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By Janene Gaines

Renovate: Why do it?

Posted 6:19 p.m., May 3, 2008

This is probably one of the biggest subjects to be a battle between individuals living in the same house: renovating your home. We all have had this conversation with those we share our home with in some form or fashion. Whether it is a complete renovation, add–on or just updating one room…it almost always turns out to be an issue due to the dollar amount or the concept/style proposed for the space.

As improvements are made in the home someone is saying, “We’ve only been in the house 2 years, why are you making all of these changes?”….or “We’ve only been in the house 4 years, why are you making these changes?”….but when it comes to “We’ve only been in the house 9 years….” the comment starts to sound…unsubstantiated. Ultimately, it is hard to do 9 years of updates in 1 month if you happen to decide to sell your home.

So with the idea projects can become relationship breakers…who in their

right mind would do a renovation, add-on or room update? Well, let’s consider this question. At some point you may want or need to sell your home. How many of us can say, “When a realtor takes a look at our house, they would put the sign up the same day.” Being honest…..we would have some work to do before the sign went out….so why not enjoy some of those “mandatory” improvements ourselves.

First, take a walk around your home and see what it is you would do if you could afford the change. Then start looking around at the smaller projects you can do.( Such as repainting a room or taking down old wallpaper from the previous owners, etc.) As you progress with your projects, have them become more involved. At some point you will be doing more than just changes, but major improvements. If you think about it, as you do updates you will progressively become more comfortable and confident with each new project. Also, the complexity of each change will be more intense. With this gradual concept regarding improvements, the idiosyncrasies of a relationship during renovations can be contained and projects won’t be the relationship breakers they could potentially become. Change over time is the easiest way to do home improvements.

You should do one project per year from the list you compiled with your family. It may seem expensive to do a project a year, but if you wait; it becomes even more expensive the next year. Putting off improvements you can afford, only makes it more expensive and delays your time to enjoy the fruits of your labor; so pace yourselves. Over the years the dollar expenditure pays off.

The reason for doing periodic renovations is .….you don’t want to do them for someone else to enjoy. Having the realtor look around your house and ask “Why hasn’t this been changed or why hasn’t that been changed?” is annoying. When you are asked “How long have you lived in your home?”…..it’s like…..Where did the time go?…..So make your changes within budget and enjoy those upgrades yourself.

If you need assistance in how to begin contemplating a renovation, we can help. Just call Interior Gaines at (805) 795 7244 and let us assist you in enjoying your home at full capacity and visit us at our website www.interiorgaines.com