Planning and preparing for a home renovation project is often incredibly stressful. However, once you have found and hired the necessary tradespeople, decided on the plans and secured planning permission – if needed – you would be forgiven for thinking that the hard work is done. In actuality, your part is not yet over; you still need to prepare your home for the upcoming renovation. Luckily, this is actually pretty simple; let’s dive in.
Declutter Your Home
One of the first things that you should do is to declutter the affected areas. A home renovation gives you the opportunity to assess your home with a critical eye to think about how you want to decorate it once the renovation is finished. Will you need all of the knickknacks and decorative pieces that you currently have? You might also discover that you have been holding onto a lot of rubbish which could otherwise simply be thrown away.
If the home renovation is limited to one room or area within your home, then you will obviously only need to focus on these areas. Removing all of the unnecessary clutter simply means that you will have fewer things to move or relocate later on. Depending on the things you find, you could also choose to sell them using online marketplaces to make some money and help finance your renovation. Otherwise, you could simply choose to donate them to a non-profit or give them away to the local charity shop.
Empty The Necessary Spaces
The next thing that you should consider doing is emptying out the space. This will again depend on what exactly the renovation project entails. However, for the most part, to make things easier for the tradespeople as well as to protect your belongings, it makes sense to empty out the space. You might be able to relocate a lot of the decorative pieces and knickknacks, storing them elsewhere in your home, but this is likely not the case for the furniture. Instead, you should consider furniture storage solutions like a self-storage locker. Safestore has a number of storage solutions, including renovation storage for the duration of your project. Your furniture remains safe and secure until you are ready to put the furniture back.
Consider The Schedule
Finally, you should also take the schedule into account. How long will the project last? If the project is going to be incredibly disruptive to your daily life, for example, if you are carrying out a comprehensive remodel of the entire interior, then you might not want to be there during the work. Towards the end of the project, the home is likely to be a lot more liveable. During the initial stages, it can be incredibly uncomfortable to try and live in a building site. This is why considering the schedule is important if the project will be done in less than a month, then you might be able to grin and bear it. Otherwise, it might be worth thinking about finding somewhere else to stay. This could mean sofa surfing with friends and family or booking a hotel room for a week or two until the work is well underway.
In Summary
Preparing for a renovation is often a huge undertaking, from the initial idea to renovate right through to paying the final tab. There are a lot of elements to consider, including finding the right builder, agreeing on the plans, securing planning permission if necessary and adding the finishing touches. However, a lot of people forget to prep their homes in advance, which can really delay progress and scupper plans, so be sure to keep in mind the tips listed above.