4 Do-able tips to Prioritize your Home Projects, Beat the Overwhelm & NOT make yourself crazy

Transforming a house into a home you love isn’t always easy or cheap, but the good news is you can do it over time! Identifying your priorities and then creating a plan is the best way to keep the crazy away, my friend. Here are a few questions to ask yourself and things to consider when you’re trying to decide which project to begin first:

(1) Start with the big vision: How many rooms in your home need a little (or a lot) of love? Make a list of all of the rooms you want to eventually change and then underneath each room heading, add a quick bullet pointed list, such as:

Living Room

• change flooring
• paint walls
• new lamps
• refinish floor

Your list doesn’t have to be fancy (get out the old notebook + pen) but it can be if that’s your jam (you can do an excel sheet, asana or trello board to keep track of it all). Just the act of listing this all out in one place is therapeutic and will be the start to your planning and prioritizing process. Bonus: you can use this list later when you start to break down your budget for each project.

(2) Now that you have your list of spaces, go through each room and ask: How often is this room/space used? Is this a space I and/or my family will be using daily? Is this a guest space that will only be used a few times a year? I suggest you tackle your most used rooms first. For many of my clients that’s the living room or kitchen. For others, it’s their own bedroom/bathroom or a powder bath. It’s worth it to transform those often used spaces, especially if you have more projects to go in your house. When you have one main room done, such as a kitchen or living room, it gives you that extra boost to keep going. I suggest this psychological trick when moving into a new home as well. (extra tip if you’re moving into a new home): As you’re sifting through boxes, set up your living room first (no boxes allowed) and create a calm space so when the rest of the house feels like chaos, you can retreat to an oasis. Owner’s suite bedroom/bathrooms can have the same effect for you if you’re a parent with small children. Keep your own bedroom/bathroom calm and clutter free, shut the door and you have a space to retreat to when there are toys/snacks/allthethings everywhere else in your house because toddlers. (These small but powerful tips are some of my favorites when sharing your house with your mini me’s.)

(3) ROI (return on investment). How long do you plan to stay in your house before selling it? Is this a “forever home” or a home for the next 5 years? If you plan to sell within 5 years, you’ll want to approach your home reno a little differently than if this was your forever home. Improving areas like the kitchen, bathrooms, or adding square footage to the house will not only improve your living space while you’re there but also raise your house value (win!). Have a chat with your fave local real estate agent and show them your reno list to get the downlow on what areas they’d recommend you re-do to have the best ROI on your house value.

(4) How much are you ready to spend? Sometimes it works well to tackle those rooms that only need a few upgrades, such as paint, a couple furniture pieces or new light fixtures. Upgrading these details can greatly improve the look and feel of your space without spending thousands of dollars, and creates the added psychological bonus of some “small wins” where you feel like the room is totally re-done but all you did was paint the walls + trim and change out the ceiling light. You can use this approach of starting small to build your confidence and gradually work your way up to larger projects like bathrooms + kitchens. You got this.

Need some more help prioritizing it all? Then grab a Design Power Session with me and we can work through everything together!

Happy Renovating!

XO,

Amy