| ||
| ||
|
||
|
|
|
Seven Ways to Survive a Remodel (And Save Your Marriage) Tips from Pisa Design, Inc
Remodels are tough on everyone. The house is out of order, the refrigerator is out of pudding, and the family wiener dog is out of sorts as he searches for his food dish. To help ease the stress of a remodel, we suggest you follow the list of tips below. 1. Invest in "his" and "hers" robes. During a remodel, your house in no longer your own. Everyone from Pete the plumber to Earl the electrician walks through your home at all hours with little regard for privacy. If you'd rather they concentrate on the work in front of them instead of you walking by them, we suggest you invest in some robes-preferable terry cloth for their comfort and thickness. 2. Stuff your speed dial with take-out. Even if the kitchen isn't part of your remodeling project, it's a good idea to create a robust file of take-out and delivery menus from local restaurants. Place settings and candles on a cardboard box where your dining room table used to be aren't motivation for anyone to prepare five-course meals. And you never know when you may find yourself without electricity, natural gas or water. Plus, delivery guys need the tips. 3. Get to know that guy with his name stitched to his shirt. Prior to starting your project, kindle a relationship with your local gas station attendant. Buying bottled water, dairy products and using the facilities will be a much more pleasant experience when you know the person behind the name. You may even get a smile every now and then. 4. Know when to drop everything and run. Just as you would for a double date with the couple across the street, devise a plan of escape. Even the best-run projects can try your patience and linger on with no end in sight. Tack the phone number and picture of a close friend or favorite hotel to your refrigerator (if you still have one). Knowing that there's an alternate site to the natural disaster that was once your orderly home may be all the therapy you need until the project is completed. 5. Hold off on conversations that start with "How was your day, honey?" Conducting heart-to-heart conversations around the dinner table during a remodeling process is like carpeting your bathroom-not a good idea. Even if you delay such discussions until later in the evening, you may find it difficult to concentrate as you gaze at the rec room through a hole in the floor. 6. Get-togethers are great-but not at your house. Family and friends, they mean well. But under no circumstances should you invite anyone over before the project is complete. Wait for the paint to dry before you break out the fondue set. Even if she wants to view the work in progress, you know full well Aunt Mabel is bound to say something about the entry tile that will send you into orbit and drop you back on Earth feeling sick to your stomach. 7. Do not open until X-Mas. You may be tempted to plan a party or host a family holiday shortly after the anticipated project completion date. Don't. If you thought picking out a faucet for the master bath made you sweat, try cutting up jicama for your party and then noticing a blotch of ceiling paint on the backsplash. Even under the perfect conditions, remodeling always takes longer than anticipated. There's plenty of touch-up work required up to a month after the tradesmen call it a wrap. And it's not like the perfect accessories are just waiting to be snapped up at your neighbor's garage sale. Our best advice to you is that you plan your first party six months after the estimated project completion date. We hope these survival tips come in handy as you plan for your next remodeling project. If you're tired of survival tips and are looking for someone who will offer you a wonderful remodeling experience, hire top-notch professional interior designers or architects who come highly recommended by friends, family or associates. Lisa Peck and Kristen Mengelkoch are partners and principal interior designers at Pisa Design, Inc. in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They are experts in both remodel and new construction residential projects.
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Organising your Wedding Stationery Of all the things you need to do, buy and organize in preparation for your wedding, wedding stationery is something that must be planned ahead. After all, you need to let your guests know well in advance of your forthcoming big day. Let Your Wedding Flowers Speak the Language of Love Congratulations! You have found the man of your dreams and are getting married. What a wonderful time in your life - full of promise, hope, and happiness. Displaying Your Wedding Bouquet The great day has come and gone, and you are now happily married. You now want to showcase your silk bouquet as a memory of the wonderful occasion. How To Pick The Perfect Wedding Dress Perhaps the biggest worry of a bride-to-be, is picking out the perfect wedding gown. There are many questions you need to ask yourself before you ever step foot inside a bridal shop. Wedding Budget - What Can You Do To Shave It, Yet Still Have A Memorable Wedding? OK, so you have your heart set on the top banquet facility in the area. The only thing is once you've done that, your wedding budget is shot. Men's Wedding Rings - Should a Man Wear One or Not? Strange as it may seem the use of a wedding ring by men was not common until recently. Whereas women have worn wedding rings for eons, men have not. Wedding Flowers and Arrangements-Best Advice from the Experts Now that you are planning your wedding, you've got to choose bouquets, boutonnieres, centerpieces, church arrangements, and a stunning corsage for one of the most important people who will attend the ceremony-your mother. Somehow, you'll have to make the arrangements for all this, and at a cost that will likely be between 10 and 15 percent of your overall wedding budget. Bridal Accessories To Complete Your Wedding Look Bridal accessories are as necessary to complete the bridal look, as packaging is to a wedding gift. The wedding gown would be incomplete without matching wedding accessories. How To Fight Cultural Differences In Marriage And Stay Happy When people plan to marry, they expect to find in their partner not only a lover but a friend also. A person with whom they can share their opinions, their emotions, thoughts and fears. Tips for Choosing the Right Wedding The job of choosing the right wedding cake style is the responsibility of both the future bride and groom. The style of cake you'll choose will largely depend on the wedding theme and the size of the wedding. Hot Wedding Trend: Platinum Wedding Rings In our hungry-for-anything new pop culture world, celebrities are often the ones that can start a hot fashion trend seemingly overnight. With their heavy media exposure, they are often photographed wearing the latest styles in fashion and jewelry. Second Marriages. Estate Planning Concerns One of the biggest areas of dispute in estate planning is with second marriages. Here is a question I received. Choosing Your Wedding Rings One of the most important steps in planning your wedding, is choosing the wedding ring set. Finding the right rings could actually be considered the most critical part of your ceremony actually, because the wedding bands will be worn by the bride and groom for the rest of their lives. Wedding Planning: Tips for Choosing Online Wedding Vendors If you're looking to the internet for help with your wedding plans, you're sure to benefit from the wealth of organizational and comprehensive wedding tips, ideas, tools and resources available right at your fingertips! The internet is packed with useful websites, as well as online stores offering every wedding product and service imaginable. You'll find everything from wedding invitations, wedding keepsakes and wedding favors to online bridal gift registries, travel agencies for destination weddings and honeymoons, wedding consulting services and much more. Titanium Mens Wedding Rings - The Contemporary Look for the Modern Man The wearing of a man wedding ring is a relatively modern phenomenon. So is the use of Titanium in Titanium mens rings. A Summer Wedding THE sunshine had come out to ensure the wedding of footballer Benji and his wife-to-be Sabine had the perfect backdrop. For the month before the excitement had been growing amongst the players and supporters of St Cernin de l'Herm, a village in the south west of France, as the day came ever closer. Wedding Colors Is it to be a summer wedding or winter wedding? Do you have a particular favourite color? Does the bridegroom have a pathalogical dislike for a certain color?These are all important questions when deciding your wedding color scheme. The color you decide on will influence your dress color, the grooms outfit, the decoration at the reception, your flowers, the bridesmaid dresses. The Charm of Homemade Wedding Favors Homemade wedding favors come from a centuries old tradition of brides and grooms providing small gifts to wedding guests. Every culture across time has treated marriage as a wonderful event with the nuptials celebrated throughout the community. Is Eloping For You? Believe it or not, there is etiquette on how to elope, and how to handle all the important people in your life who may feel spurned by your not including them. In addition, there are also some important questions you need to ask yourself before you run off and get hitched without including those most important to you. The History of the White Wedding Dress As a youngster -- or perhaps even as an adult -- have you ever sat dreamily imagining yourself in a fairytale wedding dress, about to marry your very own Prince Charming? And, what colour is the wedding dress? The chances are it's a white one. Millions of girls and women that dream of the perfect marriage have a vision of the perfect white wedding dress in their minds.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
