Overhauling Your Home: A Guide

Stripping back your home to give it a luxurious new feel is an exciting prospect. Many homeowners buy houses with the knowledge that their property has real potential. Whether you own a new or old home, overhauling a property should involve a step-by-step process that’s well thought out. In order to create the image you have in your mind when you picture your new home, you will need to take a practical approach.

Reliable tradespeople

Everyone has heard horror stories about their friend who mistakenly trusted a cowboy builder or a construction company who folded halfway through a project being completed. While these tales can be frightening, they are a reminder of just how important a reliable tradesperson is. If you have been searching for “plumbers near me” online then be sure to use a website that holds the name of trustworthy suppliers. Browsing reviews and chatting to your tradesperson beforehand is a great way of establishing some trust.

Swatches

When you’re planning designs for your new home, your life will soon be filled with endless swatches of different colors, textures, and materials. These are necessary for getting a sense of what you are happy with in your own home, and what will look best in each room. When you visit your supplier, be sure to ask to take those swatches home with you. While it’s useful to browse in store, the atmosphere is very different. Shops are often filled with harsh, fluorescent lighting which will have a significantly different effect on the materials you’re browsing. Take them home and hold them up in the natural lighting of your house, this way you get a real sense of how the finished product will truly look in your home.

Statement pieces

Rather than this specifically being artwork or furniture, this is more something that “sets the tone.” This statement piece should say something about you, or the room you want it to go in. For example, if you have a love of playing guitar, then pick a wall to hang your guitars on. If you have a taste for unusual design, then pick a light fixture to hang in the centre of the room. Features like these will really give a room character.

Artwork

Furniture and paint will help pull your design work together, but artwork is what will make it really pop. Artwork suggests creativity and an eye for what looks great. If you wouldn’t normally consider yourself to be a gifted curator of design and art, then don’t panic. Browse online and find prints of artwork you know you like. That doesn’t have to mean the world’s finest modern artist; it could be a large-scale print of a graphic novel you love. Maybe your favorite film has some unique artwork you can choose from. It’s even suggested that you let your children create and design a piece of artwork. After all, it’s a piece that’s unique and that no-one else will have.

Inspiration

One of the best keys to success in overhauling your home is to find inspiration. When you’re in a nice restaurant, cafe or friend’s house, take note of what it is you like about the design. If you don’t feel as if you’ve been blessed with the natural gift of being able to design from scratch there’s no shame in being a bit of a copycat. You might discover a new way of using lighting fixtures, experimenting with wall color, or playing with vibrant pieces of furniture.

A willingness to try something new

If you’ve always had your living room arranged in a particular way, it can be hard to come around to the idea of switching things up. However, if you truly want to overhaul your home, it’s a good idea to try having a move-around. Play with new ideas and new approaches to the layout of your furniture as you never know what you will discover. You may find that larger, more cumbersome pieces of furniture belonged somewhere much more convenient, or that it’s time to remove a few relatively unused pieces. Disrupting the usual organization of a room allows you to see it from a fresh perspective.

Overhauling the design of your home can leave you feeling as if you have a brand new house on your hands. The smell of fresh paint and the addition of some new statement pieces can create something truly special in your personal abode. By getting creative and adventurous, you will have a home that looks like it’s been crafted by a designer.