It has been a very busy year for home renovations. One of the most popular projects is kitchen renovation. Kitchens have gone from being purely functional spaces to becoming a busy, sociable space accommodating dining, living and entertaining areas where family and friends can spend time together.
When selecting your kitchen supplier, it pays to do a little research. Spend some time researching suppliers and take note of the kitchen style they tend to specialise in. Some kitchen companies are more traditional in style, whereas others specialise in a more contemporary look. Once you’ve compiled a shortlist of preferred suppliers, take some time to visit their showrooms. This is the best way to familiarise yourself with their products and the people you’ll be dealing with.
Trends
When it comes to choosing the style of your kitchen, you should steer away from trends. Your kitchen is a substantial investment so you should choose a timeless finish and styles you won’t tire of.
You don’t have to ignore the trends completely, however. You can incorporate them through accessories and paint colours, as these things can easily be changed. Hand-painted kitchens are a great way to introduce the latest colours and can be repainted at a later date when you want a completely new look.
Kitchen accessories such as door handles, sinks and taps now come in a range of metallic finishes, including brass and copper. So it’s possible to have a very on-trend kitchen and still be able to transform it in a few years with minimal disruption and cost.
Trouble-free
Wetroom showers are very popular, but for them to be trouble-free in the future, a very competent contractor should be the one to install them. Shower trays are easier to install and there are far fewer risks with leaks. There are some very shallow profiled trays on the market now that sit almost flush with the floor finish, which creates a wet-room effect without worry.
Removing a bath to create a large walk-in shower is a great idea, but you need to make sure it’s the right decision for the future, too. If it’s the only bath in your home and you plan on having children or selling your home in the future, you might regret the decision.
Budget
It’s really important to set a budget before starting any kind of home renovation project. It’s also important to let those involved in the project know what you have to spend. There’s a misconception that disclosing your budget to your builder or architect is a bad idea. In reality, without knowing what you have to spend, it’s impossible for them to advise you properly about where to invest and where to scale back.
When working out your budget, make sure to add a contingency fund (about 10 per cent) for unexpected extra costs. Renovation projects can often run up against problems that are impossible to predict from the outset.
Finally, once your project is underway, be careful about making changes or last-minute additions. The builder won’t have priced them in and they tend to add up quickly to bring you over budget.
To help you turn your dream home into reality, consult the home renovation experts today.