Create a Master Plan to Transform Your Home

You are finally ready to remaster your home, all you need now is a plan. But if you’re already overwhelmed, how on earth do you create a plan to transform your home? Where do you even start? What if you get it all wrong? Talk about a daunting task!

Create a Master Plan to Transform Your Home

First and foremost, you can’t really get it wrong. Any productive action you take is good action! The hardest part is just getting started. Pretty soon, I will have a whole tool kit that will take you through the process from start to finish. Until then, grab a pencil and some paper. I’ll walk you though the steps.

STEP 1: WHOLE HOUSE BRAINSTORM

Take a few minutes to answer the following questions. Be sure to write it all down.

What do you love about your house?
What drives you crazy about the house?
What is the house missing?

STEP 2: INDIVIDUAL ROOM BRAINSTORMS

Now, spend some time in each and every room of the house and answer these questions:

What works in this room?
What doesn’t work at all?
What is your BIGGEST pain point in this room?
What is the intended use for this room? Does it actually function that way? Does it really need to?
Do you use this room every day, or does it only get occasional use?
Is there anything in this room that belongs somewhere else?
Identify unused and underused spaces. These can include furniture, walls and storage spaces.
Make a detailed list of everything you would like to change about this room.

STEP 3: LOOK FOR OPPORTUNITIES

Compare your brainstorming lists and think about the following:

Can you repurpose an underused room to take some stress off another room?
Do you have any under-utilized spaces that could solve a problem from another room on your list?
If you optimize an existing storage space, could it handle overflow from other rooms?
How can you use your furniture differently to solve a problem?
Are you maximizing every square inch of space you have in your home? NOTE: Maximizing every space is not the same as stuffing every space to capacity. It means leaving no space underutilized.

It’s a great idea to involve your whole family in the process. Even young children may have creative ideas that you haven’t thought of.

STEP 4: CREATE A DETAILED TO-DO LIST FOR EACH ROOM

Now we’re getting to the good stuff. It’s time to start developing your action plan. We’ll start by creating a to-do list for every space in the house.

Don’t just say “fix family room”. Instead, list every step to fix your family room.
Be as detailed as possible. Just get it all out there without worrying about how you could possibly complete it.
Highlight any deadlines or ideal times to complete each item. For example, you may want to finish some projects by a certain milestone or holiday. Smaller items may be quick and best suited for a rainy weekend. Others may be season or weather specific.
Make a note of what you need to complete each project. Are you ready now? If not, what do you need? Time? Money? Ideas? Materials? Help?
IMPORTANT: No feelings of overwhelm allowed! This is a long-term plan, not a short term fix.

STEP 5: PRIORITIZE YOUR PLAN

Now that you have a list a mile long, how do you know where to start? It’s time to prioritize.

Sort your list by urgency or impact of the project.
Resort your list by the ease/difficulty of the project.
Now sort it again by how ready you are to complete the project.
As you sort and resort your list, you will start to see a few things continually rise to the top. Those are your top priority projects.

Once you have a master plan to transform your home, the task should seem a lot less daunting. Start with a few quick and easy projects. When you complete 2-3 of those, you are ready to embark on something a little more challenging. Remember: you don’t have to accomplish everything by next weekend or even by next year. Go at your own pace and enjoy the process!