Renovation Anxiety: The Struggle Is Real!
/We’ve seen it all, and we can help.
So you think you’re ready to renovate.
You’ve cut out pictures from magazines and pinned your heart out on Pinterest. You’ve contacted Hardwood Specialties to get a consultation, and even wandered through our store to see and touch our samples of flooring, tile, and more.
Fast forward to the future.
You think you’re ready for the realities of renovation … until you walk into your kitchen, and reach out to get your favorite coffee mug from your cabinet … and it’s not there! In fact, there aren’t any cabinets on the wall, and your countertop is nowhere to be seen, and the raw, ugly patches of wall where your old cabinets used to be seem to be mocking you. Can you even get through this?
Trust us, everyone goes through this!
Yes, really! Everyone has a point during renovation where they seem to regret every decision they’ve ever made! They worry the paint color they chose is going to clash with the counters, they worry they didn’t pick the right cabinet finish, they worry the project is just NEVER GOING TO GET DONE!
If you can relate to this kind of stress, take a deep breath. We’re here to help.
We know homeowners can sometimes get pretty anxious about renovation, but we also know something else: it’s totally worth it. The huge grins we get to see when an owner walks into their transformed kitchen, bathroom or bedroom for the very first time is worth every minute of renovation time.
Here’s what a real-life kitchen renovation looks like.
Our client needed a modern, bright, more functional kitchen from top to bottom.
Although the kitchen looked pretty awful for a short while, our client had a vision and kept the faith! Within a few short days, they were prepping food in their lovely, transformed kitchen.
Luckily, Hardwood Specialties has got you covered.
This is not our first rodeo, as they say. We’ve helped hundreds of clients (like our client with a new kitchen, above!) redecorate, renovate, refurbish and start fresh, so they can love the home they live in. We’ve helped our clients through setbacks and doubts, and even worked with them when they changed their minds about a color, a finish, or a fixture.
Over the years, we’ve picked up a few tips on how to survive renovation anxiety. Here’s our list of top six:
Make sure you’re clear on expectations. If you need your project to be done in a specific time frame, tell the contractor in advance. If you have a vision for how things will look and feel in your newly renovated space, make sure your spouse, partner and contractor are all on the same page with you! This will save a ton of agony over future misunderstandings.
Make sure you understand your contractor’s expectations, too. See #1.
Agree on a budget with your spouse early on, and then stick to the budget. Often, renovation stress grows from money stress.
Don’t make too many changes mid-project. It’s not a crime to change your mind! But try to be as certain as possible about your choices before the project starts. Ordering a whole different countertop or doing an about-face on fixtures can mean living with a half-finished kitchen for weeks longer. That’s a long time to do food prep on a folding table.
Try to be flexible about unforeseen circumstances. If you have an older home, you might find unexpected electrical, plumbing or other problems once you pull out the old cabinets.
Keep your sense of humor. Ever seen the movie Money Pit? ‘Nuff said.
At Hardwood Specialties, we’re ready and able to help you through the mid-renovation struggle! The best way to minimize anxiety? Let us help you plan your next renovation. We won’t promise that it will be completely stress-free (we can’t make your mother-in-law be nice about the modern drawer-pulls you chose) but we can promise we’ll make it as painless as possible, and we’ll be here for you, every step of the way.
Are you ready to plunge into your renovation project?
When you are, we’re ready to help you with your home renovation needs. Contact us for a consultation, DIY advice, or any other questions you might have.