Renovate or Decorate?
If you are unhappy with the look of your home, you may be thinking about redecorating to breathe some new life into the space or even make a new home feel like your own. You may have new paint colors, updated fixtures, and new accessories on the brain but sometimes decorating just isn’t enough and there’s a chance you could end up still not being in love with the end result.
New decor and furnishings can only go so far and there are several major factors you should consider before you start emptying your wallet on new curtains.
When you first buy and move into a new home it’s hard to get past your excitement, everything is new to you and you’re on that “new home high” and sometimes it can be hard to see through those rose colored glasses and get a clear view of your home’s potential.
Obviously, that’s completely normal and totally okay, of course, you should 100% be excited about your new journey but allowing it to cloud your judgment could end up with you trying to put lipstick on a pig.
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I’m totally raising my hand over here because when we first moved into our new home I knew nothing about home renovation so my first thought, once all of the cardboard boxes were unloaded, was we need to decorate!
Fast forward many years and there are some things I wish I had done first before forking out money decorating our home to ensure the end design looked and felt the way I wanted it to, in hindsight these are very important things I should have never skipped and going back and completing them now will no doubt be much harder.
There have been several moments I have sat in our living room wondering why in the world things like the main area flooring or our dated kitchen didn’t stand out to me in the beginning when I was uneducated about the ins and outs of good home design and renovation.
Hindsight is most definitely 20/20 and I wish I had someone to hold my hand through those first moments when I was making decisions that were not the best choice for our home. I now know that had I paid more attention to those details that I would be much happier with the overall appearance of our home today.
Once I came to this realization I knew this was something I needed to share in hopes that you can find some direction on where to start in your own home.
Renovate Or Decorate?
Before you begin either of these I recommend creating an overall design plan and a whole home color palette. Knowing this information before you begin the decision-making process will save you loads of time and money down the road. Allow yourself the time to easily create an action plan before you begin this process, keep in mind that you are doing so much more than just renovating or decorating, you are creating a way of life for you and your family and that my friend takes time, so keep the end goals in mind and be patient throughout this journey.
You can read more about how to decorate like a pro here and how to create a whole home color palette here.
Budget: Knowing your budget is critical when it comes to deciding which path to take in your home and going into it knowing what the overall plan is for your home is key. So before you buy anything at all take note of the look and feel you’d like to accomplish and the amount of money you’re willing to spend to get there.
I would even go as far as writing down each and every change you’d like to make to your home, materials, projected cost and if you’ll be doing the work yourself, if not start getting estimates (these are usually free) on how much the project will cost to have someone else do it.
Research reputable companies in your area and have all of this information compiled in a notebook that will be readily available down the road.
Insider Tip: Calculating the square footage you’ll need for things like flooring, backsplash or tile will also help down the road if you have those on hand when you spot sales on such items.
Once you are done creating your list of projects start organizing them by importance, what do you need right now that you can afford in order to feel happy in your home? What do you need to save for? When you know the answer to these questions it will be easier to stay on track when it comes to your home. The main goal is to be knowledgeable and prepared.
Function: Now that you have a list of projects, cost and information about what needs to be done you can then edit it down further to decide which projects are most important to the overall function of your home. Are there walls that need to come down in order for you to have a larger living space that everyone can be comfortable in? Or maybe you don’t need a formal dining room but could really use a home office instead, basically what needs to be done right now for you and your family to get the best use out of your home.
Now Or Later: Let’s use my home as an example, the main living area is all open minus the built-ins and fireplace that divide the living room and kitchen. The living area has carpet and the rest of the space has builder grade tile flooring making the space feel very choppy. Having one solid wood or wood look tile flooring throughout the entire space would give it an even more open feel and allow it to flow better.
So while we were spending money on new furniture and accessories to make the space feel like our own when we moved in instead we should have been saving money to redo the flooring. Today I have a beautiful living area but the flooring will always bother me and I kick myself every day for not finishing the floors first.
In today’s world, we are programmed to love instant gratification no matter the form but being able to look past how good “you think” you will feel once you decorate a space that actually needs renovation and instead sticking it out and saving until you can have the space that you really want is key! So really think about things and decide what needs to be done now and what can wait until later then start working toward those goals.
Time for The Icing: To me decorating is the icing on the metaphorical cake that is your home, knowing when the right time is to add said icing is important. Now I am not telling you to live in a total dump and just forget decorating all together until your home is in 100% the best shape because I am all about decorating and that would be weird right? But I am saying that sometimes there are things that need/ must be done first for you to get the result you’re looking for.
Close your eyes for a second, oh wait you can’t 🙂 Okay imagine this, our entire main living area is painted, the entryway is complete and greets you as you walk in the door, our built-ins and fireplace create a cozy lived-in feel and the sofa and ottoman tell the story of a family that likes to spend a lot of time there. Then you round the corner into our kitchen that seriously looks like something that fell off a 1980’s farm magazine!!
If the tile countertops, brown and green two-tone painted cabinets and red brick archway over the stove weren’t enough to give it away the clabber girl can and chippy painted farmhouse window drives home how much this space doesn’t belong!
It just doesn’t belong in THIS house, had we done things like we should have the kitchen would have been one of the first things we did but again those rose-colored glasses and the “it needs to be pretty now” mantra I had coupled with no patience created a space where everything surrounding the kitchen is beautiful and it just isn’t…
Had I taken the time to do this right our kitchen would have been top priority second only to the flooring due to the amount of time we spend there, but instead here we sit years later with the same kitchen we started with and I’m scrambling trying to come up with a plan to do one of the first things we should have done to begin with.
The lesson here is that sometimes its best to hold off on the “make everything pretty now” mantra and instead work on things that may not look great by themselves like flooring or knocking down walls but when added together with decorating it creates a much better home design and you don’t have to worry about starting over from square one because you skipped a crucial step that will make a huge impact on your home.
Deciding to renovate or decorate can be a tough decision to make but ultimately I want you to ask yourself if this was complete and that wasn’t would you be happy with it? If you answer no then you likely have some more work to do before you can begin putting the finishing touches on your home. Stay patient and remember that this isn’t a race its a journey with many layers and many steps that will ultimately lead you to the home of your dreams in the end… I promise it will be worth the wait!
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