The Remodel Milestones, Step 3: Design Challenges

Olesia Chikunova
Nov 1 · 10 min read

If you have started with a wish list, you will have an easier time to proceed to design decisions and relevant requirements.

Let me give you an example of a requirements list — the must-haves, sometimes called the program requirements — from one of my previous projects. These were the specifications on the owner’s wish list.

Initial Must-Haves

  • Ceiling height 10ft min.
  • Good sound isolation
  • Garage for 2 cars and space for 5 bicycles, tools, and worktable
  • Open space living
  • Peninsula counter to sit 5
  • Dining table to sit 10–12
  • Sliding glass doors
  • First floor bathroom (guest bathroom) with a free-standing bath
  • Master bedroom with two closets and full bathroom (with bidet)
  • Full bed (sconces for reading), place for desk and dresser, night stand & armchair, built-in closet

Now, what did this former project look like after it was done, since the owner ran a check against their wish list at every stage of construction? Not very different, but there were two changes:

  • First floor age-friendly bathroom with a free-standing bath
  • Master bedroom with ONE closet and full bathroom (with bidet)

You can see that one item got removed in the process and the first floor had some features to the bathroom added — but both were done intentionally as a trade off for space and other considerations. Not because someone forgot about it. See the difference? Features were removed or added, if circumstances changed. This is okay, too.

REVISING LARGER PROJECT REQUIREMENTS

Sometimes your wish list may need to be shortened or revised after a project feasibility study, and a budgeting exercise requires you to downsize your original intention. This could occur because of the expense of any or all of the following major renovations in a remodel or new construction, or some other issues, like permits or building codes. In this case the client was aiming for an eco-conscious house. Phrases in brackets represent items deleted during value-engineering phase:

  • Planned solar orientation for winter and summer solstice
  • Solar photovoltaic panels
  • Underfloor heating (powered by solar water heaters)
  • (Residential wind turbine)
  • High efficiency HVAC
  • High-performance windows
  • (Solar hot water heating)
  • Gray water collection
  • (Rainwater catchment system in storage tanks to use for irrigation)

Some of them were gone for good — like solar water heaters. If you do not prep for them during construction, it is a big job to add them afterwards (if space is limited and the roof is covered by photovoltaic panels).

Some of them — like rainwater catchment system — just got postponed. When in construction, you pick your battles. The price tag at the time came back at $37 000 which in California is an NPV negative proposition. Since then, new solutions were developed, and the owners can add them on to the home’s drainage system whenever they are ready.

When you have covered the interior engineering systems, let us move on to the looks.

MAKING COLOR CHOICE

Can you tell me your favorite colors? If this is a difficult question, take any magazine and just tear out all pages that you like visually. Then find an image somewhere in those pages, an image you feel you could look at for ages because its colors draw you in, whether it’s a painting, landscape, photo, whatever. As long as you can look at it for a long time, it works.

All you need to know from this exercise is what colors bring you joy. This is a concept popularized by Mary Kondo — thank you, Mary! Only if you love it, day in and day out, can you move on and stop wondering whether you have made the right color choices in your home. (This is where the manual folders and vision board described in Remodel Milestones , Step 1, can be very helpful, something you can hold and see every day.)

If the conversation about colors still freaks you out, tell me this:

What would you say is your favorite — gray? Beige? Or are you a black & white kind of person? Select one of the three. Believe it or not, this is a great starting point for discovering the palette that matches your taste.

Please do not get distracted by accents — they are a great tool to add bursts of color to any neutrals. And all photos are obviously staged, otherwise they look dull.

The choice might also depend on the function of the room.

Has your choice changed with a change of the room?

NOTE: Want a low-maintenance solution to changing a color scheme when you are bored with the current solution? Use neutrals on permanent finishes, but go wild on accessories like accent pillows, window coverings, rugs and throws. Much easier to swap out those objects than change a wall color!

HOW TO DEAL WITH FEELING OVERWHELMED

I have calculated the number of tiny decisions that one makes for remodeling one bathroom, and it is an impressive 3 million possible choices! This is true! No wonder people are overwhelmed by the selections they need to make.

But is there a way for you to make these decisions faster?

Certainly, if you use the selection process strategically.

Which of the following is an easy choice for you to make and brings you no stress: Color? Style? Finish? Form? Texture? Any ONE of these decisions cuts the number of choices dramatically. And yes, I mean, DRAMATICALLY.

For example: If we start looking at an online retailer who has 1730 tile variants, selecting just “blues” will get us down to 636. Can you imagine what happens, when we drill down on size, shape, texture, price? Selecting a rectangle shape for tiles will get us down to 273. I’m sure you see where I am going with this.

We simplify, then multiply.

For example: When we select a finish for door handles, and do not want to deliberate on the same issue for all the other rooms, we can just pick the same finish for all details in every other room.You can have stainless steel door handles, cabinet pulls, faucets — by making one decision, you can multiply its convenience by using it elsewhere. And guess what? This adds consistency, and in the end that is what makes for a good design.

Yes, sure, I know that having two different finishes will work well, too, but that is not the purpose of this particular exercise. If you have time and desire to match stainless steel handles with black faucets, you do not need this guide. You have to ask: What fixtures and finishes do I want to work together? If you make several different choices from room to room, that is fine, but if you want to simplify both in object choice and cost, selecting the same handle or faucet throughout is going to be an advantage.

Your Golden Design Rule: Continue to simplify, then multiply.

Why? It keeps you free of being overwhelmed. Actually, limiting your choices frees your brain! When left unrestricted, the mind cannot process all the possible variants to give us an option. The psychologist Barry Schwartz states that too many choices paralyze us. And this in turn leads to another statistic: 20% of homeowners cannot decide what to buy and abandon their remodeling projects altogether. You deserve and can do better!

Your Golden Design Rule also:

1. Keeps you sane

2. Gives the house a consistent look and adds points on style

3. Gets you quantity discounts (or other perks)

What’s not to like?

Back-up Options

Of course, another factor is your being prepared for glitches that are out of your control. I always insist on having back-up options! The retailer might run out of stock at the most inopportune moment, a manufacturer might stop producing the collection, and so forth. Thus, do not get your heart too set on one thing only. Be flexible. It is likely you will need this quality on your renovation or construction project.

A MATTER OF STYLE

Do you focus on one particular style or do you allow style mashup?

I recommend you don’t let yourself get carried away by insisting on one style only — unless you really want to live in a museum. Style mashup is officially here. What does that mean? You collect together objects and furniture you already love and own with those that you are thinking of adding (back to those pictures in the Folders you created for each room that you have taken and studied, circled, crossed out, and added in). The mix becomes your own decorating style. You can say it’s transitional or eclectic or shabby chic or original — whichever word you like best!

Reality Check: What Is Your Current Style?

It also helps if you can define your current approach to style. What decorations are you living with now? When you do your mix and match exercise with pieces that you want to keep and new ones you get to add, you define your personal style.

Share your vision of your design style with others but again, process their suggestions carefully! Remember, you own the project. You’re the one who will look at it every day. You are designing for you and your family and your own lifestyle. If you never read in bed, you do not need a reading lamp or sconce nearby. If you never use the dishwasher, leave that space for your dog’s bed.

It is a challenge. Give it a try. Give it your time. Think strategically. This effort is what makes home feel like home for you and for the people you share it with.

Which reminds me…one more thing:

Creating a Home Together

If you and your partner are planning your first remodel together, may I suggest you play a game first? Why would I suggest something so inane? Because it is better to find out how different your interior design tastes are, rather than waiting until you have gutted out the house and have to ask “now what…???”

For example: What if your partner is totally mid-century suburban, and you envision a farmhouse? Or he or she wants a window to fill a wall and you want smaller windows or stained glass? There are a lot of “what if’s” you can explore ahead of time. You might discover your wish lists don’t match at all! Maybe your vision boards are aligned in a lot of ways but not completely and the differences have to be worked out. Spend time over this — it can make or break the success of your shared project.

Then think it over — what have you found out? Do you have a conflicting wish list for your remodel with your significant other? How can you resolve this?

One couple came up with a unique decision making system. They assigned points to each selection or decision that they had to make — 0 to 5. Each could have only a certain amount of fives. They decided that they would limit the number to X. And then they honestly rated the list. In an amazing number of times their priority issues were not the same. They had to discuss things a lot, but once they were aware of their differences, they managed a remodel in a fair negotiation mood/mode to a successful finish.

My family has a diferent selection process. I pick out about a hundred images that I like, my husband deletes the ones he does not like, and we go from there. As mentioned before, kids do their own vision boards. You rule the game.

And do not forget — style mashup is officially here. You can totally have midcentury forms in farmhouse colors.

A FINAL SUGGESTION

Don’t go cheap on planning and designing items that should last a long time, for that can cause you no end of grief if such items wear out too soon. This is true for everything you change, everything you remodel.

Flooring is a good example. Unless it is builder-grade carpet, in which case wear it out for the sake of sustainability (or donate it straight away) and then change it for something you like. But in all other cases — spend the max you can spend on flooring, because it is a pain in the neck moving furniture and everything else out to accommodate the flooring company.

I have done this mistake once — used laminate instead of proper hardwood, and the very first year after our move in a puppy left a stain right in front of the television. And you know what that means? You look at it every time you watch television. The floor had to be changed. And this is the living room we are talking about, the hub of the house… You get the idea…

Same goes for tiles and countertops. A very dusty experience. Dust gets everywhere, take my word for it.

CONCLUSION

Are you planning your new home look now? I am envious!

As far as I am concerned, it is the best part of the process — there are no deadlines yet, no one is telling you they need the vanity now (and I mean NOW), the town hall is not dragging their feet with the answer to your question about a permit, there are no warranty issues, the manufacturer has not yet discontinued the faucet for which your tub is prepped, no rains come when you are trying to change the roof. All is well!

Enjoy the planning process. Enjoy dreaming about it.

Recently, a friend of mine listening to my daily challenges thoughtfully concluded that a remodel was like having your first child. You kind of know what to expect, and it still catches you by surprise. In the end, it usually turns out pretty well.

Happy homes!

Olesia Chikunova

Written by

Homeowner on a crusade, turned entrepreneur. Writing about #remodelingmilestones. Helping overwhelmed homeowners with remodeling recipes on www.homepie.co

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