4 Things I Learned Building A House

Em Hogan
Em Hogan
Jul 23, 2017 · 4 min read

So, you’ve found yourself in the crazy-enviable position of building your own home. You can already picture yourself cozied up by the fire in winter, cooking up a storm in that fancy new kitchen, and entertaining friends on the back deck in summer.

Hold up there, friend!

Before you get lost in the decision-making minefield that is building a house, why not try getting to the heart of what you’re hoping to gain? I can promise you’ll be pleased with the outcome.

Pin. Pin. Pin some more.

Pinterest has the ability to tell you things. No, I’m not crazy. Have you ever struggled to describe your style, or felt confused over what you prefer?

Go ahead and start a board for every room in your home (don’t forget to include the exterior!). Now, pin to your heart’s content. Everything you see that you like, pin. Got specific ideas for your kitchen? Search those too. Found an image and you’re not even quite sure what it is you like about it? Pin it anyway.

Once you have a good number of pins saved to your room board, open it up on your desktop screen. You’re looking for an overall vibe, and you want to be able to see lots of pins at once glance. What does it tell you? Colour palettes and decor styles will jump out. Take notes — you might be surprised what you learn about yourself!

Keep it simple.

Now, before you get carried away with the details of those Pinterest images, and those inspiration photos you’ve been saving on your iPhone, pull back and re-focus. Your budget is finite — the sky will not be the limit (thank goodness!).

With that in mind, how do you figure out what’s most important? While most would suggest pouring a good chunk of your budget into your kitchen, I’m going to suggest you ask yourself three questions:

  • What three words describe how you hope the house looks?
  • What three words do you hope people use to describe your home when they come to visit?

These words were my best guide to what was truly important, and helped to keep me on track when I was in danger of wanting only a Pinterest-esque house.

The middle is perhaps better named the “muddle”.

Don’t fall victim to decision fatigue! At around the halfway point, it’s normal to feel that the build is starting to slip away from you.

Hey, a person can only look at so many tiles, tap fittings, colour chips and flooring options before starting to have nightmares about them. More than once my husband woke in a cold sweat, worried that someone had misheard him and over-delivered on something we would never be able to foot the bill for!

Plan a simple design brief from the beginning and it will help you stay on track even when you’re not sure which way is up anymore. Keep it on hand and review new decisions against your original brief.

You’re going to go over budget.

That’s right, you heard me. Unless you’ve got the same miraculous renovation finesse of Joanna Gaines, expect to go over budget. Eek. I’m all for keeping a running spreadsheet and regularly going over the numbers, but shifts in planned costs can be unavoidable.

It doesn’t much matter what your all-in number is, you’ll likely blow out to around 20% over that initial number. Obviously, this is sometimes the result of unforeseeable building issues, but don’t fret!

Highlight areas of the budget where you have more control, and weigh up whether the amount you’ve allocated is necessary. Sure, those finishes and fittings are lovely — but how much more freeing would it feel to come in on budget when you’ve finally got the chance to live at your new address?

Revisit those words you came up with in the last step, and use those as your guide while you’re out and about spending money to finish your home. Narrowing down what is truly important as we build a home, has an amazing impact in the long run.

Remember, so often in life, less is more. (Unless we’re talking storage — add that extra closet space while you can!)

Em Hogan

Written by

Em Hogan

Freelance Writer & Photographer at EmHogan.net

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