I love a good home renovation show. You know the ones where they take a run-down, gross, empty house and completely gut it and redo everything and it’s this gorgeous luxury quality house? Those are my obsession. I could watch them all day long, and each time I do, I start making that mental list of things our own home needs. Whether you’ve got your house through fix and flip lenders, who give the money on the premise you’ll do it up, or if you’ve bought it outright, you want it to be done up to feel like your own.
We’ve done new windows, now we need new doors. We have a spot on the side of the house where there’s a big chip in the siding missing (I have no idea how either), so it needs replaced. Then I think about the exterior color, and it’s kind of blah. The paint on the trim is peeling, so that all needs scrapped and redone. See? It’s happening again!
What I would give to be able to take our enclosed porch and turn it into an actual porch with rocking chairs and a little table in between them. A little southern charm right here in Ohio.
So while I love those shows and I love to dream about what we could do the house, you have to have a plan if you’re going to afford and actually follow through with these ideas. That’s why you have to stop dreaming and just create it! Get in touch with contractors for new siding, have estimates done and see what your costs would be. Start looking at colors and consider what your neighborhood looks like. Once you’ve decided to do a re-siding job (which is a great way to give your whole home a major facelift), start planning!
I would definitely look into James Hardie, with over 5.5 million homes, they continue to set the standard for the manufacturing, marketing and distribution of premium siding and trim.
When I did a contractor search through their website, I was pleased to see a name I recognized – and a company that does more than just siding! One company could organize more than just siding but also new gutters (don’t forget those gutter guards), a new roof – practically a whole new house!
If you watch the same home reno shows, you know there’s a lot of work that can go into creating that dream home but it all starts with a plan and a budget. Sit down and figure it out. You won’t know what you can do until you figure out the numbers and start the actual planning.
If you know you’ll be in your home for many years, you can break your project down into chunks and focus on something every few months or years. Meeting with your contractor and explaining this desire will get them on board with your plans and help you figure out the best time of year for each project, which to start first, and when to start planning for each new project.
