Put down the sledgehammer, and yes, the paint roller too. While you’re at it, maybe take that mustard yellow can of paint back into the garage as well.
The craziness of Covid has gotten the best of many of us. We spent so much time at home that naturally we began nesting, whether we realized it or not. Now that restrictions are being lifted, we’re looking for excuses to change something up, make our house more “homey”. This is a result of having spent every day staring at the same items in our home we kept putting off changing or updating. Home improvements weren’t an essential activity, which stopped most from making drastic changes, but what about now?
We understand the desire to shake things up. No doubt, there are plenty of homeowners that have saved countless pins and Houzz boards in hopes of re-creating those rooms that unfortunately are nothing like their current home. On top of this, everything is still on sale, making it even harder to pass up on the idea of re-designing. Yes, we also get those emails from Pottery Barn and Williams Sonoma.
In a time where everything is about reacting, making a solid plan is much more beneficial. No one wants to do the Home Depot walk of shame, in which you come out of the store with buckets of white paint and primer hoping to undo what was done in a time of high stress.
The Problem with Reacting
It’s easy to react to everything going on around us right now. It’s also easy to get caught up in HGTV and their promise of endless possibilities for (it hurts to even say it) renovating your home on your own having had no prior experience. Yes, there are absolutely tasks you can accomplish on your own, but should you? You want your home to have a cohesive look all the way through, and as a Studio Manager, even I sometimes stumble on what the difference between traditional and transitional is. If we’re being honest, we’re blindly picking things to add to our cart because it looks like it could go together. It’s time to empty that cart, sister.
Often times, we do look to home projects to help ease some of the built-up stress in our lives, and understandably so. Seeing your home transform from early 90’s-2000’s to modern day style can be therapeutic—when it’s done right. Rather than spending your time and money making changes that more often than not go awry, make a plan for when you are able to consult with a professional.
What you Should be Doing Instead
Don’t react, come up with an actionable plan that you can take to a designer instead. Make a list of things that need to change and why you feel that way about them, then let a professional create an amazing design for your lifestyle and aesthetic. Even if it’s a one-hour consult to confirm you’re headed in the right direction, the knowledge designers can provide is invaluable. Plus, it saves a lot of headaches down the road. Your inclination that something needs to change is probably right, especially if you didn’t find during quarantine that your home was a comfortable safe haven, somewhere you didn’t mind spending your days. You deserve to feel comfortable and happy with your home, but you also deserve to have it done right.
Going back to work is an exciting and joyous thing. Heck, even the most well-designed of homes may have had people going stir-crazy by the end; but let’s not leave your SO staring at the cabinets you tore down with the promise of renovating the kitchen. We can fix that for you. In fact, we can fix alllll of that for you.