Planning and working on a new home project can be both exciting and stressful. The key is to make the outcome great so that it was worth all of the hard work.  Two very common areas to revamp in the home are the bathroom and the kitchen, as these are typically the key selling points. They are also areas of the home that people prefer to see clean and modern.  Here are a few tips to help you maximize your efforts and make a DIY home project a success:

1. Prepare your family with a true timeline of events, and also plan a budget. One common problem with remodeling a bathroom is not giving your other family members a start and finish time, forcing them to wonder when the work will be done.  If there is a set time, this will prevent people from continuously asking you, “When will this be finished?” Setting up a realistic timeline prevents you from becoming frustrated and eliminates your family’s stress.  For example, a simple print out of a schedule can really help, saying which days the facilities will be unavailable.

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 2. If you are remodelling a bathroom, keep in mind that your bathroom may potentially be out of commission for days. This can make everyone uncomfortable and a little unhappy.  A few options are to set up a system with a neighbour. Try and see if they will allow your family over to use their restroom in exchange for babysitting or other services.  I have done this before, and in exchange for letting my family use their facilities, I have taken my neighbour’s children to an amusement park for the day. We stayed at a hotel in the evening in an effort to lessen the burden.  A night with an empty house can be a truly great offer to your neighbours, especially if you take their kids on an excursion they don’t particularly care for.  If you have teens, allow them to stay at a friend’s house. Chances are your teenage daughter will not be willing to go even a day without a shower.

3.Collect all the materials you need and organize them with your projected timeline.  If you happen to be working with your wife/husband or children on a project, allow them to choose what fixtures, paint colors, or basins they want ahead of time.  Allowing everyone to contribute will make this project an investment for the entire household. Preparing and organizing materials will prevent you from stepping on your own toes.  For example, if you are going to repaint a room and install new hunter fans, have your sanding and wall stripping materials out first. Paint at the very end.  Even if you just detach the cabinet fronts and set them up in a separate room for painting, it will give you some needed space. Give your family some input on your renovation.  Finishing touches such as drawer pulls and decorative accents are a nice way to involve your family.

4.  When in doubt, get an app.  My Measures and Dimensions is an app that is a great way to give you a visual of your space on your phone. It gives you access to all of the dimensions and information on the go.  Simply snap a photo of your space and it allows you to add in dimensions on top of the image, making it easy to explain your project to a sales associate or decorator.  Home Depot as well as Lowe’s also provide apps allowing you to save your information, review previous orders, and allow you to send someone else to the hardware store without having to relay every detail of the remodel.