Balancing Between Practicality, Functionality, and Style During Your Remodel
By the Vevano Home Team
August 7, 2020
Identify what’s most important and why.
Everything starts with an idea or a desire. What is it that matters most to you in this remodel? Why are you remodeling in the first place? Is it motivated by a need to update? A new stylistic inspiration?
Let’s say you want to redesign your kitchen. Do you want to upgrade your kitchen to match a new aesthetic? Or do you need new cabinets, a sink, or other hardware to make your kitchen more functional and up-to-date? Or are you seeking to update your kitchen with a fresh look while on a minimal budget?
To find a balance, choose your top priority in your redesign and work from there. Is it budget, style, or function? When you have a focus, you’re better able to find features and solutions that meet your needs throughout the remodeling process.
It may be helpful to know that remodels focused around style updates and ease of use will hold more monetary value as opposed to highly personalized stylings and details, which instead bring more lifestyle value to your home.
Consider how the space will be used and by whom.
Continuing with the kitchen remodel example, different people will have different needs when it comes to crafting their desired kitchen. For example, a family with kids who hosts gatherings regularl will likely need and want different features (plus more space to move around) than a retired couple who may prefer simpler, more functional designs.
Know the dimensions you are working with. Plan and budget for the functions you need and want from the room you’re remodeling, whether that’s keeping certain features, updating them, or replacing them entirely. This will likely depend on who will use the kitchen and how.
What kind of budget are you working with?
Budgets come in many shapes and sizes, so different budgets naturally will impact how far a remodel can go. No matter the budget, you can still pull off a remodel that feels good to you.
Medium
A mid-cost remodel is a bit more of a transformative redesign (~$200 per square foot). A bigger update for a bigger investment. This can look like replacing and installing new countertops, cabinets, flooring, appliances, and other features, while maybe keeping other features that you liked. This is where you can really upgrade and start to play with a certain style or aesthetic in a more expansive way.
High
A high-end remodel is the Cinderella of redesign budgets where you can fully transform your kitchen (usually to the tune of $100K+) from redesigning the entire kitchen layout and knocking down walls for more space, to incorporating custom or high-end appliances, cabinets, countertops, flooring, and other features. You’ll hardly recognize the remodeled kitchen when it’s finished if you’re working with a bigger budget.
Another thing to keep in mind when it comes to budgeting is deciding what features are the most important to you. Figure out what you’re willing to splurge on and what you’d rather pinch your pennies with.
Also, look at who’s involved in the budgeting and who will be making the final decisions. You’ll want to be on the same page as anyone else who’s invested in the redesign.
Streamline the process with a professional designer!
“Our designers are able to help extract not just the pieces the client really loves in that design, but what pieces make that design so great, and then find and suggest options to achieve that,” McNamara says.
One of our happy clients, Lindsey, said, “It was super easy sending (our designer) ideas and she came back with ideas that we wouldn’t have thought of in the first place. I feel like she really tied everything together with the little details and took our design to the next level.”
Vevano Home designers are trained to ask the right questions to find workable solutions while keeping your budget in mind. Once we know the desired look and feel you want, we can identify the features you would most like in your redesign and present different options to you. Throughout the process, we keep in mind your priorities, the layout, and the big-ticket items or even demolitions that could put more stress on the budget. No matter your needs for your remodel or home design, our designers can help you make the design workable, both in function and budget.
We also offer tiered pricing solutions to help match your budget. For example, if you have a budget of $25,000, we’ll show you the remodeling options that fit within that scope to fit your desired style. If you’re willing to adjust your budget further, we can also show you what that adjustment would look like in your design, thanks to 3D renderings that make it easy to see how the space will look with different updates. We will show you what’s realistic and what’s doable based on the budget you do have, and from there they will work with you to find practical solutions that fit your specifications.
From understanding your priorities and the dimensions of the space, while also keeping in mind the desired style as well as the budget, Vevano Home designers work to provide options in order to present the remodel that fits your needs best. Take the guesswork out of your remodel and contact one of our designers for a free design consultation today.