Renovation is always stressful. Especially if you are a student and your budget is limited. What to buy and how much money does it all take? Do the repairs yourself or hire builders? How to make a good repair and save on do my essay service and vacation? Here’s our answer.
Plan everything you can
Renovation begins long before you take the furniture out of the room and start tearing down the old wallpaper. Any project (renovation – this is a real project) starts with planning. Ideally, you can make a real design project, with a 3D model of the future interior, to attract the drawing up of the plan interior designer. Or at least consult with them, and listen to their recommendations.
The first answer to 4 simple questions:
- What do I want to do? Will it be a simple repaper in the bedroom or a major renovation with a window replacement in all rooms, and a change of tiles in the bathroom? Make a list of everything from replacing the outlet in the kitchen to painting the radiator.
- How quickly do I want the repairs done? Be sure to set a time frame: doing repairs from the 5th to the 18th. Schedule your time, and write out what to do and on what day. With no such, a calendar plan repair may take a very long time, or will never stop.
- What building materials I will need? What do I need to buy: wallpaper, laminate for the living room, 4 windows, baseboards, construction mixes, and so on. Make a detailed list – it will not only help you not to forget to buy something but also to determine how much money will be needed.
- How much money am I willing to spend on repairs? This is probably the most important question of all. Having planned out the first three points, you will already understand how much money you need to invest, what you can pass up, and where you can save.
With clear answers and an approximate plan of action, you can move on to the second point in the preparation of the repair.
The second point of planning – money
Be sure to make a preliminary estimate of all costs before the start of repair: write down the cost of all building materials and their delivery to the house, and pay for the work of the construction team and the designer.
Be sure to include in the estimate consumables: screws, nails, glue, gloves, protective clothing, brushes, solvent, garbage bags, and other small items. Usually, in the preparation of estimates for the repair, they are forgotten, but in fact, their cost can sometimes constitute up to 20% of the repair budget.
If your budget allows, include a small item for unexpected expenses – about 10% of the total amount.
Get a permit
If you just want to make repairs – to repaint the walls or replace the old wooden windows with plastic ones – of course, you don’t need any permits. But for remodeling, redesigning, or reconstructing your home, you need to get permission from the appropriate authorities.
If you plan, for example, to move the radiators to another location or to increase their capacity – it is a conversion that requires a special permit and coordination with the district heating office.
Tip: Beginning repairs, tell your neighbors that you may inconvenience them for some time. Ask if any of your neighbors have young children who sleep during the day. Try not to do any noisy work during this time.
Do some of the work yourself
The easiest option is to hire a team of builders, leave them the keys, and return to a finished, clean apartment. But we want to save some money, right?
Well, let’s save money on preparatory work. Even without special skills, you can easily remove old wallpaper from the walls or replace linoleum from the floor. With a little skill, you will have an excellent chance of knocking off the old tiles from the walls of the bathroom. Pulling out and removing all the trash yourself is no problem at all.
Do not forget about the furniture: you can cover and move the furniture yourself to places where it will not interfere with the repair. At the very least, to move the closet is enough to invite a couple of strong friends.
Similarly, you can save money on other work, if you know how to do them. For example, gluing new wallpaper to replace the old, after the professionals prepare the walls: procedure is not very difficult even for the untrained person.
Renovate your furniture
Renovations aren’t just about painting the walls. It’s also a great reason to update your furniture. Or at least breathe new life into the old one.
Want to change the kitchen unit? Just change the fronts, keeping the old cabinet. You’ll get a new look and keep the usual storage space for kitchen utensils. Replacing the fronts will cost you significantly less than buying a new kitchen set.
Upholstered furniture can be transformed by redecoration. Choose an upholstery material that will harmonize with the new design of the room.
Want something new at all – do not rush into furniture showrooms. The new furniture can turn out of old things. Old buffet bought out of hand or on sale with the help of decoupage, change of fittings and paint will get a new life.
Old radiators can be painted in a bright contrasting color, making them a color accent of the room.
