Ideas, Floor Plan, Resources and Products.
Collect
information for your remodeling project. Gather photographs and pictures
of products, kitchen designs and ideas that may add value to your
impending project. Make notes for each picture. Clearly label your likes
and dislikes. Also, note items that are a must have. Many samples of
renovation and remodeling ideas can be found throughout the internet and
in remodeling and kitchen specialty magazines.
Now, create a
floor plan of your existing house. It's not a typo. You will be best
served by a floor plan of the whole house. The focus of your efforts
will surround the area of emphasis and adjoining rooms.
Now that
you have finished compiling your basic information, you are ready to
start making one of the toughest decisions regarding your home
improvement project. Do I help with the design? Unless you have
experience, you will need some advice in order to achieve the best
results.
How do you determine whom should help with your
renovation's design? You must first realize your limitations. In your
initial research for ideas, have you developed a crystal clear set of
features that you want? Do you need help resolving issues or are you
looking for unbiased guidance?
Is your renovation project simple
or complex? Kitchen renovations are generally more difficult than a
secondary bathroom remodel. Then again, an owner's bathroom remodeling
project may be every bit as complex as a kitchen renovation.
Following
are different levels of design help available for your remodeling
project. Each will provide a different level of assistance. This list
starts with the areas of greatest assistance to the least. They are as
follows:
Interior Designer
You may
consider hiring an interior designer if you have an expensive high-end
kitchen remodel. Finding the right interior designer that suites your
style can require a healthy undertaking. The site listed below has
detailed instructions on finding the interior designer for you.
Be
forewarned, many interior designers provide construction services. Make
sure that the design is not part of the construction. You will want to
feel free to bid the project through other sources.
We don't
advise allowing a single source of design and construction.
Authorization over one and advisement over the other is advisable.
Kitchen Supply Center
This
is an area that you need to tread carefully. All information and
guidance from this source should be checked by independent sources. Just
in case you receive conflicting opinions, it would be best for you to
seek additional resources. The typical goal with this system is to bring
you in with the visual samples and help with their professionals. They
will keep you within products and services that they offer. This is not
necessarily bad, it is only biased.
Design Services Consultation
This
is a less common path though, the least biased and most open form of
information. These services would include advisement by an individual or
a team in the design and construction of your kitchen. There is no
opportunity to use their subcontractors with this service, therefore, no
hidden or advice to steer you in a specific direction. Ideally, with
this delivery, you would have access to training and advice throughout
the process. With this process, YOU WILL BE EMPOWERED to manage the
team. In other words, you become an informed consumer in the process.
DIY: Do it Yourself
You
may have all of the tools and confidence in the world to complete the
project on your own. In this case, once your ideas are organized, you
are ready to proceed with the design and construction yourself.
No comments:
Post a Comment