How to Prioritize Rooms to Remodel

I’m sure, just like us, you are coming off the tour of the homes you took during the holidays. It was wonderful to connect with everyone and enjoy the food and festivities.

Even during the holiday frenzy, I bet you’ve picked up a few decorating and remodeling ideas during these trips. With so many ideas and possibilities, it’s always tough to determine which project should come first—there are so many ways to sift and sort your ideas.

Here are my thoughts on prioritizing your remodeling projects.

Cost vs Value

If your focus is on numbers, you can’t beat the “Remodeling Cost vs. Value Report.” With this report, you can drill right down to the Dallas area for the current assessment of the expected cost of a remodeling project versus the impact on home resale value.

While resale value shouldn’t be your only focus, having the numbers in front of you can be helpful in prioritizing your projects. In the upscale category, here are the remodeling projects the report rates as having the highest return on investment in Dallas:

1. Bathroom Remodel
2. Bathroom Addition
3. Major Kitchen Remodel
4. Grand Entrance
5. Master Suite Addition
6. Deck Addition

Attic bedrooms, family room additions, home office remodel, and sunroom additions also make the list in the mid-range category.

Remodeling Trends

Cost and return on your investment are certainly important considerations. But you also need to consider current trends and within those trends find the ones that will endure. Here’s a list of what we’re seeing:

• Custom Master Baths. Bring your master bath up to date with soaking tubs, the latest fixtures, and that large shower you’ve been considering. As one example, we’re seeing black nickel bath fixtures and accessories becoming very popular.
• Specialty Kitchens. This includes professional-grade stoves and ovens, energy-efficient appliances, new countertops, LED lighting, horizontal cabinetry, as well as personalized cabinets that fit your specific needs and taste. I like the blog post “7 Kitchen Cabinet Trends to Watch in 2016” for further thoughts.
• Combining Rooms. Here you open up the kitchen, dining, and living areas into large entertainment and living spaces. We’ve done a great deal of this types of work in our projects.
• Repurposing Rooms. Repurposing barely used spaces into more useful spaces. Such as transforming the formal dining room to a study area or playroom, or converting hallways into mudrooms.
• White, Greige, and Neutral Colors. Neutral colors are very popular in virtually every area of your home. We’ve written about white kitchen cabinets and the new neutral: greige. Sherwin Williams has named Alabaster it’s 2016 Color of the Year. Follow the link to see their recommended neutrals and brighter hues to pair with it.

What We’re Seeing in our Makeover Projects

Taking a quick look at our Home Makeover Gallery, you’ll find that we’ve listed a clear majority of bath and kitchen projects along with living areas. That gives you an idea of where most of our clients have focused their efforts.

But What About Me and My Home?

So those are a few ways to sort your ideas—resale value and trends along with what others are doing. But the single biggest factor needs to be your personal situation. Do you have a master bath or master suite that just doesn’t work for you? Or, did the 1980s call and ask for it back?

That same thing can apply to kitchens, living areas, and so many more aspects of your home. You know what works and what doesn’t. Or perhaps it’s just time to update a particular area.

Make it Work For You and Your Family

Also, while resale value might be an important factor, if you’re planning to stay in your home for the next five to ten years, the resale value needs to take a backseat. In this situation, It’s more important to build the home you’ll be sharing with your family for quite some time. Make it work for you.

We’re also happy to help out with more thoughts and ideas for your home based on our extensive work with all types of home makeover projects. We can provide insight into what we can do, help validate budgets, and even open up more ideas for your consideration. Give us a call at 972.951.1932 or use the contact form.