Spring is right around the corner.
The crocuses are blooming, the tulips are starting to come up, and Spring is on its way! It’s also the time of year that construction and real estate signs start popping up all over the neighborhood. Homeowners are starting to debate the decision about selling their home to buy a new one that better aligns with their family’s needs, or staying where they are and improving the home that they already know and love. I’m always surprised when I meet with a potential client and they tell me about all of the things they dislike about their home though they deal with the issues because they absolutely adore their neighborhood and their neighbors, and they have no interest in moving to a new home. In a world that seems to be constantly changing, its refreshing to see a family’s desire to maintain the relationships they have with their neighborhood, and not uproot their family and potentially require their kids to move to a new school.
So now what? How can you take your ordinary home and make it extraordinary? As we’ve seen on the HGTV show, “Love it or List it,” sometimes it’s as easy as staging your home to improve how it makes you feel about the spaces. Though often the home needs more TLC than just a cosmetic makeover. The home may need a renovation project to open up some walls or rearrange the living spaces to improve the flow, or possibly even an addition to increase the size of spaces so the home can function properly for your family.
Where to start? I recommend you meet with two or three architects and have them walk through your home with you to discuss your ideas, goals and dreams. This allows you to brainstorm those thoughts with a design professional who has experience in renovating homes and can give you some feedback on your existing home. It allows you to flush out your ideas to determine what’s feasible and what might be better suited for a different home. It will also give you the opportunity to meet at least a couple architects and decide which one would be the best fit for you and your family, if you choose to renovate.
The second part of this is making sure your ideas align with your budget. It is helpful to meet with a couple contractors to talk about your initial thoughts so they can give you an idea about what the project may cost. Keep in mind, until a contractor has drawings to work from it is not possible for them to put exact pricing together. At this point in the process, any numbers you receive are only ballpark estimates to let you know if you are on the right track or if you need to start thinking about some different options.
Hopefully, the design advice and potential budget you receive for the project will provide you with enough information to decide the direction you want to proceed with the ideas, goals and dreams for your home. Maybe it would be better if you started shopping for a new home, though maybe moving forward with an architect to recreate your existing home is the perfect decision for your family.
