Home Improvement Tips

The time has come for you to remodel that outdated bathroom of the 70’s. If it is your first home improvement project, you may be completely confused on where to start. For the more seasoned Tim Taylor’s out there, maybe this article will help you get your improvements finished sooner. You may want to look into hiring a contractor for your home improvement project. This article is dedicated to the do it your-selfer.

First, and foremost, you must set your budget. If you only have $1500 for total renovations, you definitely do not want to run out of money half way through your project. This would leave the room, (or whatever you are improving) looking worse than it did before. Make sure you are going to have the money to finish the home improvement project. If your wants are more than your bank account allows, make a few modifications. Always allow about 10% of the budget for accidents.

The next thing anyone should do before actually getting started on home improvement project is to measure, measure, and measure again. I recommend that you measure everything three times. This ensures that your figures will be accurate. There is nothing worse than buying a box or two of tile, and finding out that you really needed 4, but your account is tapped out. If you want to replace the floor, make a note of all of the dimensions. The same goes for trim, windows, and walls. This will make any home improvement project a bit less stressful.

You may want to start your home improvement project at the bottom and work your way up. In other words, start with the floor. If you have tile on the wall that you want to change, go ahead and rip this out next. You may also want to update the bathtub, sink and toilet. These will all need to go as well. Now you should have a very naked room, and a clean slate to begin your home improvements.

You will need to lay down your flooring first. You should make sure that all of the base boards are taken off. These may be salvageable, but you may also need to buy more. Be sure this is within your home improvement budget. Once you have the floor complete, move on to the walls. If your walls are not in such good shape, you may need to buy and install new drywall. This also needs to be factored in to your improvement budget.

Now you are ready to paint. Most of the time, a fresh coat of paint in a different color, can dramatically change a room. Before painting you should get a small bucket (or can) of filler for the nail holes and cracks in the wall. One cheap way of filling small nail holes is with toothpaste. Once you have all of the blemishes fixed, cover the new floor with drop cloths. After all, you don’t want to ruin that expensive tile with a paint spill. Once the paint is dry, you can replace all of the base boards.

Now it is time to install the new sink, tub, or toilet. You can do this yourself, but it may be wise to hire someone for this type of home improvement. Once this is complete, simply change out hardware, and fixtures, and you are done. Voila! A brand new bathroom without that infamous 70’s charm, and you were able to keep from breaking the bank with your home improvements as well.