Remember the movie Pretty Woman? One of the parts of the movie that I think of often didn’t involve the main characters at all. There was a man who walked up and down the streets of Hollywood and I can hear his voice now saying “What’s your dream? Everyone has a dream!” He may have said “everybody got a dream”, I’m not sure.
No matter how you say it, it’s true. Everyone has a dream. And every homeowner has a remodeling dream. I’ve found that it makes no difference how nice the home already is, there is still room to improve it. Always.
What stumps people is trying to figure out how to make it come together. What makes it work? I’ve heard the stories of hundreds of people who know what they want, but they just can’t see how to do it. They don’t know where to start. Maybe I can help.
Start With Knowing What Stays
I did a small cabinet design today and I’ll use it to show you what I mean. As is the case more and more often, these folks have a very nice TV outside on the Lanai (a.k.a back porch). They asked me to come up with an outdoor entertainment center to provide storage and to make it all look better.
Here is the simple drawing I prepared…
I started off knowing that there were a few things I couldn’t do anything about without breaking the bank.
- The Beam – There is a beam holding up the roof…it had to stay and it set an outside boundry for the cabinet. It would look pretty odd if the cabinet stuck a foot past the beam.
- The Wall – to the right of the cabinet is a block wall. Obviously that is important and isn’t going anywhere.
- The TV – I knew the TV Dimensions and that had to be considered in the design.
- The Appliances – The Fridge and Wine Cooler were already on the job, so I had to make sure they fit.
Knowing these fixed parameters before I started to “imagine” made it much easier to design a cabinet that fit the situation and met the clients needs. I find that my mind creates much better with some fixed parameters and remodeling projects always have those!
So, next time you’re trying to figure out what you CAN do. Maybe it will help if you determine what you CAN’T do first.
They liked it… we start next week!
You always have the best advice. When you explain things you do it in such a nice way and I can always totally understand. That is really helpful. Thanks. Hugs, Marty
Sound advice RG! Glad to see you are still blogging every now and then 🙂
Blessings!
Now, if I only knew what had to stay … 🙂 Walls, I suppose, but they are old, plaster walls, what can and can’t I do with them? Still figuring it out … and checking out every home I’m in – especially if I see something I like!
Good advice. It’s along the same lines as people who come in and can’t figure out what they like, or they can’t narrow it down. Sometimes, it’s easier to figure out what you don’t like and go from there.
I like your plan! It sounds like it’s going to be a fantastic lanai!!