Home Remodel Estimator - Itemized costing guide for your home remodeling needs

(photo by Veronica Toney)

If you have kids at home it is very important to create for them a little space where they can comfortably stay and study, read or be artistically motivated.  These are kids’ study stations.  It doesn’t need to be big areas, remember they’re children so a little space to wiggle around will be sufficient.  Look at the picture above and you’d see a general view of how a kids station looks like.

Kids need these areas so that they can be trained at structural behavior.  If they do homework everywhere at home chances are they’d do everything else everywhere.  Eat in the bedroom or living room, games in the kitchen or other things in wrong areas.

Supply for them enough drawers to keep their materials in, a small table to fit their daily school chores like homework and small projects.  A nicely decorated corkboard or pin-up board.  A few shelves and viola, a warm hug and kiss will surely come your way! 

Now’s probably a good time to think about what is needed to done during the winter season.  I mean, we’re all bound to spend 3/4 of the day indoors anyway (too cold outside for any other things).  I remember asking a neighbor yesterday “so what are you guys doing for winter”.  His reponse, “oh well, you know when it’s winter, we’d just be indoors most of the time after work playing with the kids or doing some things online.”

Winter is a great time to do small improvements at home!

Maybe you need something done in the kitchen, where you’ve procrastinated all year round.  Time to tighten some loose knots and bolts maybe?  Or re-arrange the grocery cabinet for instance?  Whatever it is, be sure to jot it down your schedules of things to do for the winter season.

You flip a magazine page and see a great looking living room design, or a comfy bedroom, the tile accents, the color hues, the tree just outside the kitchen window… and you say “ahhh… now that’s exactly what I want in my home”.  And you head-off to your trusty interior designer with that magazine page ripped and demand (errr, request) you want it all to look like that.

Truth to tell, your designer will give you a witty grin and motion to sit you down to say… “we can try that, but honey, it may be next to impossible because no two remodeling projects are alike”.  Your designer is ABSOLUTELY RIGHT.  Let me tell you why

1.  Material sourcing - Materials used to make that magazine picture may not be available in your area.  The materials they used may not exist at all too!  Imagine behind the lens all those warm lights and bulbs that help create the “perfect color tone”.  And I won’t even mention that some (if not most) of those magazine pictures were photoshoped too.

2. Setting and landscape - Magazine pictures are well draped with the right landscape and setting.  What do I mean?  Well, the interior design may perfectly match the size of the lot, the house, the view by the window, the tree by the corner or other accents that make the design stand our a little more.  Now you can’t have “that exact tree” or “that exact view” now would you?  

3. Budget - You may not have the same budget to purchase those beautiful accents (the carpet, the vase, that painting, the mouldings… etc.)

4. The homeowners - Do you live the same life as those who’s actually living in that perfect magazine picture?  What fits your lifestyle?  Your taste? Your being?  Designs are made to fit those who will use them.

Ok, now take a deep breathe and wipe those teary eyes.  You can still have the perfect living room of course.  You just need to work with the pros… listen to them… they can guide you on how you can make your remodeling project a dream come true.