Planning a Home Remodel?

by Heather Long | More from this Blogger

24 Jun 2006 06:18 AM

When it comes to planning a home remodel, be aware that it is one of the most stressful events that a couple can embark on together. There are a lot of horrible experiences out there that couples have shared during a remodel as their expectations of the project and of each other are challenged. This happens especially when a couple doesn't share, clearly, what they expect is going to happen not only during the remodel, but afterwards.

When you are planning a remodel, it's important to discuss your hopes and dreams for the remodel. You need to be honest and frank about the financial concerns. You also need to figure out how to cope with mistakes that are made. And before you think that mistakes won't happen, think again, mistakes happen all the time during a remodel from expanding costs to delays in materials and structural flaws and permit applications.

There are other concerns that happen when you are coping with a remodel. You may not agree on a paint color, a type of tile or even the style of lighting you want to put into place. There could be differences of opinion and there could be problems with actually stylistically putting those pieces together in your home.

Be Open to Suggestion

Over the last few years, my husband and I have done remodels to different places we lived. We hammered out the details ahead of time and I can't tell you how many different samples we looked at or how often we measured and re-measured. Our problems were too folded, I have trouble actually visualizing special orientation issues. My husband is much better at that.

He has a harder time imagining color effects on rooms such as when I wanted to repaint the kitchen a very lovely shade of yellow. Our way of handling this was to let each other handle our areas of specialty and trusting experiences as well as talents. We eliminated the small and petty disagreements and we're both capable of saying when we're wrong - it worked out well - he loved the yellow kitchen and I loved how they took out a wall and put in a railing to open up two rooms so our daughter had a fantastic play room and I had an office that looked right into it.

So if you are planning a remodel, keep the following tips in mind:

• If you are experiencing marital communication issues or you are at an impasse over other problems, don't start remodeling right now
• You need to have realistic expectations of what is going happen
• Keep in mind that remodels are cluttered, dirty and noisy and they interfere with daily living especially when you are doing work on a kitchen or a bathroom
• Shop your plans and ideas around and be sure to compare samples long before you get started
• Don't make the remodel the bone of contention, you need to be united to cope with the stress it generates and not generating stress between the two of you
• Create a budget and be sure to lay in a contingency for if the costs go higher than you planned

What have your experiences been with remodeling?

Related Articles:

Renovations for the Best Value

5 Ways to Use Your Home Equity Line of Credit

Here's a Great Story About Learning to Trust Dad

Learn more about Heather Long

Heather Long is 35 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago.

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