Home Design: How to Start Planning Your Remodel Project

Benjamin Franklin is credited for saying, “Failing to prepare is preparing to fail”, and this phrase rings 110% true for remodeling projects.

We reconfigured this Cozy California Kitchen to maximize countertop space and room for entertaining!

Planning ahead, agreeing on and/or setting a realistic budget range, and making a list of your project priorities can set you and your project up for success!

A complete kitchen or bath overhaul doesn’t happen overnight, and unless you’re featured on HGTV with a staff of 100 people working day and night, it doesn’t happen in a week either. However, that’s not to say that you can’t expedite your remodel - but in order to do so, you absolutely need to prepare in advance.

Here are four expert tips will help you get a jump start on that plan!

#1: Gather Ideas

There is no shortage of inspiration out there and two of my favorite digital resources for gathering and sharing ideas are Pinterest and Houzz. Both of these platforms allow you to create a profile at no charge, they have countless photos of beautiful spaces and inspiration, and you can create multiple boards to save and organize your images and make your own comments/notes - then you can share your idea boards with your project team or designer so they can better understand your style preferences. Best of all, these tools give you the best opportunity to visually communicate your vision without you needing to know all of the proper industry vocabulary! These platforms will provide you with an array of images that you can search, sort, save, organize, and filter based on your project type, size, and style! Aside from online browsing, don’t forget to take your own photos of spaces you visit that inspire you!

Pictures are worth a thousand words, right?? Do NOT underestimate the value of how photos can help you communicate your vision. Even experts in the field of design are not mind readers.

Our Simple Sophistication Kitchen Remodel; built by Thayer Cutler Construction.

#2: Show Your Personality!

When you’re remodeling your home, you usually want it to feel more like you; so unless you’re updating your home to sell, then have some fun with it and make decisions that reflect your personal taste and style! When you work with a design professional, they can help you merge the perfect blend of colors, textures, and details that bring your vision to life without clashing - you don’t have to be afraid to do something dramatic and different - just make all of your material selections together for a cohesive look (that’s right - don’t pick and order your favorite tile ahead of time, then make other decisions during construction - this is the formula for disaster!).

Love brass? Love blue? Love natural stone? Great! Go for it and make sure you pick one or two materials or areas that make a statement then have other areas/materials support those statement pieces with a more neutral influence.

This Bold in Blue kitchen was part of a whole house remodel - and as you may have guessed - these homeowners loved blue! We made a bold statement with all blue cabinets, then balanced the space with light and bright quartz countertops and backsplash and a neutral hardwood floor.

#3: Plan Ahead!

I cannot emphasize this enough! When I say, “plan ahead” I don’t just mean pick your tile and cabinets. The key elements to planning ahead are having a floor plan and elevations (line drawings with dimensions and callouts for where everything goes!), decide on all materials and the details that go with them (so you selected your tile, but did you also select the grout color and edge detail?), have a REALISTIC budget range and/or make sure you’ve gathered estimates from contractors so you know what you’ll be investing in your project, and order any items that have a long lead time so you have them before they’re needed during construction.

If this sounds overwhelming, that’s because it can be! A professional designer and contractor can help you with your selections and ordering - if you’re wondering whether you should hire a general contractor, then you can learn more about the role they play in your project here.

One of our Farmhouse Chic bath remodels, completed by Brother and Brother construction.

#4: Go Through Your Stuff…

This is the ‘least sexy’ tip, for sure - but it is critical for designing the most functional built in storage (hello, cabinet organizers!). Going through your belongings is most important for kitchens, baths, and closets. If you’re designing kitchen cabinet storage for the multiple sets of dishes you don’t use or you love to cook, but store all of your small kitchen appliances in the garage - then go through this stuff and decide what you want to keep, what you want to have readily accessible for daily or regular use and design your storage accordingly!

When designing kitchen cabinetry, I will always ask folks what the largest item is that they want to store, what they use the most, and how they cook (who cooks, what tools they use, what kind of space they need), so that we can design the most functional cooking environment possible. You need to know what you have if you want to be able to design the proper storage for it!

Ready to start working on your remodel? Awesome, I’ve got some resources that can help!