How to live in your home while it’s being renovated.
Arranging a home remodel may seem like it’s going to be stressful, but if you and your contractor work together to plan it out carefully, it doesn’t have to be. Here are some helpful tips to ensure your home remodel project goes smoothly while still being able to go about your daily life with minimal interference.
Living through a Kitchen Renovation
Remodeling the kitchen is one of the biggest home remodels that can be done in a home, both in terms of change and in terms of inconvenience to the household. Everyone uses their kitchen daily for all kinds of tasks, big and small. Most peoples’ days begin and end in the kitchen: making coffee, preparing meals, washing dishes, preparing tomorrow’s lunches, feeding the pets, etc.
To ensure your kitchen remodel goes smoothly, it’s best to renovate your kitchen during the summer. There are two main reasons for this: weather and kids.
The first reason you might want to complete a kitchen remodel during the summer is because the weather is usually more suitable to outdoor living during this time. This means you can setup a grilling space outside for cooking meals along with a seating area for your table and chairs so dinners with love ones is still enjoyable.
The second reason you might want to do your kitchen remodel during the summer is so the kids are in school for as little of the process as possible. Having the kids out of the house may sound nice during a remodel, but trying to feed them, prepare lunches, breakfast, and all the chaos that goes with it, is just not feasible with your entire kitchen out of commission.
You should also consider setting up a temporary kitchen space in your dining room, or any room you are not using. You do not need a full stove to make home cooked meals and have family dinners. Crock-pots and a single or double hotplate burner make great substitutes for a stove, while a large toaster oven can do almost everything an oven can these days. You can also setup your coffee maker in this area and bring any other small appliances you use often. Covering the dining room table with an oversized tablecloth allows for food and other storage under the table so that it’s accessible but out of the way and out of sight.
Setting up a clear, designated space to act as your kitchen during a complete kitchen remodel is a great way to minimize stress and still be able to live a semblance of normal life.
Living with a Bathroom Remodel
When you begin to plan a bathroom remodel, you obviously have to consider where you and your family will be using the bathroom and showering throughout the process. There really is no substitute for a fully functioning bathroom. When it comes down to it, you have two main options: use a second bathroom in a home or rent a portable bathroom.
If your home has a second bathroom your family can use until you are finished with your remodel, then you don’t really have much to worry about. But if you are not so lucky to have a second bathroom, you may want to consider renting a portable facility until your bathroom remodel is complete. Renting a portable bathroom does not mean putting a portable toilet (think fairgrounds) outside your front door, although you certainly could rent a port-a-potty for this need. But there are also other options in which a trailer come complete with a toilet, sink, and shower that can be hooked up to any homes garden hose that the family has access to a fully functioning facility during a bathroom remodel.
A third, but less ideal option, is finding and planning to use on off-site facility for the duration of the project. If the bathroom remodel is scheduled to go quickly, then this option could be suitable, but sooner or later it will get tiresome. If you have a membership to a YMCA or any other gym, you could use their facilities, or you could arrange to use a friend or family’s home for your showering needs and just run out to a public restroom when that need arrises. However, as you could imagine, this routine could get old quick.
Remember, you are human and having access to relieve and clean yourself will go a long way to making a bathroom home remodel project go smoothly.
Remodeling the Living Room
Remodeling the living room is easier than you think. You basically use this room for gathering together and watching TV with love ones. While the remodeling is going on, consider renting out a storage unit to store all your living room furniture and unneeded item so they aren’t in your way during the home remodel.
Then, consider spending time together in other areas of the home such as the kitchen or bedrooms until the home remodel is complete. You can even set up a space outside for outdoor gatherings and family fun. In the end, going without a living room is probably the easiest room in the house to live without, especially since so many of us these days get our entertainment on a 4 inch screen in our pockets.
Remodeling the Bedroom
Like remodeling a living room, renovating a bedroom is a pretty easy fix. You can basically sleep anywhere in the house you wish with enough privacy. Kids who have separate room can temporarily sleep in the same room while the parents bunk in the living room, or everyone can tough it out together with a mattress on the floor in the dining room.
Besides where to sleep, also consider storage solutions. For example, where will you put your dresser, clothes, tables, etc. while your bedroom is being fixed up? Renting a storage unit for all the bedroom furniture you are not using is a great idea if storage elsewhere is limited; you can also buy large wardrobe boxes to store clothing elsewhere in the house. Likewise, consider how you will organize the things you will need, like clothes, during this time. A hanging clothing bar and some plastic storage drawers will go a long way during a bedroom remodel.
Extra Tips for Living through a Home Remodel
- Add the cost of eating out into the renovation budget; it will happen a lot.
- Prepare for noise and dust. Things will get messy and preparing for it is best.
- Consider what you will do with your pets and how they will react.
- Hire a general contractor carefully. This will be the point person, so how well they communicate is going to be key.
- Be prepared for days when you don’t see any progress; renovating a big process with a lot of moving parts.
- Expect some delays and cost overruns. Like we said, it’s a lot of work that cannot be predicted with 100 percent accuracy. This is normal.
- Don’t sweat the small stuff. There will be a lot of small moments to stress over, but if you’re working with an experienced construction company, trust that everything will work out; it always does.
- Get out of the house altogether. Leave with your family as much as possible and do some fun things together. This will alleviate stress and make for a nice surprise when you return to see some things done.
Doing any kind of home remodel requires careful planning in all areas. With a little pre-thought, hiring a quality contractor, and some imagination, your home remodel can and will happen with comfort and ease. In the end, everything will be worth it to have a beautiful new space in your home.
Click here to view some of the beautiful new spaces Golden Construction Services has created.
If you are interested in talking to us about a project you have in mind, give us a call at 727-452-1632 or contact us here.
