Before you take on the tasks and changes to your daily life that come with a remodeling project, there are some easy and creative things you can do to help understand your goals and get excited about the changes you’d like to make to your home. Use all or some of the following five ideas as fun exercises to get more inspired, help you answer some questions about your priorities, and offer clarity on what you want to achieve in your home.
1. Gather Inspiration to Help Envision Your New Space
Though professional designers can listen to you to get a sense of what you like, it’s true that a picture is worth a thousand words. If you create a collection of images that show home features, design styles, cabinetry options, or room layouts you like, this can make it easier to communicate your preferences to your designer. By seeing the design solutions and styles you gravitate toward, your designer can get a good sense of what you might want for your own space, helping them to focus on the right things for your project.
If you don’t currently have any ideas about your new space, you can start with a collection of interior design images that you like something about. There’s no need to curate the collection into anything specific. As you add more and more images, you may begin to see themes, colors, or whole style preferences. Even if you don’t, your remodeling designer can look at everything and help you find some of the common threads out of what you saved.
There are several ways to create a collection of inspiring images for your project. We’ve written an article that goes into much more detail for different options which you can read here. One of the easiest options is to use an online resource like Pinterest or Houzz to create idea boards where you can save the images for easy reference. We like Pinterest for the huge variety of ideas you can find for all parts of your home, but we love Houzz for the focus on home design and the professional quality of the ideas you’ll find there.
2. Choose Some Favorite Colors & Finishes
For most major remodeling projects, you’ll need to select colors and finishes for things like cabinetry, flooring, wall paint, faucets, doorknobs, and more. You’ll make the final selections with your designer in accordance with the design plan they’ve set out to create with you, but you can make this go a little faster and smoother by already knowing your preferences. Sharing these with your designer early on will help them narrow the options as they work out your design plan.
This isn’t something that needs to take a lot of time, and if you’re remodeling with a partner, this is a fantastic opportunity to see what you can agree on. Look at what’s out there and make some decisions about what you’d be comfortable with for your home. You can use your image collection from the previous step, but it could also be fun to head to a hardware store or browse online and see what the typical options are out there for things like faucet finishes or cabinetry stains. You may also discover new options that you didn’t even know were available!
More than anything with this, you want to gain clarity on what you might like to see in your space (or even what you don’t want to see.) Do you like oil rubbed bronze or matte gold? Is stainless steel the way to go, or are you interested in other options? Do you prefer warm wood tones or painted cabinetry? How colorful would you like your new space to be?
You may have no preference for what finish your drawer pulls end up being, but if you do, this will be a great thing for your designer to know as they plan out the look and feel of your new space.
3. Identify Your Must-Have Splurges
Custom remodels are big investments and as you plan to take the project on, you’re no doubt also keeping a close eye on your budget. A remodel provides you the opportunity to get what you need and want out of your space, so how your money is spent to do that is really critical to the result you ultimately get. For this reason, it’s not a bad idea to take the time to consider what features, materials, products, or architectural changes matter the most to you.
Here’s an example. If you’re looking at a new bathroom with a custom shower, perhaps you’ve been thinking about including a smart shower system, multiple body sprays, and a steam shower. But you also know that the wall tile you’d love to use is going to be costly. Though you may want all these elements, your budget may not work with everything on this list. Though it’s possible that you can find ways to include everything, you may also be forced to choose.
It may not be quite as fun as the other suggestions on this list, but take the time now, when there’s no pressure to make a final decision, to think about what’s worth it to splurge on in your remodel, and what you can pass on if it comes to it. This will help your remodeling team understand your priorities so they can work on a budget outline that aligns with what you feel is most important. It can also help you feel good about the way you plan to invest your money in the changes you want in your home.
4. Create a Furniture & Decor Wish List
When you’re thinking about making changes to your home, you’re also subconsciously thinking about what you’d want in the new space. Though the details of your project will be decided in the planning phase, and what you’ll be able to include in terms of new furniture (or beloved pieces you just want to find a good place for) have yet to be determined, it can be a lot of fun to go ahead and think about the furniture or decor pieces you want to include in the new room.
The fun thing about this is that it doesn’t have to be anything more than window shopping if you don’t need it to be. A furniture wish list also doesn’t need to be dependent on the space (it’s okay to pick out way more side chairs than you can actually fit). The furniture styles and colors you gravitate toward can tell your remodeling designer a lot about the style of space you might be looking for and the activities you want to be able to do there.
If you do happen to come across an item that you fall in love with and really want to purchase for the new space, then you can share it with your designer and request that it be included in their planning. Many times, something specific like this can unlock your designer’s creativity and open new options they may not have thought of.
5. Mood Board Your New Dream Space
If you’re feeling particularly creative or want to do something more tangible to help you feel like your remodeling idea is the right choice for you and your family, consider creating a mood board. Mood boards capture the feeling, activities, words, or colors that come to mind when you envision using the space you dream of.
There are a few ways you can create mood boards, so go with whatever format works best for you to get your vision out of your head and where you can see it and share it with others. If you want to do a physical mood board, you can create a collage of magazine clippings or post them up on a cork board or wall.
If you prefer a digital version, you can use a digital notetaking tool, photo editing software, Pinterest, or even something like Google Slides to pull various images, words, and colors together. Or if all this sounds a little too fussy or crafty to you, you can journal your thoughts about your dream space with descriptive text.
While your designer would love to be able to see (or read) your vision for your remodeled home, you don’t have to feel any pressure to share your mood board with others. Its purpose is to help you clarify the “why” for your remodel and how you hope it will make for a better life at home.
The ideas we’ve given here aren’t required in order for you to complete a remodel, but we hope you’ll find these ways of thinking about your new space helpful. If you’re ready to get started on your project, with or without these exercises checked off, the next best step is to talk to a remodeling professional about your idea.
For Cincinnati area home remodeling projects, connect with Neal’s Design Remodel by signing up for a free project consultation with our experts.
