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Spring is for rejuvenating you and your home!

Well spring is in the air and the warm weather is slowly creeping back into our lives up here in Maine. This time of year always make me feel rejuvenated after a long winter. This year more than ever with all the winter storms, none were especially large but it seemed like they were one right after and other and the roads stayed a rutted mess all season long. But that is all behind us now, flowers are beginning to pop through the remnants of snow and nature once again is rejuvenating itself, which puts us in the prefect mood to do a little rejuvenating of our owe around the home. With the economy being on the upraise we all feel a bit more confident to dig into new home projects, but let’s not forget were we been and be smarter about our renovation project. So let talk a about how we can be wiser with our investment into our dwelling.

A wise old man, my Dad, once told me a job well planned is a job half done. Carefully planning your renovation or addition can easily save you any money you may accrue, if you need to hire a professional to help you with the planning. Planning out what your project is, whether it is a large addition, or as simple as a facelift will organize; what your space will look like, what your material needs are, what your cost will be, and how long it should take you to do the project. Now you have this information you can take a hard look at your project to see if your investment is worth the cost of what you are doing. Take a good look to see if you are investing more into the house than the value of the house. This is a good red flag that you may want to reconsider your plans. Check with a local real agent to get a better feel for what the project will do to the value of your home. Other factors to consider our, is this project a long over do maintenance project? Or are you making your home assessable for an aging family member? Maintenance projects and accessibility project are a necessity in life and required for our homes livability.

So before you jump into your next project to rejuvenate your home, do your homework. Determine what your needs are, what the house needs are and what your budget is. If your budget is small, look at option on how to maximize your use of space for minimal cost. Also remember if your project is larger than your budget you can than look at how to break down the project into affordable stages without having to rework what you’ve already completed and your sure it will add to the value of the home without over spending. Once again the value of a well planned project.

If you do not have a back ground in planning consider hiring a professional for the planning process. For major large projects with complicated structural detail consider an architect. For most renovation project a good house designer or certified interior designer will be a more cost effective choice. Remember to check out property they have designed. Make sure their type of designer who digs a bit into your personal life, this often overlooked. It is important when designing a home to consider the family, what activities and hobbies they are into. This information is the bases for the house design. Little things like if you like to cook or not will determine the kitchen layout. If the kids are into sports it’s information on storage needs for the equipment. I think you get my point with this. Check the designer’s knowledge of green technology and energy efficiencies to insure you get the most for your design investment. Not to mention the money you can recoup form your investments of your renovation project. So as you can see a good plan will not only revitalize your home it will rejuvenate your confidence that you can achieve your project goals. This planning process will reduce the stress of your project, reduce costly error and when completed you will find life to be a bit more comfortable and enjoyable in a home that meets your family’s need.