Renovating parts of a house (or the entire thing) is definitively a task full of surprises. For me, the accelerating feeling one gets when starting to see the space taking a new shape, is definitively a priceless moment. But it never goes as happy and smooth as one might think because the “Renovating Road” is sometimes full of unpleasant obstacles and lots of doubting paths.
Today I’m sharing with you 5 tips that helped me make this “Renovation” process a bit peaceful and a lot less stressful.
1.Make the waste count: When doing tile flooring, keep in mind that you have to add to the final square footage a 10%-15% of waste. This will help in the events of broken pieces or when making specific cuts. Also, you don’t want to find yourself needing an extra box of tiles if something breaks in the future. You’ll soon realize that either the color is completely different or they ran out of stock. So make that waste (overage) count!
2. Use Primer: Nowadays there is a vast variety of wall paints that come with primer. I know some of you might think that primers are not always a requirement, but I have to say that for me they make a painting job a lot easier and the color selected for that wall comes out beautifully.
3. Ask around: Social Media has grown to the point that you can almost find all your answers online. While planning on doing my hardwood floors, I suddenly found a dear Instagram friend who recently did hers. Since I had so many questions, I decided to write to her asking about this procedure and needless to say her information was incredibly beneficial.

4. Electric matter: If you are changing the lightbulbs throughout your home, try using LED bulbs instead of the regular incandescent ones. Although these are a bit on the pricier side, they will save you a couple of $ on the long run. Also, take the time to update the switch and outlet wall plates. Add this to your new colored walls, and your house will look like new.
5. From the inside out: We all want to show off the updates in our new home; and perhaps making an “Epcot-Center-type-of-garden” seems the first thing on the “to-do-list”. But keep in mind that budget plays a big role in how you move around while remodeling. First thing we did was the bathroom instead of the kitchen or any other part of the house (there is always pizza delivery!). This allowed us to move in quickly and to pay just for the mortgage and not for another month on the rental.
Hope these tips can come in handy if you are in middle of buying an old house and remodeling. Now, bring in the greens!