Whilst home renovation projects are no doubt exciting, they come with a lot of things to consider before jumping in feet first. Time, budgets and stress levels are just three things that majorly need to be considered. Throw in renovating an old house, and you have an even bigger project on your hands.
Before you begin, it’s useful to read over some tips and advice covering everything from extending and designing your new home, to simply updating the more ‘tired’ looking rooms in the house.
Designing Your Home
Where should you start when it comes to designing your home? Sometimes putting together design plans for an existing house is trickier than starting from scratch, but if you put the time in beforehand, it will pay off.
Something to bear in mind is to keep an eye on the rooms at various parts of the day as well as the year, to track the sun. You want to know which rooms would benefit from sunlight coming through, and it also helps when extending any gardens.
If you have a small home, you should be able to design your renovation plans yourself. However, larger homes may require a designer, and those looking at buying an old building which is to be renovated into a home may even need an architect or an architectural designer.
Create a schedule of works to ensure that you are carrying out improvements in a logical way to minimise disruption and duplication.
Make Internal Structure Changes
If you really aren’t happy with the layout and structure of one of the key rooms, look at making necessary structural changes. The beauty of a renovation means that when it’s underway, there is no going back, so if you want to extend or change up a room, this is the chance to really go all out.
Bathrooms tend to be one of the main rooms which get dated fast and can often require the knocking down of walls. Skylight windows in the ceiling, removing walls to create a large open space, complete re-plumbing; the opportunities are endless in bathrooms as you really can create a luxurious room.
Removing bathroom suites or changing the room into a wet room can require huge amounts of work and money. Be sensible and make sure you fully research how to renovate a bathroom on a budget first before you get started with this room.
Consider External Renovations
Sometimes, the main part of the house to renovate to make the biggest change is the external properties of a home. An increasing number of people are now realising that their home is not as visually attractive at the outset, and this can sometimes be cheaper to renovate than the internal spaces.
If your home looks tired and weathered from the outside, there will possibly be more damage to it that you actually know of. By investing in new cladding, roofing materials, window treatments, walls, gardens and driveways, you can completely change up the look of your house.
Perhaps the creation of a porch could be a quick win to build new space? Or even just re-painting all the timber could completely spruce up the appearance. Assess your exterior before your interior first.
Updating Heating and Electrics
Once you start renovating a property, be prepared to find the central heating system seriously out-of-date — or even non-existent if it’s a very old house. You’ll potentially find that the electrics may need re-doing too, once you start updating an old property.
The good thing here is that although heating, electrics and plumbing tasks can be costly, you have the opportunity to install a system specifically tailored to your lifestyle, your energy usage and design ideas for the house. And, it will also add significant end value to the property.
Cosmetic Decorating
Keep thinking about when all the structural work is completed and the hardest part is all behind you. Once the extending, renovating and re-modelling is done, the fun part begins. Decorating covers everything from painting and preparing the walls, sanding, carpeting and covering any floors, treating the woodwork, and getting your best interior design head on to get creative with room planning.
Overall, renovating a house is becoming a more sought after option for first-time buyers striving to get a foot on the property ladder. A good quality ‘fixer-upper’ can sometimes be the most affordable option, but careful consideration and planning are needed before even putting in an offer. By following the steps above and continuing to carry out thorough research, you will hopefully reduce the risk or error making and fully understand most areas that need covering.
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