Home improvements are exciting when they aren’t stressing you out. Even with all the stress of losing access to a key facility such as the kitchen or bathroom, once the work is complete, it’s an incredible feeling to enjoy the fruit of your hard work. A kitchen overhaul isn’t normally a weekend project and can put your kitchen out of access for potentially weeks or months, depending on the depth of the changes you require. While you might be keen to hit the ground running on your kitchen renovation, make sure you have carefully considered the following before you take a sledgehammer to the walls.
Don’t DIY Without a Professional Opinion
It can seem tempting to tackle the job yourself, after all – how hard can it be to replace a cabinet? The reality is without experience in carrying out an overhaul, especially in a whole room, you can’t sufficiently prepare for anything that could go wrong and put allowances in place prior to breaking ground. For projects big or small, always consult a professional who can give you advice regarding structure and facilities that aren’t obvious such as electrics and plumbing. Professional kitchen designers in Northampton describe the kitchen as the heart of your home, isn’t it right to show it the same care and consideration as your own heart?
Budget, Budget and Budget Again
Building, renovations and home improvements always start out with the best intentions to remain in budget or at worst, meeting the maximum budget. However, it’s not often that a project will go through to completion and meet the intended budget and more often than not, these projects will exceed budgets. To take control over your project, first, plan your maximum budget and then increase to budget for an additional 20% – if you’ve got a specialist, period or listed property, you should increase the ‘budget buffer’ to 40-50% as anything unexpected that can occur isn’t going to be cheap. Home improvements are an excellent way of adding additional value to your home but shouldn’t be done half-heartedly to save a bit of cash as this could cost more in the long term.
Create a List of Priorities
Going hand in hand with your budget, some aspects of your kitchen overhaul or renovation are going to cost considerably more than others and before any work begins, you should make a list of priorities of what you must have, can live with or without or can be scrapped early on. For instance, overhauling a kitchen often means new cabinets and countertops which come with a plethora of material and hardware options – all of which will have different price points. Weigh up the benefits of installing that true marble countertop over a brand-new costly appliance that’ll make your life easier and give everything a priority rating. This way you can ensure the design aspects you had your heart set on can still make it into your renovation while the bits that weren’t as a key can be cut to reduce the overall budget.
Track Everything as You Go
Every little aspect of your renovation should be tracked and accounted for, even small items like replacement cabinet hardware or cleaning products. A spreadsheet is an excellent way of keeping track and can be easily managed with different columns for different aspects and overall tracking of what has been spent to date. In the middle of your project when you are pulling your hair out over what this cost or how much that is going to be, you can take a look at your spreadsheet and get a clear oversight of the project without having to track back through paperwork and receipts.
The kitchen is one of the busiest places in the home and it’s recommended to seek alternative accommodation while having an in-depth project like a kitchen renovation completed. If you do temporarily move while work on your kitchen is carried out by professionals, make sure to check regularly and touch base to ensure the project is on track both monetarily and per the given timeline. Most important of all, make sure to enjoy your new kitchen when it is all completed!
Best bet is to carefully study everything you are going to be doing exactly. That way your investment will not be a waste of time and money. Thanks for sharing, this is great.