Remodeling your home
It’s all in the details
By Jaimi Julian Thompson

Design … decorate … remodel … where does one begin? It starts, perhaps,with a simple task—the wish to replace your flooring, refresh your paint, or even upgrade your now dated counter-tops with today’s hottest granites and quartz surfaces.

Somehow, like pulling a thread from a sweater, one thing leads to another, and the choices become  so overwhelming that it’s easy to choose nothing. “Perhaps in a couple months we’ll be in a better position to make a decision,” you tell yourself. After all, on HGTV they manage to condense the whole process into half an hour!

Of course, remodeling or redecorating your home while you are living in it does have its share of challenges, but there are ways to minimize the disruption and maximize your investment while creating your new haven. Here are five tips to help you streamline the process:

1. Discover your style
Collect images of room scenes, furniture and colors that you love. Make sure to include any fabrics or art that also evoke the tone you seek. This will help create a general guide for palette and style when you begin the design process. It will also help define the overall scope of the areas you wish to re-create, which will be invaluable in setting a realistic budget.

2. Begin with the end in mind
It is always best to begin with the entire design, even if it is not in your budget to do it all at once. When homebuyers choose finishes one at a time, they find that the choices they made early in the process limit their choices later in the process; and they often end up disappointed because it doesn’t quite accomplish the overall look and feel they desired.
This is the point that a professional interior designer is able to be most helpful, to establish a palette and style with all the basic finishes that will allow you to build toward the final design even if you are not able to do everything at once. In addition to introducing you to the latest products and trends, they are also able to illustrate ways to get the most for your budget, to help you align your budget with your goals, and help you visualize the effect that that combination of colors will achieve. The small samples that colors are selected from often don’t convey the overall impact they will have in a larger scale installation. Colors tend to look different based on available natural light, lighting, size and direction.

3. Color makes all the difference
Off white walls with off white carpet and neutral flooring is no longer the order of the day, even for those concerned about resale value. Today’s color palettes are typically from three to six colors, with two base colors (a lighter and medium color in the same family) and one or two key accent colors. The key to accent walls is that they are not too large or too small, to create the balance and flow throughout the home. From this palette you are able to coordinate finishes, fabrics and furnishings to complete the design.

4. Scheduling your project
Once you have created the final design, be sure to schedule your contractors in a logical order. If your design requires new cabinets, it would not make sense to do the countertops and flooring as an interim measure. You might want to consider focusing on one area of the home at a time—complete the kitchen first, exactly the way you would want it, with the cabinets, counters, flooring and paint, and then move to another area later.
Keep in mind that each task can be as traumatic as moving, but that they are all different. Having new carpet installed means removing and replacing every single item that sits on carpeted areas. Having the house repainted means removing and replacing not only every item and window covering from the walls, but moving and protecting all furnishings that sit within four feet of the walls.
It is most common for homeowners to have new flooring and new paint throughout the home. A logical progression would be to have any stone or tile to be installed done first, followed by the painter, and lastly have any hardwood or carpet to be done installed.
Make sure to schedule your painter to do touch up after the carpet installation is complete, as there are sure to be a couple of areas that will need it after the installation process.

5. Finishing touches
It is the final accents—artwork, plants, accessories, accent pillows, etc.—that really complete the design and create the experience you are seeking in your home. Make sure to incorporate your prized photos, displays or accessories early in the design process so that they will compliment and enhance the design. Many homeowners choose to re-frame special pieces during the construction phase since they have to be removed anyway, and the new frames are designed to highlight both the display and the décor.
With more choices and than ever, it is easy to be overwhelmed at the thought of remodeling or redecorating your home. By following the simple steps outlined above it will not only streamline the selection process, but help create a logical process of making that dream a reality.


Jaimi Julian Thompson is the owner of Artisan Design Group