How to Prioritize Home Projects
This is not an image of a home The Claytor House has designed. It is a stock image provided by Squarespace.
Do you struggle trying figure out which order to tackle your home projects in? If you live in a home that needs a lot of updating, if you move to new home with more space, or if a major life event (i.e., having a new baby, an elderly parent moving in, a personal medical emergency, etc.) causes the needs of your home to change, it can be hard to decide where to start with your projects. It is very easy to get overwhelmed and worry about making “the right decision” with your money. Let’s talk about how to prioritize those projects and spend your money effectively.
1.) Safety
The new couch and paint job can wait when it comes to the health and wellbeing of your family. This one might be obvious, but always prioritize your family’s safety first. Sometimes life happens and home maintenance slips to the back of our mind causing hazards to arise within our home. We forget to check pipes or change filters resulting in an array of issues from mold to ruined machinery. There are also occasions where hazards arise in our homes due to weather, animals, or accidents caused by others. Whatever the case may be, put remedying dangerous conditions or replacing necessary equipment at the top of your project list. Whether you need to replace some boards on your deck or install a new HVAC system, safety conditions should always be the first thing you put your money towards in your home.
2.) Maintenance
Once you’ve fixed your home’s hazards, it’s time to prevent any future hazards by completing those maintenance tasks that, if left undone, might lead to dangerous conditions. This can be as simple as replacing your air filter or as big a replacing your roof. A roof replacement might seem dramatic, but, if left undone, can lead to leaks, water damage, mold, nesting critters, etc. Problems like these can be costly to remediate, and you’ll end up having to replace your roof anyway. Now, not everyone’s roof is in bad condition, but take this idea and apply it where necessary in your home. Invest in maintaining your home so that issues don’t arise that cost you more money and headache later on.
3.) Functionality
We are getting closer to the fun part (designing and decorating), but the place to focus your attention should next be on making your home function for you. Design does play a role here as you are designing a solution to a problem, and you can do so with aesthetics in mind, but let’s really focus on the spaces that aren’t working for us. When designing any room, you should always focus on making a space functional before making it beautiful, but before focusing on just any space, focus on the majorly dysfunctional areas of your home. Take this example from my own home: my kitchen could definitely function better, and I have plans to renovate it one day, but I wouldn’t say it’s dysfunctional; however, my backyard causes me some major headaches and costs 30 minutes to an hour of my time every day since I have three dogs and no fence. I must take my dogs out on a leash to use the bathroom four times a day at times that aren’t always the most convenient. Having a fence would allow me to let them out by themselves while keeping an eye them as I continue working on any task I might be in the middle of inside the house (while staying warm). So, before tackling my kitchen renovation or ripping up and replacing the stained green carpet from the 90’s, my husband and I are prioritizing installing a fence in the yard for our pups (and our sanity). If there are any spaces in your home that cause dread on a daily basis because of how dysfunctional they are, these are the spaces where you should spend your money and energy next, because let’s face it, beautiful curtains and vases don’t keep us from getting frustrated and lashing out at our family when our home is constantly working against us.
4.) Everyday Spaces
Finally, we can start designing the aesthetic aspects of our home and decorating. While keeping functionality in mind, start designing and investing your money in your most used spaces. Your living room, master suite, and kitchen should be some of the first rooms to tackle. Having a pretty guest bathroom is fantastic (and something we all want to impress our guests with), but there is no point in spending money trying to impress others when your every day spaces are less than desirable. Pamper yourself first, or “fill your cup first” as the saying goes. Even when it comes to your kids’ bedrooms, invest in yours before theirs. Obviously, if your kid outgrows their bed, go ahead and upgrade it for them, but, as you know, kids do just that: grow. So, while I understand wanting to give your kids awesome spaces, they are potentially going to outgrow their bedroom design and furniture pretty quickly. Wait until your kids are a little older or until you’ve designed and updated your bedroom to invest a ton of money into their spaces. Your bedroom is supposed to be your sanctuary away from your kids after all, so spend the time and money on that sacred space asap. When you reach this fun part of updating your home (designing and decorating), invest in your main living spaces that you spend most of your time in before any less commonly used spaces.
5.) Unused Spaces
After your hazards have been fixed, maintenance tasks have been performed, your dysfunctional spaces have been made to suit daily operations, and you’ve invested in beautifying your everyday spaces, it’s time to work on those rarely used or unused spaces. I always think a dining room or any guest spaces are a good place to start. Some people might consider their dining room an everyday space because they work from their dining table or they actually use it for daily family meals (rather than eat on the couch like my family). You might not have a kitchen island or breakfast nook to eat meals at, or you might just prefer eating in your dining room. Whatever the case, tackle the unused spaces that get seen the most often (i.e., dining room, guest bedroom, guest bathroom, etc.). Then, shift your focus to the spaces that really might never get used. This will look different for everyone as we all live in our homes and use our spaces differently. Whatever your rarely used or unused spaces might be, put those projects at the bottom of your priority list and work on them after all hazard remediation, maintenance tasks, dysfunctional spaces, and every day spaces have been completed.
Whatever your project list looks like, however big or small, apply this prioritization process if you need help deciding where to start. Now, not all of our homes look the same or require the same updates, nor do we as humans think or feel the same, so apply this process using your own discretion. Please always consider your safety first, but if you are okay continuing to take your dogs out on a leash four times a day so that you can have a beautiful kitchen, please do what makes you happy. Your home should be filled with love and ease, whether that be physical ease or ease of mind. If your mental health is struggling due to a space not looking or feeling beautiful, take that into account and tackle whatever projects are going to bring you the most peace and make you love your home.
All my love,
Cory
Keep reading to see how we are applying this process here at The Claytor House:
My husband, Jacob, and I bought our house a little over a month ago, and, although it has been kept in great condition since it was built in the 90’s, it needs some updating to suit our life and style. Our budget is tight after buying this house, so we are having to be strategic about how we approach our projects.
Putting our safety first, we have some electrical wiring issues in the front of the house and Jacob’s office that prevent us from using all of the wall outlets due to a chance of starting a fire. My father-in-law, a master electrician, helped us with the wiring in our laundry room so that we could wash our clothes without worry, and will help us with the wiring in the office in the near future. Fortunately, our roof was replaced right before we bought our house and there are no other hazards we need to take care of in our home.
We do, however, have some maintenance tasks that need to be completed. With a brick veneer on the exterior of our home, there are some places around our front and back doors where the mortar has cracked and needs repairing. As per the process I outlined above, we should prioritize this task, however, I intend to move the placement of our backdoor within the next few years and plan repair the mortar then. It is not in critical condition where we have to worry about any hazards arising during that time, so we are comfortable waiting and saving the money to put towards moving the door in the future since those bricks will get moved and mortared again anyway. Some other maintenance tasks on our list are adding more insulation above our main living area and resealing our windows. With 30-year-old windows and less than half the insulation that there should be above our heads, our home stays pretty cold around its perimeter and isn’t very energy efficient. Not to mention, our energy bill is quite a bit more than what it should be.
Per the example I provided when talking about functionality, installing a fence is a huge item that we are itching to cross off the list. With three dogs (one of them being a puppy) we are constantly taking our dogs out on their leashes; spending up to 15 minutes at a time waiting for them to use the bathroom. Luckily, we both work from home and are able to give them ample potty breaks, but suiting up in our coats and their harnesses is such an ordeal that we dread the task every time we have to do it. Installing a fence is in the works as we’ve received multiple quotes and are awaiting HOA approval, and we can’t wait for how much better our days will function and how much happier we (and our fur babies) will be once it is complete.
Also on the docket for functional changes is moving our staircase. Our home was the model for our section of the neighborhood, and it is the only house on our block with a basement. Previously, the basement was unfinished and there was only an exterior entrance through a cellar door. Somewhere along the line, the previous owner finished the basement adding a large storage space, a large living room, a full second kitchen, a full third bathroom, and a third bedroom. We love the finished basement and have some big plans for it, but the staircase the previous owner added when they finished the basement was a spiral staircase. Not only that, but this spiral staircase is also located in the closet of our second bedroom/Jacob’s office, and it goes down into an area of the basement that is wasted due to the staircase’s presence. Having a gaping hole in floor of the office makes it significantly colder than the rest of the house as the cold air from the basement comes up through the opening, and my husband is freezing while doing work all day. After installing a fence in the backyard, we plan to install a straight flight of stairs going down to the basement along the side of our sitting room on the main level. We will get rid of the spiral staircase and close the floor space in the office closet, allowing the room to stay more insulated. Additionally, this will give us another closet upstairs (since there won’t be staircase in the middle of it) and allow our third bedroom that is downstairs to nearly double in size.
I’ll share one more update we officially plan to make: our floors. Yes, I was serious earlier when I mentioned original green carpet from the 90’s. This home is a gem, but the 50 shades of green from the original carpet, original wallpaper, and custom matching drapery actually make it shine bright like an… emerald. We would prioritize installing hardwood floors before moving our staircase, however, we would have to rip up some of the flooring where we install the new flight of stairs and patch the hole where the current one is. So, in trying not to waste money and flooring materials, we are waiting to replace the green carpet in the living room, dining room, sitting room, master bedroom, office, laundry room…… until we move the staircase.
