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[B948]Build Your Dream Home For Less

by Ada Denis, Ada

Building your dream home is a process that takes some individuals a lifetime. Hardly anyone knows early in life what exactly constitutes "dream home" in her eyes. Pinning down the details that you want may take years of "starter" homes and building mistakes to learn what truly works for you. It is helpful to keep a list of likes and dislikes about each house that you live in. Consider everything from major aspects like size and layout to minor details like cabinet space and tile coloring. It is hard to remember everything that you have learned from previous living situations when faced with the stress and endless choices involved with building a new home. Keeping detailed records is a good way to stay level headed under pressure.
One good way to get good ideas for your dream home is to do active research. Any time you see a house for sale, stop and take a walk through to add to your likes and dislikes list. Steal ideas- it is allowed! Model homes are another great way to check out floor plans and housing designers. Home shows are one of the best ways to get ideas. These homes are fully decorated, and decorating the house well is almost more important in creating a dream home that the actual layout. Often these homes provide great inspiration for wall coloring, wood color, counter tops and furniture ideas. Be open minded, and home shows may provide a whole new perspective.
The next step is choosing a location for the building of the dream home to take place. The whole atmosphere of the house depends on whether you are located in the woods or a subdivision, on lots of acres or in a city. Work with your atmosphere instead of against it. Once your have ideas for what type of home you want, consider what type of backdrop makes the most sense for your tastes.
Choosing a builder is one of the hardest steps in choosing a dream home. Get recommendations from friends whose homes you admire and visit several projects completed by the builder.
Before any contracting takes place, you and the builder should have extensive conversation to be sure your ideas and his skills will coincide. Take your time with decisions. Make initial choices, but allow two weeks to think about your choice before it is finalized. It is important to visit your work-in-progress dream home frequently in order to be sure you and the builder are on the same page. Sometimes mistakes get made in the funneling of messages from builder to crew heads to crewmembers. Staying in close contact with the builder and crews helps ensure that your home is erected according to plan.

Do-It-Yourself

There are lots of do-it-yourself shops out there that you can visit and get ideas from. If it will be just a minor renovation, you can do the works yourself. If you are confident on your carpentry skills, you could purchase furniture or home add-ons from do-it-yourself shops instead of having to pay for a skilled carpenter. Materials from these kinds of shops are also quite cheap and they offer many choices.

Reduce, Re-use, Recycle

These three R's are not just for garbage and trash. They could also be applied to your home. By reducing the items inside your home, you instantly gain a new spacious look. So if you have many things that you do not really need, now is the time to put them on garage sale or donate them to charity. Clearing up your home with unnecessary things will allow it to breathe and could also improve the indoor air quality.

Instead of buying new furniture pieces, you could re-use your existing ones and just give them a new look. You could re-stain that dining table to give it a new look or add a cushion seat to your dining chair to give it a comfortable touch.

There are many ways to reinvent your furniture. You could paint or stain your wooden pieces, re-upholster that couch that you got from your grandma to give it a fresh and modern look, or transform that old dining table to a new coffee table. There are endless possibilities that you can do to make your old stuff look like new without having to spend so much.

Not only will you save on money because you do not have to buy new furniture, you get to keep the sentimental value of the things that have been in your home for a long time.

Double Purpose Furniture
If in case you really need to buy new furniture, go for ones that have double purpose. For example, if you need a furniture piece for storage and a screen divider, you could buy a freestanding open shelving unit that you could use as storage and as a divider. Always go for items that could give you several purposes. This way you are cutting down the cost of your furniture and at the same time save space inside your home.

Expose a Little

Take out those heirloom pieces that are hidden away in the attic and put them out on display. Or do not be afraid to expose your pots and pans and hang them in the kitchen creatively so they could also serve as display. There are many things that we keep hidden that sometimes could be used to make our homes look attractive. Display items do not have to be expensive. You just have to know what to combine or put together to create a look that is unique and interesting.

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About Author

Both Ada Denis & Benedict Smythe are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Ada Denis has sinced written about articles on various topics from Credit Cards, Finances and Marketing.