Remodeling Your Seattle-area Home: Paint Me a Picture
If you’re getting ready to remodel your Seattle-area home, you may have a clear picture in mind of what the finished product will look like—and it’s probably a beautiful thing! But there’s one potential problem: How are you going to communicate just what it is you want to your builder or contractor—the person who has to put hammer to nails and saws to boards to make it happen?
Maybe you’re planning to use an architect or a designer to create plans for the builder to follow. If you do, you still have a similar situation: How do you communicate what you see in your head to the person that will turn those ideas into physical drawings that your builder can follow?
It can be a challenge to put your ideas into words—particularly when those words are going to eventually end up as tangible things such as walls, floors, and countertops. If you’re like a lot of people you may not be able to describe exactly what you want—but you’ll know it when you see it!
That’s the ticket! Don’t just use words to tell your architect or designer or builder what you want. Paint him or her a picture. Of course you don’t have to actually paint a picture. But you can still show your remodeling profession samples of something you really like. If you haven’t already done so, spend time searching for images of the kind of kitchen you want. There are lots of building and remodeling sites that have great photos of new or recently remodeled homes. Set up a folder on your computer or tablet for each room you plan to remodel and drop the photos into the appropriate folder. You can even set up subfolders for things like finishes and fixtures. Then when you want to describe exactly what you want—you can simply pull up the photo that captures your idea. You can tell your designer or your builder what you like about it—and what you’d like to change. It will eliminate a lot of confusion—and it will probably save you a few thousand words!
