After a long eight years, I have finally convinced my husband to remodel the kitchen and the rest of the house.  We decided to go all out and I am very excited for how it will turn out.  Even though construction is not yet done, I thought I would share with you what I have learned so far.

The final price will always exceed the budget

Amazingly, we are only about 20% over our initial budget right now, thanks to a considerable amount of planning ahead of time.  Still, keep in mind that you will exceed whatever budget you initially come up with.  My in-laws exceeded their initial budget by 130%.

Do not underestimate the stress

Remodeling is stressful.  My husband and I actually agreed on the cabinets and granite.  We disagreed a bit on the appliances, where I still do not see the need for a monster 48″ fridge that e-mails you if the door is open.  I will leave the fridge open so he feels he is getting his money’s worth.  I at least managed to get rid of the convection microwave.  No Chernobyl cookies for me.

Remodels are like a disease.  They affect the rest of the house.

We did not intend to refinish our floors, but found out we had to in order to get them to match with the rest of the kitchen.  We also wound up remodeling areas of the house because the new kitchen suddenly makes them look like crap.

If you are doing it for yourself, it is OK to avoid reason.

If you are flipping the property or want to sell soon, you need to be very careful with your remodel.  You need to use quality components, but not make things too over the top unless it is a very high end house.  However, if you are doing this for yourselves, it is perfectly fine to go over the top if that is what you want.  We purchased a very high end granite.  We are spending a lot on this granite.  If someone came to our house, they would see granite.  Not ‘amazing’ granite – just granite.  However, we happen to like this granite.

Use the time to learn how to communicate better

When the computer had to come down for the remodeling effort, you would have thought the dog had died.  No one knew what to do with themselves.  Invariably you will be forced together during times of remodel.  Make the most of the time.