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Home Renovation Project Tips and Tactics

Tackling a home remodel or renovation project can be quite the task. Regardless of size and scale, any home improvement is likely going to cost you- not only in financial terms but also in mental taxation, your physical wellbeing, and the unavoidable disruption to your present life. So, how can a home renovation project become an easeful, relatively painless experience that doesn’t totally drain the bank? We’ve got some tips and tactics to consider before you start out on this new journey.

Before diving in too deep, you’ll have to understand that there are multiple factors at play during a home renovation- think of it as a symphony that must work with total cohesion to reach a beautiful harmony. In order to save money, stay on a time schedule, and not completely disrupt your life, all of these considerations should be employed.

Conserving Your Resources

In the beginning stages of any home improvement project, you’ll need to work with a great contractor or architect to identify what visions you have for your space(s), how long you can budget build time, and most importantly- the relative cost of all of this work. Set a clear budget with your team and stick to it. Be very clear that you don’t have a flexible budget (if this is the case) so that they don’t make costly decisions without your approval or enjoy too much wiggle room. When allowed for invited, often time architects and builders will try to push the budget and possibilities for extra add-ons and certain materials. Make sure you outline your boundaries and let them know you’re aware of your finances.

Choose the right materials

This can be a tricky process, as picking textiles and building materials can often be a frenzy of options and unknowns. First, try to identify the overall aesthetic of what you’re trying to achieve. Next, talk with your contractor about these main considerations:

  • Quality
  • Cost
  • Sustainability
  • Aesthetic
  • Availability
  • Long-term Use
  • Environmentally Responsible

All materials vary greatly in regard to the above factors. New wave building consciousness has led us to become acutely aware of the sustainability of our materials and textiles. This refers to the ethics and environmental impact of where and how these materials are sourced, as well as how long they will last and if their deterioration could be a potential environmental hazard/harm. Your contractor should be well versed in a plethora of material options and will be able to talk with you about your options. Typically, there is a great medium to be reached with regard to cost and quality. If you only select the top tier materials, you’ll end up paying the price for them in the end. Sometimes homeowners don’t realize that the relatively small price difference, while seemingly minuscule per unit, adds up quite a bit with the volume of units. Be aware of these factors.

Choose Flexible Solutions Whenever Possible

There are many fantastic options out there for space optimizing designs that don’t require full (and costly) wall construction. For example, full-length sliding wall doors are a stylishly modern and innovative solution to install in place of permanent drywall. This option allows for spatial flexibility, increased visibility, and light flow, as well as the option for a thoroughfare between two distinct spaces. Wall doors and frosted glass wall partitions, even a stylish barn door room divider still offer the option for privacy (depending on chosen glass opacity) yet they slash the cost of constructing an entire wall, and fortunately, are very easy to deconstruct when needed. These options will save time, money and add a lot of practicality to your new space.

Clear Design Direction

A lot of homeowners, when setting out to update their homes, are somewhat unaware of the necessity to outline- and stick with- a consistent design theme. This is such a crucial factor in the renovation’s success. While upgrading to a more modern look is a great design choice and probably a good return on investment, you’ll want the right accessories, fixtures and hardware to ensure your theme works within the full scope of the home. Below are a few considerations to attaining a consistent modern look:

  • Furniture and art curation (pick one or two themes and don’t deviate from them)
  • Smooth dyed cement retaining walls and siding
  • Wood accents (siding, fencing, hardwood floors, cabinetry)
  • Sliding bathroom door, mirror sliding door, or mirrored closet doors
  • Stacking room divider, pocket doors, or bi-fold doors
  •  A blend of elements throughout the house (wood, stone, fur, granite, metal)
  • Large, open windows
  • Plenty of light
  • Open floor plan
  • Large open kitchens

Relinquish Overzealous Design Choices When You Can

During the design process, we tend to get a little excited, and can at times go a bit overboard with our vision. Most times, architects will go through a series of designs, with each round cutting back and refining the overall choices and aesthetics. Throughout the first few rounds, there are typically ideas thrown out there that are inherently too costly to remain in the project in order to stay on budget. Work with your contractor to figure out which parts of your blueprints you are willing to give up to achieve financial harmony.

Frosted glass sliding door divides reading room with two pictures on the wall

Plan For The Unexpected

There are situations that will unavoidably arise throughout a building/renovation project that you hadn’t expected, and you’ll have to face these roadblocks head-on. If you and your contractor only budget both time and money for smooth sailing, most likely you will exceed your budget on all sides. Factor in an emergency cost budget, as well as plan for extra time in case unfortunate situations arise, causing delays and increased finances.

By being prepared for the unexpected, following a consistent design theme, employing flexible construction solutions, and carefully choosing materials you’ll set yourself (and your home renovation project) up for success. No one should endure a terrible renovation experience- leave those for television. Consult us at The Sliding Door Company- the experts in spatial optimization. For more exciting solutions and inspiration, Visit Us Online to browse our online viewing catalog and Enjoy A Free Consultation from one of our team members to actualize your design dream today.

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Stay At Home Parents, It’s Your Time

As a stay at home parent, there can be a lot of hours in the day just waiting to be filled. This can pose a troubling series of questions for those not sure what to do with all of this novel free time. While raising children can be undeniably taxing, there are, of course, school hours and extracurricular activities that take them out of the house and leave you with ample time to sink into a project. Once your child (ren) head off to school, your entire day all of a sudden opens up and presents you with (at times) a stifling existential question- what exactly should I do with mytime?

If you’ve felt this way before, you’re not alone. This is a very common occurrence for stay at home parents that presents a wonderful opportunity to get creative. This is a chance for you to deeply consider what activities, hobbies or skills you’d like to learn or improve upon. Taking time and money into account, we’ve outlined a few creative options to consider during your process.

Home Daycare

If you love kids, which, there’s a high likelihood (seeing as how you’re a stay at home parent), consider starting your own at-home daycare for little ones. This is an excellent way to spend your daytime/morning hours after your own children head off to school (or before they’re in school) where you can be at home, and run a business at the same time. You can easily and affordably build your own home daycare by employing a few spatial optimization solutions and techniques that cost very little and don’t require any major construction. Convert a wing of your home into this daycare by installing sliding wall doors, a barn door room divider or glass wall partitions to enact space separation within a comfortable setting. These spatial solutions are super handy and provide the needed flexibility to account for expansion or deconstruction if you decide to end the daycare business. You’ll be helping out so many parents, and simultaneously growing your community and making friends with other parents. Sometimes being a stay at home parent can feel limiting and can cause a separation from the important adult interaction that parents with 9-5 jobs enjoy. Owning a home daycare will put you in touch with other parents and babysitters and will expand your interactions ten-fold. It also could be a great way for your children to meet new kids.

Personal Business/Startup

Having your children head off to school for the majority of the workday presents a brilliant opportunity to develop your own business doing something you love and working with other adults in doing so. Perhaps your new business is an exciting startup that will take a few years to grow momentum- the perfect circumstance for your lifestyle. Turn a room in your house into a home office or use frosted glass wall partitions to craft an entirely new room or freestanding office space within your home. Choose from six different glass opacities to achieve your desired level of privacy when constructing this office space. This will save you a commute and the cost of renting out an office. Allowing you the flexibility to still drop off and pick up your kids whenever needed, and work from the comfort of your own home.

Yoga Teacher Training/ Fitness Specialist

Have you always secretly dreamt about getting wildly in-shape or even becoming a fitness instructor? Now is the time to actualize these goals that used to be mere fantasies. Starting the yoga teacher training process is actually a lot easier than most people expect and will endow you with a skill set that you can use and enjoy for the rest of your life. Once you acquire this certification, you can teach yoga and integrate your practice into your everyday life. Perhaps you’ve always dreamt of becoming a fitness specialist or a nutritionist. Consider turning one of your rooms into a workout/fitness/yoga studio. Install mirror sliding doors (such as mirrored closet doors) to get the visibility you’ll need when starting this fitness venture. For a relatively simple room upgrade, you’ll craft a health and wellness sanctuary from your own home.

Take the time to look within and ask yourself what path you’d like to go down with the years you have ahead. With your abundance of unique free time, you can accomplish anything you set your mind to. By employing some creative spatial solutions, you’ll set yourself up to utilize your home in a way you never thought you could. For more exciting solutions and inspirations on your home (and lifestyle) transformation, The Sliding Door Company has everything you’ll need. Visit Us Online to browse our online viewing catalog and Enjoy A Free Consultation from one of our team members to actualize your dreams today!

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How to Persevere in the Face of Neighborhood Gentrification

What happens when your once affordable neighborhood becomes a watering hole for new wave techies and startups that bring in money and change the entire financial and physical atmosphere of your sleepy town? It seems that almost overnight your rent soared, your local mom and pop restaurants were replaced with expensive franchises, noisy new developments inundate the community, and you’re worried about being able to afford your street because you’re competing with the assemblage of new families that just moved in next door. Gentrification can be a difficult transition period for those native to their undiscovered towns. In most cases, people become scared that they won’t be able to integrate into this changing and developing environment and leave their communities prematurely. This can be a big loss of culture to any town or city and an unfortunate burden on existing families. Our advice? Employ a bit of flexibility, make use of your existing resources, and capitalize on this new gentrification.

Luckily, there are a few ways in which you can mitigate these uncomfortable times. Below are a few tips on how to ride the gentrification wave, keep your house and even profit from this new development.

Flexibility Will Keep You Afloat

A lot of renters that deal with the gentrification of their once-affordable neighborhood are stricken with an uncomfortable choice; either pay more or find greener pastures. And by greener we mean cheaper. While many choose to give in and head out, you have the opportunity to prove your flexibility and employ some creative remedies for this burgeoning issue.

A common solution to mitigate the rising cost of housing is to rent out rooms in your house that you aren’t necessarily using. You can add a roommate or turn one of the rooms into a home office that generates income. If you find that all of your available rooms are occupied, fear not, there is still hope. Say you have an expansive living room that takes up too much space or a bedroom that could be divided to create two separate entities. By installing a room divider with doors you can easily craft an entirely new room that will generate passive income for you. These glass room partitions offer you the flexibility to install and deconstruct with no major construction or costly hassle.

As a homeowner, consider Airbnbing out your home during weekend trips away or converting a wing of your home into a rental. Again, glass wall partitions are a painless and super stylish solution to optimizing your interiors quickly and affordably. Choose from different glass opacities for these floor to ceiling glass wall partitions, from completely opaque to see-through translucent and everything in between. You can choose to install a partition that is fully closed or opt for a partition with an interior glass door built in so you can move through the two spaces easily or lock when needed. By choosing to turn a fraction of your home into a rental, you can effectively monetize your home and pick when to rent and for how long. There is less commitment associated with vacation rentals than compared with long term renters. By adding a bit of practical functionality to your home, you can make passive income and afford to stay in your beautiful neighborhood throughout the many waves and stages of gentrification.

Capitalize On Your New Booming Economy

Instead of seeing gentrification as a harmful new development, notice all the ways in which you can benefit from this exciting evolution of your community. Now is a wonderful time to start a new business, team up with your fellow community members and craft an innovative business that will enjoy the influx of finances to the area. Position yourself in an economic stronghold by developing a company or startup doing something you love. Convert a part of your home into a new home office with sliding wall doors or glass sliding room dividers to create a work sanctuary from the comfort of your home. This minimal physical transformation of your interior spaces will allow you to create and imagine, without the cost of renting out a studio or office space. Enjoy the flexibility of hassle-free installation that allows you to expand or contract your interior space easily and without any major construction. This flexibility will allow you to adapt to the inevitable expansion of your new business and create enough room for a few new team members along the way. Though it can be uncomfortable at first, not all gentrification is bad. In being adaptable, and by making good use of the new development throughout your town, you’ll find that this evolution can actually create an entirely new economic opportunity for you and your community.

By being flexible where it counts, you’ll be able to persevere in the face of unavoidable gentrification. We at The Sliding Door Company see value in offering products that allow for flexibility and ease of modification. That’s why we’re here to help you spatially optimize your interiors going into this new decade and enjoy all the best things 2020 has to offer. For more exciting solutions and inspiration, Visit Us Online to browse our online viewing catalog and Enjoy A Free Consultation from one of our team members to actualize your design dream today.

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What to Do When You Have Too Much Space

You just moved into your vast and beautiful new house or apartment. The stunning amount of square footage and enormous windows were a selling point for you and your partner. You couldn’t wait to arrive at your new pad, after having just come from a significantly smaller place that felt cramped and limited. However, after having moved all of your belongings and furnishings in, you’re starting to realize you may just have too much space. After all, you don’t have large and vast quantities of furniture to begin to fill this new home. Not wanting to spend thousands on a new living room set, you start to wonder what one does when met with too large a floorplan.

Most would think this is typically not a bad complaint to have when describing a home. However, having too much space can make any home feel cold, not cozy, dark and lonely even. Luckily, there are some inexpensive and very effective solutions for crafting the cozy home of your dreams. Below are just a few tips you can use, items to integrate, and solutions to install to your new space.

Arranging the Furniture

This is a super important facet of laying out any interior space. How the furniture is arranged greatly affects the flow and function of a living room. If the furniture is too close to the walls, and far apart from other surrounding pieces, it will undeniably open up your space and create spacial distinction. As this is sometimes the goal for those living in tight quarters, it doesn’t work in your case. We want to pull the furniture in close to each other and create a cozy and somewhat intimate lounge where people can gather, share a coffee or watch a show together.

Being too spread apart will create unnecessary distance and give the impression of separation and solitude. Something to consider is arranging the furniture around a focal point. This could be an entertainment center, a big window with a view, or even an attention-grabbing coffee table or painting. This will act to give the surrounding furniture purpose and place.

Area Rugs

Area rugs are fantastic at warming up space, especially if you have cold wood floors and a sweeping floorplan. A rug draws together surround furniture, gives the pieces a framework to stay in and offers comfort to a shared space intended to feel cozy. Choose the color and pattern of your rug depending on how you want the energy of the room to feel. Warmer tones and vibrant patterns to create an uplifting, energetic vibe, and darker or cooler tones and colors to employ sophistication and elegance to your living room.

Greenery

To tie your space together, and make it feel more homely and intimate, make use of house plants and succulents to bring in novel life, purify the air and create intrigue. Bring the outdoors in with Fig Plants, Crotons, Lemon Lime Dracaena, Anthurium, Golden Pothos, and Snake Plants are all beautiful houseplants that do well with indirect sunlight. Consider replacing nearby closet doors with sliding mirror closet doors to spread ample sunlight during the day. Your plants will love the extra light, and it will simultaneously brighten up your space making it feel warmer and inviting.

Room Dividers

Employing room dividers to effectively break up vast floor plans is an effective, quick and painless way to transform any living room or shared space. For example, frosted glass wall partitions are great at creating a bit of spatial distinction and making a space more private, intimate and snug. Even sliding wall doors can help to separate the vast space and give you more options. With a variety of frame finishes, available accessories, and glass opacities to choose from, you can customize the partition or wall divider to suit your unique space! Plus, installation is simple and requires no serious construction to disrupt your lives and cost you money. Room dividers doors and walls offer flexibility and ease, as you can always remove and update them. By installing dividers,it becomes your choice. Slide them open, or close them for privacy in seconds. It’s getting the best of both worlds.

Cozy Accessories

Last but not least, make use of tasteful accessories. Bring your space to life with thoughtful touches such as worldly textiles, intriguing art pieces, interesting books and magazines to sift through, throw blanks and colorful knick-knacks. Things like wall sconces, candles, and intriguing vases are all fantastic additions that will add color, texture, and punch to a room. Not only do these accessories complete and tie together your design concept, but these little flourishes will brighten up your space and pull attention away from the expansive size, and towards the interesting details. This will craft a living room that appears smaller, more intimate and will provide a sanctuary for you and your partner (or family) for years to come.

With these effective solutions, tips and tricks, you’ll have a cozy new place in no time. The Sliding Door Company has all the creative solutions you need moving forward making your home as comfortable and stylish as possible. Don’t hesitate to check out our website, which offers a myriad of design examples, photos, accessory options, and customizable choices. Get in touch with one of our knowledgeable representatives by scheduling a free consultation and start the transformation today.