Important Things to Remember When Remodeling a House

I just got married about a year ago and my husband and I are in the process of renovating our new home. As a wedding present, my parents gave us the old motel that they own and that hasn't been running in almost a decade. The motel sits on a gorgeous piece of property in the heart of the Adirondacks. Unfortunately, it's also a motel and not a house. Renovating it into one has had it's ups and downs but I'm confident that we will have a wonderful place to live sometime in the near future. There are have been three things that I keep in mind throughout this entire renovation project. The first is that you should never put too many windows into one wall. We found this out the hard way because my husband was in Indianapolis remodeling, had put two large windows into the back wall for sunlight along with a sliding glass door. Thankfully, the building didn't fall down but it would have if a helpful neighbor didn't come lecturing us one day as we were both out there working. His kind words really hit home and we removed the windows and reinforced the walls again. I can't even imagine what it would have been like if we had kept the windows there and the wall collapsed one day while sitting in our living room. The second thing to remember when renovating a house is to keep it energy efficient. The first few months that we were living here, we had to stay in one of the motel rooms and use the old electric heater that was in there. The heating worked fine, despite the fact that we had a lot of drafts in the room. We were happy as pie until the electric bill came in. I never knew that it was possible to use that much electricity with just one heater. I also can't believe how much money we lost those first few months on electricity alone. We are now in the process of insulating each room and using draft-resistant windows. We have even insulated the ceiling and basement of the motel. The building had absolutely no draft protection because it was mainly used as a summer business when I was a little girl. Lastly, it's important to make use of raw and used materials when you can. I know of several couples who are in the same boat as I am and who paid a fortune for brand new kitchen cabinets, sink pedestals, and bathtubs. My husband and I have been scouring online ads and newspaper articles to find used materials to put into our future home. You wouldn't believe that we recently bought gorgeous cherry wood cabinets from a large chain construction company who was selling them. What's more, we paid practically nothing for a large kitchen set of cabinets. There are many different things to keep in mind when renovating. One of the best things you can do is to just have fun with it and try to create a home that you will absolutely love living in. It also might help to keep yourself on a budget so that you do not go into debt over a renovated home.