Indecision can be frustrating and immobilizing. Yet, worse than being stuck, is moving ahead without a clearly defined focus. It’s a recipe for disaster.
Let’s take a look at a simple analogy. We’ve all been in the situation where you decide to go out to eat and when you ask your friend (or spouse!) where he wants to go he says, “oh, it doesn’t matter, anywhere is fine.” Yeah, right! He ends up unhappy with the choice; not liking the food, the crowd, or the restaurant.
No big deal, right? Well, when it comes to major home improvement projects, multiply that by about a thousand! One thousand times the occurrences and one thousand times more intense. It’s that big. But, who would go into a major remodel or home improvement this way? Plenty of people! I’ve seen it many times and it causes untold headaches, strife, and mistakes. Don’t let that be you!
Remodeling Issues – Defining the Problem
What kind of windows do you want? What about the floor coverings? There will be decisions about light fixtures, trims, cabinets, room sizes, views, paint, sinks, tubs, countertops, well, on and on it goes. The problem with many people? They like too many things or they’re not that excited about anything. And in the interest of moving forward with the project, sometimes they just “go along”.
The problem with that is it leads to arguments down the road. It leads to frustrations, delays and often it leads to major mistakes. You can’t remodel a home successfully without knowing where you’re going. You can’t meander aimlessly and suddenly find yourself where you want to be. You gotta know.
Home Improvement: Gaining Clarity About Your Wants
Make a commitment to decide. Once you realize the extreme importance of sticking with a path, you can more easily make those decisions. Then, armed with that commitment, you can go gather information for those choices. Here’s what I recommend that you do.
* First, if you haven’t done so already, look at as many pictures of homes and interiors as you can. This is going to give you enough ideas to list as your favorites. Then prioritize and narrow this list down to only two or three of each item or category. Begin reaching a consensus with your partner.
* The next step is to see as many houses as you possible can … in person! There’s nothing like seeing each item you like “in action” and in person. Also, room sizes, window placements and other things need to be witnessed.
* Visit the big home center stores, kitchen and bath centers, etc. Naturally, you won’t find everything you’re interested in when looking at existing homes. You can often find them in stores and many times in displays. Another big advantage of stores is that you can evaluate prices vs. your budget.
* Talk with your architect, home remodeling coach, and/or builder. Discuss the viability of all your choices with your home building professionals. Your coach, builder, and architect will guide you in matters of cost and the appropriateness for the project.
Commit and Go
Home building and remodeling are intense, personal processes. Gaining clarity as early as possible is going to relieve you of a lot of potential pain and suffering. In fact, if you take heed of this advice and you commit, you and your partner will turn potentially heartbreaking scenarios into some of the most rewarding experiences of your life.
May you get what you want and may your project delight you. Happy Remodeling!
Tags: Cabinets, Countertops, Home, Home Improvement, Home Improvement Projects, Home Remodel, Home Remodeling, House, Interior, Interiors, Kitchen, Kitchen And Bath, Paint, Remodel, Remodeling, Room