New Year Home Improvement Resolutions
The fireworks have settled, and we are officially one month into 2019. For many people, the new year brought on a newfound focus, motivation and quite possibly a resolution or two. But year after year, we all seem to be guilty of picking the same “eat better”, “be more active”, “live healthier” resolutions that a lot of the time tend to get forgotten by the time we reach the midway mark of the year. As a homeowner, you’re not confined to these resolutions though, there are many home improvement resolutions that you can set for yourself that will have as significant of an impact on your wellbeing as the ones listed above— not to mention, they’re a bit easier to achieve too. From making your house safer and going green to renovating or finally finishing that “in-progress” project, home improvement resolutions can have a lasting impact on your wellbeing and don’t have to be overly complicated. Continue reading below for a list of new year resolutions for homeowners of all budgets.
Make Your Home Safer
As a simple, easily affordable new year resolution, we suggest looking into making your home safer. This can be as simple as installing new locks on exterior doors, replacing expired fire extinguishers, having your chimney inspected/cleaned or even as easy as replacing the batteries in all of the smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in your home. Regardless of how many of the tasks you choose to complete to make your home safer, we can guarantee that this new year resolution will leave you with a sense of safety, security and of course, achievement.
Use Less Energy
Nobody likes paying for utilities. We’d all much rather spend our hard-earned money on things that we can actually see, hold and enjoy. So, if you spent the better half of 2018 complaining about energy bills, then this resolution might be just what your 2019 needs. Using less energy in your home can be achieved in many different ways. Depending on your family and habits, you might strive to simply turn off the lights when you leave a room or turn off the tap when brushing your teeth. Or, you may choose to look into installing solar panels, low-flow fixtures or better insulation if you’re already happy with your family’s energy-saving efforts. Using less energy in our homes is something that we all can strive to be better at. And whether you choose to go about it by purchasing solar panels or energy-conscious light bulbs, assigning the resolution of using less energy to your family is a great way to save a significant amount of money and feel good about your eco-footprint while doing so. Before starting any major installation projects, we strongly recommend consulting with a professional to truly get an understanding of how much the entire process will cost. Some houses may require additional setup work before something like solar panels can be installed, and so it's important to know exactly what you're getting into to ensure your budget stays intact.
Declutter Your Floorplan
If you've been on Facebook, Instagram or even just spoken to another human so far in 2019, we're confident that decluttering, Marie Kondo and her Netflix series, "Tidying Up" were more than likely part of the conversation. But believe it or not, decluttering doesn't just have to be limited to your belongings. You can also declutter your home's floorplan. Past architectural design practices involved many walls and separated rooms— with many instances of this still being present in KW-region homes today. Many of these walls were put up to compartmentalize each room and provide no structural value (however, some do). And in the instance of many KW-region homes, these walls are what stand between families and a modern, decluttered floorplan. Removing walls is generally an easy task, keyword being generally. After examining your home's blueprints and having a professional inspect your home and the walls you wish to remove, it typically involves minor demolition, some patching and painting of the ceiling and sometimes some flooring work. You can also hire a professional team to come in and do the job for you if you don't feel comfortable handling the project yourself— this is what we recommend. Regardless of whether you choose to do it yourself or hire a professional, achieving a decluttered floorplan is a great (and most of the time relatively easy) new year resolution for the homeowner looking to breathe new life into their home and make their home's floor plan work better for their family. As we mentioned above, it's essential to consult a professional before making any structural changes to your home to ensure the integrity is maintained throughout and after the project.
Get Organized
Another excellent home improvement resolution is to get organized. Whether you do this by installing some beautiful custom built-ins, organizing your closet, creating additional closets, or simply by purchasing storage bins to stow unused belongings away, getting organized can go a long way in ensuring your family feels more relaxed and comfortable and your home feels bigger and cleaner. Getting organized doesn't have to mean pricey, custom work. There are many store-bought options you can purchase to get your entertainment room, closet, bedroom or any other room in order and many of which are relatively affordable— leaving budget leftover to organize another room. With that being said, for any homeowners looking to add value to their home and increase its resale value or worth, custom, professional work is the only option. Hiring a professional team, like ourselves, to renovate a space to include more closets, custom built-ins or maybe an even bigger master closet is the only way to achieve an organized room and provide added value that a piece of furniture can't.
Finish What You’ve Started
If you're a DIYer, then this resolution is for you. All too often we hear of homeowners who start a home improvement project only to get busy and leave it unfinished indefinitely. If you're picturing a room or project in your home right now, then make 2019 the year you complete that project and get your home back in order. We understand that it's not realistic for a homeowner who's working full-time to complete a project in record time but use this resolution as your motivation to come home each night and spend even an hour chipping away at it. Before you know it, it’ll be complete, and your family will be enjoying whatever it is.
Ask for Help
As a final, bonus resolution, this one goes out to all the DIYers and homeowners who may be hesitant to start or even consider a project. Asking for help is the best thing you can do to guarantee your home's integrity and ensure anything you do benefits its value rather than subtracts from it. If you are ever in doubt about something you are doing, it's crucial that you stop and seek guidance rather than proceed blindly and end up costing more money or damage down the road. There are many highly-trained professionals in the area who would be more than happy to answer any questions you might have about various projects. And if in the end, you decide to hire someone to do it for you, you now have a contact that is up to speed on your project and with who you have built a working relationship.
As you can see, new year resolutions don’t have to be tasks and goals that take the entire year to achieve. The idea is to achieve a feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction and make the year as enjoyable as possible. From renovating your home and its floorplan to replacing the batteries in your home’s smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, home improvement resolutions both big and small are all great ways to achieve these feelings and make 2019 your best year yet. If you have any questions regarding any of the resolutions discussed above or maybe just need some help or guidance, we encourage you to reach out to us by phone, email or on Facebook and Instagram, a member of our team would be more than happy to help you in any way we can.
Happy 2019!
