This is sooo awesome! We have an idea for a project and it’s going to be great! We have pinterest boards filled with ideas of beautiful stuff. Now what? How do we actually make this happen? As Architects we are always asked, “How do you do your own house projects?” Ben and I always have a long list of projects that we want to do for the house. What home project questions should you ask yourself? Here are the questions we ask ourselves to plan each project.

What is our budget?

Do we have enough set aside to complete the project to meet our needs, dreams, hopes, and desires? How long will it take to set aside the money we need? Is this project big enough that we would need a home equity loan or a line of credit? Do we even know how much our project will cost or do we need to do more research? With the hardwood floors we knew we had to install them ourselves in order to stay on budget.

Ben and I try and save up for all of our projects ahead of time. It doesn’t always work that way but we don’t want to be in debt to ourselves or a credit card company for the long hall. I also like to keep an emergency fund in case the roof leaks or the sewer backs up. Ewww, THAT was gross. Can you tell I speak from experience?

We usually start researching costs for materials and labor a few months before we actually want to do the project. I ask around to see if someone has done a similar project to see what they did and try and learn from their mistakes. It’s great how open everyone is with their project knowledge. Most of our friends and coworkers have a home so we all have the same issues! It’s the great conversation equalizer because everyone can relate. Taking the time to research and budget allows us to be comfortable with our design decisions. We have had a few projects go to the back burner because we found it was too expensive or the timing wasn’t right.

How much do you want to DIY?

Depending on the project size and complexity we might want to do all of it ourselves OR we might want to hire someone to complete the work professionally. It doesn’t have to be an all or nothing type of thing. For example: I have big plans for our lower level (pic above) but after dry walling a small portion of our kitchen and it being really annoying to try and get the right smooth finish I know when we plan our lower level renovation project I will set some money aside to have a professional complete the work. I think we could do it, I just don’t want to and that’s ok. It’s important to be honest with yourself about your current and future skills and annoyance level. You will end up fighting with your family, your house, and yourself if you set unrealistic expectations for any project.

What is our timeline?

If we don’t have a timeline then that is great. Remodel projects always take a lot longer than anyone can plan. At least ours do. Everytime. The worst thing we can do is impose a fast timeline on ourselves if we don’t have to. Don’t start a project right before a holiday when you are going to host 20 people at your house. It’s wayyyyy too stressful. Living in Minneapolis, summer is a great time for us to do projects. It’s also a great time to go on vacation or up to the cabin. Make sure you aren’t going to resent your project because it keeps you from doing fun stuff because you planned it during a busy social time.

How much do we want to be inconvenienced?

Get real with what you can live without. Ben and I lived in our basement for almost 2 months when we were working on our hardwood floor project. We were prepared for that. If we don’t want to be inconvenienced then we try to make sure that the part of the project that inconveniences us the most is over quickly so we can get back to normal.

We also think about phasing the project to minimize the disruption for a long period of time. When we were working on our kitchen we left the sink hooked up as long a possible. We even installed a cheap masonite board countertop on part of the cabinets so we could cut and prepare food and wash dishes while chaos was going on around us.

What is most important to us?

Is the design the most important? Is something broken that needs to be fixed? In the end it comes down to Cost. Time. Quality. These are the 3 things that make a project work….and you can only have two of them. Never all three. HUGE bummer, I know.

Examples: If we want the project to be done really quickly we are going to have to hire a lot of people to do the work to keep the quality we want and that will cost more. If we want it done cheap and correctly then it will take longer because quality without cost takes time. If we want it done cheap and fast then we don’t expect the quality to be the highest possible. There is always something that has so give. I usually give on the time. I like high quality and a low cost projects so I am willing to take my time to make sure it’s done correctly.

There you have it! Ask yourselves these questions and go plan your next project!

To see some of the before and afters of projects we have done at our house so far check out the house tour.

Check out the projects page for all of the house projects and more!