Maybe you have a pretty good general idea of what you want to accomplish with your home remodeling, but you’re having a hard time picturing it specifically in your mind. If that’s the case, you’re not alone.
But if you’re having a hard time envisioning what it’s going to look like, how in the world will you communicate it to your remodeler? While it’s true that a good remodeler has lots of experience and has seen a lot of great plans, he or she still can’t read your mind.
So what can you do to communicate exactly what you want? Sometimes a picture is worth way more than a thousand words. That’s why you may want to start a remodeling notebook. Whenever you find a picture in a magazine or online that illustrates what you want to do with your remodeling project, cut it out or print it out and put it in your book. If you visit friends or acquaintances homes and see something you like—take a picture and put it in the book. Stop by a model home and see if there is anything there that captures what you’re after and get a picture of that.
You might want to arrange your notebook to make it easier to share with your builder by organizing things by the following categories:
- Kitchen ideas (including cabinets, sinks, islands, faucets, etc.)
- Master bedroom ideas (include master bath ideas, too)
- Common living spaces (don’t forget built-in entertainment features)
- Specialty features (fireplaces, mantles, trim, custom windows)
- Colors, textures, and finish styles
- Things you DON’T like (be specific)
- Your written notes and questions
These things will work much better than asking your builder or remodeler to look into a crystal ball and guess what you want.
Where else can you gather ideas and images?