I have met a lot of new people this week, friends of friends and clients alike and everyone is telling me the same thing; I want to renovate but I’m afraid of ALL the work!
I get it, renovations are a lot of work and they do mess up your home but the results are always satisfying and well worth the effort.
The main worry I hear from people is the idea of having to move or pack up all of their things, it is a daunting task! De-cluttering and clearing out a room for new flooring and paint is exactly like moving and I have not met anyone who likes to move.
The upside is it gives you an opportunity to pare down items and toss out junk that you don’t need which we should ALL try to do every one two years. If you tackle the job one room at a time it can be a little less scary and might seem more manageable.
So, you have decided to bite the bullet, replace your flooring, paint your house and change out your cabinets. What next? After meeting with your favorite designer (ahem) and choosing your perfect interior it is time to plan for the work to be done in your home. Once you have the future installation and delivery dates set, you can work backwards on the calendar and plan the work required to get ready.
Try to paint at least a month before flooring or cabinets are installed to give it a chance to cure. I realize this isn’t always possible but if you have the luxury of time, take advantage of it to lessen the chance of damage to your walls during installation.
I had my home painted before I moved in and just the moving alone caused scuffs, the paint was so touchy! I had used an excellent C2 paint but even high quality paint needs time to cure, a few weeks later it was much tougher and scuffed a lot less – thankfully C2 paint is easily touched up.
Depending on your budget you can control some of the installation costs. You can go full force and allow our installers to move furniture, remove baseboards and existing flooring and then have them put it all back when they are finished or you can do some of the preparation yourself. The option of having our crews do all the prep work is good for busy people or for people who do not enjoy manual labour (namely, me). You can let the installers in and drive away to your favorite coffee shop knowing that your home is in professional hands.
A good piece of advice that I gave a lady yesterday is to try to plan large renovations in the spring so that you have the option of possibly moving into your holiday trailer while your floors are being ripped out or putting your trailer into your garage and spending a night or two if necessary.
It is so much less stressful if you have a place to escape to, it might even be a good time for a quick winter holiday to some place warm while your renovation happens!
If you are intimidated by the idea of a renovation, start with small steps and before you know it you will be enjoying your beautiful new interior.
Kim Lewis is an interior designer in Red Deer with Carpet Colour Centre. Contact her at 403-343-7711 ext. 227 or email her at klewis@carpetcolourcentre.com.
