A Secret Tool That Will Yield a Great Kitchen Remodel

| Friday, February 10, 2012
By Alan Rodchester


The kitchen is the most important room in your house. It is easy to modernize your kitchen without lavish spending.

Often your kitchen can be the most expensive room in a remodel. However, there are ways to completely renovate your kitchen without the added expense of demolishing it.

Remodeling requires a completely different thought process than most people are used to. Are you equipped for change?

Next weekend, drive to three open houses. Walk through the homes with the eye of a buyer. Stick with me here. We are opening your eyes and changing your perspective. As you walk through the homes, think about the nice features and the negative ones. Pay particular focus on the kitchen and adjoining rooms.

Drive home and begin your design process!

Keep your buyer's hat on. Walk into your house through your front door. No cheating, use the FRONT DOOR. Look at your house with the same discerning eye that you had when you walked through the open houses. What would you do to make your house more appealing? List 10 items. What makes your house special? List those items.

Here goes nothing. Take that initial list, items that make your kitchen home. Start to think about what you can do to add to what you love. Make another list.

Now take a look at the list of 10 items that will make your kitchen more appealing. Rank the items in order of expense and effort. Once complete, rank the same list again in order of the effect the change will have on the feel of your house.

Now, take a hard look at your three lists of changes to be made. Compare it to your list of what is already liked and imagine if any of your changes will accentuate the features you like.

This process can be related to the saying, 'practice makes perfect'. Essentially, you are going to improve upon what is already a positive in your home in order to make it perfect.

Here are 5 ways to update your kitchen without the great expense:

1. Everyone's childhood favorite, painting. The multi-tasking man's man can get this project done in a few days. if you cannot paint a kitchen in a weekend there is really no help for you. I'm kidding, but seriously it is that easy.

Look as paint as a woman looks at her hair. If you get tired of the look, make a change. In fact, paint is more like a haircut than you may think. As with a bad haircut, a poor choice in paint colors can easily be changed. The wrong paint color can be quite forgiving.

There are some simple rules and ideas to keep in mind when painting. If you need assistance in color selection, go to Home Improvement U's Design Center for a step by step guide on how to select colors for your remodeling project.

2. Light, Light and More Light. Natural light is the best form. Adding light will alter the feel of your kitchen for the better. Your kitchen will feel larger and more open with the use of natural light.

Solar tubes are an inexpensive way to let it natural light. Yet, you cannot add that without your kitchen being the top floor.

If all else fails, add lighting to your kitchen. A thoughtful choice in light fixtures can add the pop you are looking for in your kitchen home improvement project.

3. Cabinet door pulls can give just the right touch to your kitchen. In most cases, affordable door and drawer pulls can be an affordable way to add character to your kitchen.

4. A new kitchen faucet is an inexpensive way to update your kitchen. In fact it will do more than add to its appearance, it will be a useful update as well.

5. Appliances are generally the most important changes being made in kitchens. Your refrigerator and cook top being the most visible and used appliances should be the ones updated. Your first thoughts may be to panic. Though appliances are typically expensive, there are ways to save. Try Home Improvement U for their great Appliance Savings Tips.

Now that you have changed the way you think about your home and have proven design methods, you are ready to build the kitchen of your dreams on the budget you require.




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