How to Tackle House Renovations Like a Pro

This post was sponsored, and paid for, by SunTrust Mortgage. All opinions are my own.

5 tips to help you tackle house renovations like a pro & create the home of your dreams.

 

As of July 7, we have officially owned our home for 1 year.

Time has flown so quickly & so much has changed in our lives & our home in that time.

Some of the rooms in our house have had such dramatic makeovers, I’m not sure if you could tell they were the same room! Thinking back, I’m astonished by how much we accomplished in only a years time!

When we first closed on the house we had every intention of doing a few smaller renovations & then saving up money before starting the bigger renovations in 3-6 months. And as you know, that idea quickly went out the door.

We did start off slowly. First, we began by painting the decks (although I have yet to finish them), building stairs for one of our outdoor decks, & painting the basement. We then decided that we should go ahead & start a real renovation project, so we decided to tackle the laundry room & half bath first.

We figured if we didn’t do the laundry room before our washer & dryer arrived from storage we might never get around to it. And since the half bath mirrors the laundry room in the hallway & we planned to use the same tile we decided to do them at the same time.

That is when we made our first real renovation problem. Between the old tile & the subfloors was a thick board that had to be removed (another story for another time) & was glued down (and nailed down, and screwed down!) so well that it only came up in splinters through back-breaking work.

 

 

But that didn’t keep us from moving forward. Somehow we gained more momentum & in a matter of 6 months, we had almost all of the old tile (in the hallway & kitchen) & carpet (living room & bedroom) removed with almost all of it replaced with fossilized bamboo flooring. In that time we also removed walls, a pantry, gutted & replaced an entire kitchen & the master bathroom. Not to mention all of the painting we did on the walls & ceiling!

And while the last 6 months hasn’t had as dramatic of renovations as the first 6, we are still plugging away in an attempt to finish all of the little & a few big (mainly the 2nd floor) renovations.

Over this last year, we learned a lot about buying a house, getting loans, home ownership, & renovations. And to go along with SunTrust’s Free “Your Guide to Home Buying” which even comes with free printable worksheets, I’ve decided to share with you 5 tips to help you to turn your new house renovations goals into a reality!

And if you are still searching for your dream home, be sure to check out SunTrust Mortgage. They have a team of experts that are committed to helping future homeowners find a mortgage that fits their life. SunTrust Mortgage also provides the resources & tools to help inform borrowers who aspire to become homeowners or are looking for their next home. You can learn more by clicking here or get your free guide here!

 

 

1. Create a Projects List

By creating a list you create organization & it will help ensure you tackle the most important house projects first. Here is an easy way to create a thorough projects list.

Go room by room, inside to outside, creating a detailed list of all of the renovation projects you would like to do.

Next, categorize the list according to what has to be done, what needs to be done, what you would like to do, & if the time/money becomes available.

Once your list is set up into categories, place each item (in each category) in order of greatest importance to least.

 

2. Know Your Budget

Once you have created a list of projects, sit down & discuss your budget. Decide if the budget is for all of your renovations or a budget for what you can afford to renovate this year.

You always want to make sure you have the budget on hand before you begin a renovation so that you don’t get part way through & then have to stop because you don’t have enough. Also, it’s important to put a little bit of the budget to the side for accidentals. You never know when you are going to uncover something that needs to be fixed.

For example, we ended up needing to replace subfloors & drywall in our master bathroom in places we didn’t expect. It’s always safe to assume you will need 5-10% more than you expect a renovation project to cost.

 

3. Allocate Money Properly

Now that you know your budget, go through your projects list & divide the money according to each project’s needs. A good way to know how much money you will need for each project is to research.

You can research averages online &/or you can research specifically what materials you will need for each project to give you a better idea of how much money you need for each project.

 

 

4. Know When to Hire Help

While DIY is all the rage & is a great way to save money, the reality is sometimes you need to hire/subcontract out certain elements of big renovations. It’s really important to know your renovation strengths & weaknesses. What your talents & time will allow for & how to best save your time & back in the process.

The most important thing we have learned about renovating our home is that you can’t/don’t have to do it all yourself. Do what your talents allow & hire when the job becomes overwhelming or beyond your capability.

For example, there was no way we could renovate our entire master bathroom ourselves while laying fossilized bamboo floors & completely gutting, ripping down walls, & renovating our entire kitchen (which still had a rotary phone hanging on it when we bought the house).

You can only live so long without a bathroom & a kitchen before going crazy! So we chose to hire someone to move the bathroom plumbing connections, replace the subfloors, patch up the drywall, & lay the bathroom floor & wall tile. While we stuck to painting the bathroom, putting up the glass shower, installing the toilet, plumbing in the sink fixtures, etc.

Money well spent for the big renovation aspects that would require extreme amounts of time or energy from us!

 

5. Pace Yourself

It’s extremely important to create reasonable deadlines for each of your renovations on your projects list.

While we accomplished a lot in our first 6 months of home ownership, looking back, I’m honestly not sure how we lived through it. For several months we were without a kitchen, while at the same time we didn’t have a master bathroom for 2-3 months. And did I mention our floors were ripped out down to the subfloors? It was a serious mess!

I admit, when Christmas time came we had renovation burn out!

So for the last 6 months, we have paced ourselves. Only on rare occasions do we renovate during the work week. We are now trying to limit ourselves to only renovating on Fridays so that we can enjoy the weekend & relax before another hectic work week.

And let me tell you, life is so much better when you make time to enjoy your home & not just renovate it!

 

ps. Don’t forget to get your own free copy of SunTrust’s “Your Guide to Home Buying” & check out how SunTrust can help you with your mortgage!

 

Do you have any renovation tips?
I’d love to hear from you!
Feel free to comment below, email me, or tweet me on Twitter.

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With love, Giustina

 

 

At SunTrust Mortgage, we make it a priority to learn all about your unique circumstances. Confidence starts with a conversation. 

Talk with a SunTrust Mortgage expert today. 

This post was sponsored, and paid for, by SunTrust Mortgage. All opinions are my own.

 

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